877 Dolphins Dead

In Peru just this year 877 dolphins have washed up on the shore. Environmental authorities are unsure of the reason for the deaths and think that there could have been an outbreak of Morbillivirus or Brucella bacteria. Some of the dead dolphins have been tested for the viruses, but more than 80% we unable to be studied because of how much they had already decomposed. The test results of the other 20% should be ready within the week. It is has been found that the deaths were not caused by a food shortage, fishing, or poisoning. "When you have something this large, my gut would tell me that there's something traumatic that happened," Sue Rocca told CNN, “More investigation needs to be done.”

 http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/22/world/americas/peru-dead-dolphins/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2

Last 5 bodies identified

More bodies have been found from the Costa Concordia ship that crashed January 13^th. Recovery teams have been searching since the crash and they finally found the last 5 bodies. Two of the people were American, two German, and one Italian crew member. Total, at least 30 people didn’t survive the crash. The amount of people on the Costa Concordia was about 4,200 including crew members. Captain, Francesco Schettino, said that he was told to sail near the island and denied that he could have been sailing too quickly. He also claimed that the rock was not visible on his charts. No one has been charged yet, but Schettino, is still being investigated and is being accused of manslaughter, causing the wreck, leaving the ship, not reporting the accident, and hurting a natural habitat.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/17/world/europe/italy-cruise-ship/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2

Mortenson's Lawsuit Settled

On Thursday, a lawsuit against Greg Mortenson was settled allowing Mortenson to stay with the charity, but he has to pay $1 million within the next three years. Over time he has used a lot of the charity’s money to promote and buy his books. The charity spent $4.9 million advertising Mortenson’s books and another $4 million in donations to schools and libraries. The institute is still allowed to build schools, but there will be some changes. Mortenson left his position as executive director but is still an employee, and has paid around half of the funds. Mortenson, author of "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones into Schools," made best seller lists and toured the country to talk about his books and work. He used the charity’s money to afford the travels. Hopefully with the new changes, donations to the charity will be used the most efficiently.

                                                                              

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2012/04/greg-mortenson-settles-lawsuit-will-stay-with-three-cups-charity.html

Stage Dive

On Monday, April 2^nd Zephyr Ciesar took a tragic fall while rehearsing for an upcoming performance of Anything Goes. She played the role of Reno Sweeny, the female lead in the show that was supposed to open later this month. She was doing her big number on the set, which was a ship that’s top deck was sixteen feet off of the ground. She was tapping the choreographed part of the song, Anything Goes, in heels and lost her balance, falling backward off of the back of the ship. “When she fell she let out ear piercing screams,” said an anonymous cast member. Immediately someone called an ambulance. “I don’t know how we are going to do the performance,” said director Lizbeth Thomas, “but we are just happy that the fall didn’t kill her or injure her anymore than it did.” It has been released that she broke her collar bone and arm, but will be okay.