Good morning, Her Campus! With a break-neck news cycle, there is no possible way for you to stay on top of every story that comes across your feeds—we’re all only human, after all.
But, life comes at you fast. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this quick and dirty guide to stories you might’ve been sleeping on (like, literally. It’s early.)
Snowboarder Superstar Shaun White Takes the Gold
Shaun White, a snowboarder legend, scored his third Olympic halfpipe title, and third overall gold medal, ABC News reports. He is now the third American male to win a gold medal at three separate Winter Olympics, and his win marks the 100th overall gold medal for Team USA at the Winter Olympics.
When talking about if he knew he would perform well and win, White said, “I honestly knew I had it,” White said. “I knew I had to put it down.”
After snowboarding rising star Ayumu Hirano had snatched the lead from White’s hand during the halfpipe final, White’s Olympic legacy was at risk. But White delivered, performing flawless tricks, like back-to-back 1440s, which according to ABC News, White has never landed in any competition prior to the finals.
White ended up scoring a 97.75, more than two points ahead of Hirano and six points ahead of Australian snowboarder Scotty James, ABC News reports.
White ended the 2014 Winter Olympics in disappointment when he came in fourth place, and also had a crash in New Zealand last fall that required surgery, but he came back to take the gold.
“What can I say? I won the Olympics,” White said. “Three gold medals. I was just hoping they’d give it to me. I was pretty sure I put it down but it took a little while. Just trying not to make eye contact with the judges.”
While rising stars like Hirano are ready to challenge White, it looks like they can’t take him down just yet.
Another Judge Blocks President Trump From Ending DACA
A second U.S. judge has blocked President Trump’s decision to end DACA, the program meant to protect immigrants brought to the United States as children from being deported, NBC News reports.
U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn ruled that DACA cannot end in March like planned.
Garaufis said that the Trump administration could eventually phase out DACA, but the reasoning that it provided last year for ending the program was too arbitrary and could not stand, NBC News reports.
The judge ordered that the government process requests for DACA status, as well as renewal requests, as it would have prior to its announcement that it would end the program.
The Supreme Court is to announce on Friday if it will take up the Trump administration’s appeal of a San Francisco ruling in which a judge ruled that DACA must stay in place while litigation over the decision to end the program unfolds, NBC News reports.
AG Jeff Sessions Makes Reference to Anglo-American Heritage of Law Enforcement
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, veering from a prepared speech, said to a group of sheriffs from around the country that “the office of sheriff is a critical part of the Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement,” The Washington Post reports.
The comment immediately drew outrage from members of Congress and the NAACP, which said that the comment was “racially tinged” and “should give all people reason to worry.”
According to The Post, the phrase has been said before by other officials and refers to the legal heritage shared by the United States and England.
However, the comment drew outrage primarily because Sessions is a former Republican senator from Alabama who faced questions about race throughout his political career.
Allegations regarding racially charged comments cost Sessions a judgeship in the 1980s, according to The Post, and civil rights groups have claimed that Sessions may be racially insensitive, especially since he has rolled back Obama-era policies that were meant to reform criminal justice.
The NAACP said this was just the latest of Sessions’ derogatory remarks and called it “an unfortunate yet consistent aspect of the language coming out of the Department of Justice under his tenure.”
What to look out for…
BoxLunch has a brand new “Mulan” collection, and it most definitely brings honor to us all.