Newsbytes: Mission Peak Parking Lot, Houston Gunman, Capsized Migrant Boat, Snapchat Product

By Staff Writers Shivani Avasarala & Ian Hsu

Local — Future Changes to Mission Peak Lot Reduce Traffic Congestion
Due to an overwhelming number of cars parking on residential streets around Mission Peak, the East Bay Regional Park District board members voted on September 27 to invest $6.5 million into construction of a new 300-space parking lot close to the existing one. Results have not been confirmed. Park managers proposed the plan to reduce the parking shortage at the popular hiking attraction and to decrease the number of cars parked in front of neighboring homes in the area. Although some residents are worried about limiting public entry into Mission Peak, park district assistant general, Bob Nisbet, assured the public that there would still be reasonable access to the destination.

National — Houston Gunman Wounds Nine in Shooting Rampage
Officials fatally shot a lawyer dressed in military-style apparel and Nazi emblems on the morning of September 26 while on a shooting rampage that injured nine people. Acting Police Chief Martha Montalvo said the shooter critically wounded one victim. Five others required hospitalization after the shooter opened fire on cars passing by Randall’s Grocery Store Shopping Center near the West University area in southwest Houston. She also said that officials discovered numerous weapons at the scene, and they searched the shooter’s home and car for other weapons.

International — Boat Carrying Migrants Capsizes off Coast of Egypt
An overloaded boat estimated to have been transporting 450 migrants capsized near the Egyptian coast on September 21, leaving hundreds of foreign and Egyptian migrants presumably dead or missing. The boat was headed to Italy when it overturned 12 nautical miles northeast of Rashid, a town near the coastline. After multiple state investigations, four men, including the owner of the boat, were arrested and detained on the grounds of human trafficking and involuntary manslaughter. As of September 22, the Egyptian coast guard has rescued 163 people and recovered 51 bodies.

Quirky — Snapchat Announces New Product: Spectacles
On September 24, Snapchat announced a new product called Spectacles — sunglasses with a built-in camera to record Snaps from a first-person point of view. The company also changed its name to Snap Inc., a move CEO Evan Spiegel says reflects the company’s decision to go beyond just one product. According to Snapchat’s announcement, the Spectacles will be capable of recording “a day’s worth of Snaps on a single charge.” One released, Spectacles will go on sale for $129.99.

Photos Courtesy NY Times, USA Today, CNN, & CBS News