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That’s A Wrap: New Zealand’s Weapon Ban, Mueller Report Released & More

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UFL chapter.

Monday, March 18:

  • A meteor exploded in the Earth’s atmosphere with 10 times the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, reports BBC.

  • An earthquake hit the country of Indonesia March 17th, triggering a landslide which hit a waterfall, killing at least three people. Then on Monday, torrential downpours triggered flash floods and mudslides that tore through mountainside villages in Jayapura, Indonesia killing at least 79 people.
  • Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said she wants to get rid of the electoral college at a CNN town hall in Jackson, Mississippi.

Tuesday, March 19:

  • President Trump told reporters “I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be,” reports NBC news.
  • Karen Uhlenbeck, a mathematician and professor at the University of Texas, was awarded this year’s Abel Prize (a mathematics prize). She is the first woman to win the award, reports CNN.
  • Patricia Okoumou, who scaled the Statue of Liberty in a Fourth of July protest against the separation of families at the Mexican border by the Trump Administration was sentenced to five years of probation and 200 hours of community service.
  • More than 200 people are confirmed dead in a tropical cyclone that hit Mozambique in southern Africa.

Wednesday, March 20:

  • The European Union fines Google $1.68 billion for abusing its dominance in online advertising

  • A Florida House panel approved a bill that would require former felons to pay fees and fines before having their voting rights restored, reports the New York Times. Some argue this undermines the amendment passed by voters in 2018 that allows former felons who have served their sentences to vote again. (This excludes felons convicted of murder or sexual abuse.)

Thursday, March 21:

  • New Zealand announces a ban on “military-style” semi-automatic weapons and high capacity magazines in the wake of the mosque shootings in the city of Christchurch.

  • Pete Buttigieg (D), openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, announces his 2020 campaign run for president.

  • At least 92 people are confirmed dead from an overcrowded ferry that capsized in Iraq’s Tigris river in Mosul, reports CNN. Roughly 150 passengers were on board.
  • An explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China killed at least 49 people and injured hundreds of others.
  • President Trump signed an executive order requiring U.S. colleges to protect free speech on campus or risk losing federal research funding.

Friday, March 22:

  • Jimmy Carter officially becomes the longest-living former U.S. president in history at 94 years and 172 days old.

  • Two American soldiers were killed in an operation in Afghanistan, reports the Associated Press. Now a total of four U.S. soldiers have been killed in the country this year.

  • Special counsel Robert Mueller finishes his Russia investigation and delivers report to Attorney General William Barr.

Saturday, March 23:

  • U.S.-backed forces in Syria declared military victory over the Islamic State group in the country.

  • A tour bus in central China caught fire traveling along the highway, leaving 26 people dead and at least 30 people injured.

Sunday, March 24:

  • Sydney Aiello, a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, died from suicide, reports CNN. Her mother said she suffered from survivor’s guilt after the mass shooting and had recently been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

  • The Justice Department told Congress that the Mueller report did not find President Trump committed a crime or that the Trump campaign did not “conspire or coordinate” with Russia. But the report did not exonerate President Trump of obstruction of justice. Find more developments via the Associated Press.

Stay tuned next Monday for our next edition of That’s A Wrap! In the meantime, connect with Her Campus UFL on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.

Cassidy Hopson is a junior at the University of Florida majoring in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @CassidyHopson.
Darcy Schild is a University of Florida junior majoring in journalism. She's the Editor-in-Chief of Her Campus UFL and was previously a Her Campus national section editor. She spent Summer 2017 as an Editorial Intern at HC headquarters in Boston, where she oversaw the "How She Got There" section and wrote and edited feature articles and news blogs. She also helped create the weekly Her Campus Instagram Story series, Informed AF. Follow her on Twitter and on her blog, The Darcy Diaries.