Louisiana State University forward Angel Reese approaches the basket during the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship against the University of Iowa on Sunday, April 2, 2023, in Dallas, Texas.
Credit: © Ian Halperin, UPI/Alamy Images

The Louisiana State University women’s basketball team beat the University of Iowa Hawkeyes 102 to 85, securing their first National Collegiate Athletic Association Championship title on Sunday, April 2nd, 2023. The LSU Tigers were ranked number three heading into the tournament. The Hawkeyes were ranked number 2 in the league. The two teams played in Dallas, Texas, in front of more than 19,000 fans. The game streamed to a record 9.9 million viewers. The stars of the game were LSU forward Angel Reese and Iowa guard Caitlin Clark. Many records were broken in the matchup.

The LSU Tigers, led by Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey, scored 59 points in the first half, setting a new record for the most points scored in a half in a women’s championship game. The Tigers headed into the locker room at halftime with a 17-point lead. Jasmine Carson scored 21 points in the first half, including five three-pointers.

Reese was named the most outstanding player of the Final Four. The six foot three inch (190.5 centimeter) tall junior transferred from the University of Maryland earlier this year. Mulkey’s powerful team had a handful of transfers. Jasmine Carson, a transfer from West Virginia University, scored a team-high of 22 points.

Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22) dribbles to the basket in the NCAA Women’s Regional Final against the University of Louisville on March 26, 2023.
Credit: © Steve Faber, Cal Sport Media/Alamy Images

Iowa star Caitlin Clark scored 30 points in the game, setting the record for the most in a women’s tournament with 191 points. Clark was named the 2023 national player of the year. She broke the previous record of 177 points in a tournament held by Texas Tech University player Sheryl Swoopes since 1993. She also broke the men’s record of 183 points held by University of Michigan’s Glen Rice since 1989.

Clark has been recognized for her sharpshooting, particularly with three-pointers, crisp passes, and emotional reactions. She stands 6 feet (183 centimeters) tall. Clark scored 41 points against the University of Louisville and another 41 points against the University of South Carolina.

LSU’s 102-point game set a record for the most points scored by a team in a women’s championship game. The Tigers also became the third number 3 seeded team to win the title in league history. With many broken records and dynamic players, the championship game was a fun one to watch.

TikTok, a social media app
© XanderSt/Shutterstock

TikTok’s Time in Congress

United States Congress met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew last week in his first appearance defending the use of the mobile app (application) in the United States. TikTok is a social media service for sharing videos. The mobile app enables users to instantly post (publish online) short videos set to music or other sound. While TikTok is a Chinese company, it is not accessible in China. However, it is extremely popular in the United States. The main concern over TikTok is that the app collects data from users that could be sent to Chinese authorities. Lawmakers also stated that the app is unhealthy for children since the algorithms can show dangerous videos to young users. Shou Chew maintained the technology is not different than other United States tech giants like Instagram and Facebook. Some people have skyrocketed to fame through TikTok, including Addison Rae, Charli D’Amelio, and Lil Nas X. Many popular users in the United States defended TikTok on their platforms, reaching millions.

TikTok, which is called Douyin in China, was created in 2016 by the Chinese company ByteDance. TikTok has since become internationally popular. ByteDance purchased the lip-syncing app Musical.ly in 2017 and merged it with TikTok in 2018.

TikTok has several features that allow users to slow down, speed up, or otherwise edit videos. Users can enhance (improve the appearance or quality of) their videos with special camera filters, stickers, text, and video clips. Several TikTok videos are often joined together to make the person on camera appear to instantly shift locations, clothing, or makeup. Users can respond to other videos in a duet. In a duet, two videos are posted side by side and run simultaneously. Duets encourage TikTok users to collaborate (work together).

TikTok videos are often informal and silly. They frequently involve lip-syncing, a style of performance in which the performer’s mouth moves in time with a recorded musical track. The service makes use of hashtags to organize similar videos. A hashtag is a keyword or phrase preceded by the hash symbol or pound sign (#). Hashtags enable users to participate in trends or challenges. In a challenge, users copy a particular video topic or theme—such as a specific visual gag, dance, or song—and post their version on TikTok with the challenge hashtag. Trends and challenges rapidly rise and decline in popularity on TikTok.

Each user has a custom home page that presents select content based on the user’s watching habits. TikTok uses a computerized mathematical procedure called an algorithm that learns a user’s preferences and interests to suggest video content. Users also can become followers of other users, or search for videos by hashtag or username. They can send messages directly to other users and post comments about videos. Some users have gained or increased their fame through the app. The rap and country singer Lil Nas X, for example, was discovered after he began lip-syncing on TikTok. Many songs have grown in popularity after being featured in TikTok videos, trends, and challenges.

Playing tricks on people has been an April Fools’ Day custom for hundreds of years. This illustration from the late 1700’s shows youngsters teasing an old man by tying a kite to his hair.
Credit: © Hulton Archive/iStock photo

Saturday, April 1st, was April Fools’ Day. April Fools’ Day is celebrated with jokes, pranks, and tricks in many cultures throughout the world. Whether it is a planned-out extravagant scheme or a simple harmless prank, April Fools’ Day can make for a lot of laughs and a good story!

In many countries, including the United States, it is the custom on this day to play tricks on people. A favorite joke is to send someone on a fool’s errand, a search for something that does not exist. In the United States, the victim is called an April Fool.

No one knows where the April Fools’ custom began. But some historians believe it may have started in France. There, the old New Year’s festival was observed from March 25 to April 1 and ended with an exchange of gifts. In the mid-1560′s, King Charles IX changed the New Year to January 1. People who still celebrated the New Year in April were called April fish and sent mock presents. April Fools’ Day may be related to the ancient Roman spring festival Hilaria, which celebrates the resurrection of the god Attis.

The BBC reported in 1957 that Swiss farmers had a record spaghetti crop, even showing a video of people harvesting pasta from trees! The National Public Radio (NPR) announced in 1992 that former President Richard Nixon would seek reelection twenty years after he left the Oval Office. NPR also ran an article in 2014 titled “Why Doesn’t America Read Anymore?” This article called out people who commented on articles without reading them. If you clicked on the article, then you were in on the joke!

However, in the United States, fast-food restaurants take the cake with April Fool’s Day shenanigans. In 1996, Taco Bell announced it purchased the Liberty Bell and that they were renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Later in 1998, Burger King debuted a left-handed “Whopper” for the occasion, tricking many people who wanted to try out the new type of sandwich.

On April Fools’ Day, it’s prank or be pranked! You have an entire year to think of a good prank for next year. Any ideas?

American LGBTQ rights activist Sylvia Rivera
Credit: © Justin Sutcliffe, AP Photo

Today, March 31, 2023, is International Transgender Day of Visibility. On this day, people around the world celebrate transgender voices. Transgender is a term for individuals whose identity or self-expression does not match their assigned gender. At a time when transgender rights are in the news and on the dockets throughout the United States, it is important to look at activists who have fought to protect the rights of transgender individuals, such as Sylvia Rivera.

Sylvia Rivera was an American activist for LGBTQ rights. LGBTQ is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning. Rivera is remembered for being a leader during the Stonewall uprising, a series of demonstrations for gay rights that took place in New York City in late June and early July 1969. Rivera was a drag queen (cross-dressing performer) and a transgender woman.

Rivera advocated on behalf of drag queens, homeless queer youth, and imprisoned gay people, groups sometimes overlooked by mainstream LGBTQ advocates. Rivera focused on the intersectional aspects of poverty, race, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Intersectionality refers to the ways in which different kinds of discrimination can interact and affect one another.

Rivera participated in a riot at the Stonewall Inn in June 1969, after police officers attempted to close the bar, which served primarily gay and transgender customers. In 1970, Rivera joined with the American transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson to found the Street Transvestite (later changed to Transgender) Action Revolutionaries (STAR). STAR had a variety of missions, including helping homeless transgender youth, advocating for sexual freedom, and allying the gay rights movement with other civil rights movements. Rivera also worked to help pass New York’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA). The law, which went into effect in 2003, prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, employment, education, and a variety of other areas.

Ray Rivera Mendoza was born on July 2, 1951, in New York City and assigned the male gender. Rivera grew up in the care of a grandmother who disapproved of Rivera’s often gender-defiant behavior, such as wearing makeup. Because of her continued expression and exploration of feminine qualities, Rivera became homeless by age 11. To survive, Rivera worked as a prostitute. She found a community among New York City’s drag queens and adopted the name Sylvia. Rivera died on Feb. 19, 2002.

Protesters gather in Jerusalem, Israel
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Protests across Israel have led to a delay in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to reform the country’s judicial system. Leaders in various sectors, including the military, called for Netanyahu to stop the reform after the protests led to airport, hospital, and school closures. The sea of blue and white flags carried by determined protestors succeeded in pausing the reform this week. Israel’s Supreme Court and judicial checks and balances will remain strong at least until May.

Netanyahu, a Likud Party politician, became prime minister of Israel in December 2022. Likud is a conservative political party in Israel. Netanyahu held the position before from 1996 to 1999 and 2009 to 2021. In November 2019, Israel’s attorney general announced criminal charges against Netanyahu for alleged fraud, bribery, and breach of trust. Netanyahu denied any wrongdoing. Despite facing criminal charges in 2020, Netanyahu remained in power in a unity government with his opponent, Benny Gantz of the moderate Blue and White Party, as an alternate prime minister.

In March 2021, Netanyahu’s Likud Party failed to win a parliamentary majority. Netanyahu became the new opposition party leader. However, in the elections in November 2022, Netanyahu won the most seats in the Knesset (Israeli parliament). Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, asked Netanyahu to form a new government. Netanyahu formed a coalition government with a number of right-wing parties, including the far-right Religious Zionism party.

Shortly after donning the title of prime minister again, Netanyahu proposed the judicial reform plan. On January 4th, Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced the plans. The plan gives the government more control over appointing Supreme Court judges and would allow Netanyahu to escape the corruption charges against him. The plan also limits the power of the Supreme Court. The reform eliminates one of the few checks on parliament in Israel, allowing them to override decisions made by the Supreme Court.

Protests first broke out across Israel on January 7th. On January 14th, officials estimate nearly 80,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv, with protests occurring in other cities. Weekly protests continued and received international attention. United States  Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel on January 28th, meeting Netanyahu.

Leaders in the Constitution committee voted on February 13th, on the judicial reform as workers in several industries went on strike opposing the plan. Nearly 100,000 protesters gathered in Jerusalem during the vote. The Consitution committee voted in favor of the judicial reform plan 9 to 7.

Demonstrations continued through March, with more than 630,000 people gathering on March 25th, in the largest protest in the country’s history. On that same day, Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant called for postponing the judicial overhaul stating the turmoil was a threat to the country’s national security. He was the first minister to break from the coalition and call for a pause. Gallant mentioned the plan should pause so the country could celebrate Passover and Independence Day in peace. The next day, Gallant was removed from his position, sparking more protests that blocked major highways and started fires.

Due to the extent of the protests, hospitals stopped non-emergency care, schools closed, and all flights in and out of the main airport were grounded. Banks and malls were shuttered as the country shut down. On March 27th, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for Netanyahu to stop the legislative process. Netanyahu agreed to delay the reform until the next Knesset session in a month.

The opposition to the plan worked because it united key figures in the military, universities, and unions. Fighter pilots in the military refused a day of training in early March, leading military leaders to call for a solution to the crisis. The country’s military reserves dropped in numbers as the protests progressed, leading military leaders to suggest scaling back operations.

If Netanyahu pivots from his plan, he could lose his slim majority in Parliament, which could lead to Israel’s sixth election since 2019. If he reignites the battle to approve the judicial reform legislation, protests could continue further dividing the country.

American basketball player Candace Parker
Credit: © SPP Sport Press Photo/Alamy Images

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

Candace Parker is an outstanding American women’s basketball player. Parker, a forward, is tall for a female player at 6 feet 4 inches (193 centimeters). She became the first woman to dunk in a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball game and then the first to dunk twice in a single NCAA game. Parker is known for her ability to control the game through offense, often leading in points and rebounds.

Candace Nicole Parker was born on April 19, 1986, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her family later moved to Naperville, Illinois. She was a star player at Naperville Central High School, leading her team to state championships in 2003 and 2004. Parker committed to play at the University of Tennessee in 2004. She played for Team USA on the U18 (under age 18) team that won the gold medal at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Americas Championship. In 2006, Parker joined the Women’s Senior National Team. The next year, she led the team to win the FIBA Americas Championship, qualifying it for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Parker redshirted her first season at the University of Tennessee due to a knee injury. A so-called redshirt player limits their participation in a sport to avoid losing a year of eligibility. Parker helped lead the University of Tennessee to women’s NCAA basketball championships in 2007 and 2008. In both seasons, she led the team in points and rebounds and was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament’s Final Four phase.

The Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) made Parker the first player selected in the 2008 WNBA draft. She became the first player to be named the WNBA’s MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same year, for the 2008 season. Parker was named MVP again in 2013. The Los Angeles Sparks defeated the Minnesota Lynx to claim the 2016 WNBA title. Parker scored 28 points and grabbed (caught) 12 rebounds in the final game. She was named the Finals MVP for the tournament. In 2021, Parker signed a two-year contract with the WNBA’s Chicago Sky. That season, she led the team to win the WNBA title against the Phoenix Mercury. In 2023, Parker signed a contract to play for the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces.

Parker has also played in professional leagues in China and Russia, winning numerous league titles and individual awards. She played on United States teams that won gold medals in international competitions, including the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

Drone footage shows part of the Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3, 2023.
Credit: © Gene J. Puskar, AP Photo

On Friday, February 3, a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. East Palestine is near the border of Pennsylvania. Residents in the town have worried about their health and future while teams clean up the mess. Environmental efforts are underway to protect fish and wildlife as much as possible. While almost two months have passed, there are still many unanswered questions.

On February 3rd, the train was heading from Illinois to Pennsylvania when 38 of its 150 cars derailed around 9 PM. Representatives from Norfolk Southern stated the derailment was most likely caused by an overheated wheel bearing on one of the cars. The crash caused a fire that damaged 12 more cars. Shortly after the crash, residents were told to evacuate the area. Five derailed cars were carrying vinyl chloride, used to make plastic products. The cars burned for two days, and then officials began a controlled burn of the remaining chemicals to prevent an unplanned explosion.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources stated the chemical spill killed nearly 3,500 fish in local streams. Governor of Ohio Mike DeWine announced that residents could return to the area on February 8th, five days after the derailment. While the Environmental Protection Agency conducted tests and began cleaning efforts, residents of East Palestine complained of headaches, coughs, fatigue, and even skin irritation. Later, officials advised residents to drink bottled water, not water from the city’s supply.

Residents have met in town hall sessions to ask how the disaster happened and what will be done to resolve it. Politicians, including former President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, have visited the town.

Some of the residents of East Palestine were extras in the motion picture “White Noise,” released by Netflix in November 2022, based on the novel of the same name by Don DeLillo. In the fictional movie, a college professor and his family evacuate a small midwestern town after a train derails, creating an airborne toxic event. Many residents say the disaster is like deja vu since they have seen the movie.

Another Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio on Saturday, March 4th. The second train was not carrying hazardous materials and was cleaned up quickly. A derailment in Arizona occurred on March 16th. However, the train was only carrying corn syrup that didn’t spill.

Others around the world are questioning rail safety. On February 28th, a train carrying 350 people in Greece near Larissa crashed into a freight train. The crash killed 57 people, causing an uproar about rail safety in the country.

American poet Ada Limón
Credit: Shawn Miller, Library of Congress

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

Pioneers venture into unknown territories and uncharted waters. A genuine poetry pioneer, Ada Limón has found new ways to interact with readers and big emotions. Limón was named poet laureate of the United States in 2022. The poet laureate is appointed by the librarian of Congress and works to increase the national appreciation and awareness of poetry. Limón, who is of Mexican American heritage, was the first Hispanic American woman chosen for the position. She succeeded the American poet and musician Joy Harjo, who was the poet laureate from 2019 to 2022.

Limon’s style is melodic and accessible. The images in her poetry often embrace the natural world, in which she frequently finds a sense of wonder. The librarian of Congress Carla Hayden praised Limon’s poems for exploring “the beauty and heartbreak that is living, in ways that help us move forward.”

Limon’s first poetry collections were Lucky Wreck and This Big Fake World: A Story in Verse (both 2006). Her third collection, Sharks in the Rivers (2010), considers the possibility of embracing change and finding beauty in a risky, ever-changing world. Bright Dead Things (2015) deals with carrying on and preserving one’s identity in the face of loss and alienation. Her poetry collections also include The Carrying (2018) and The Hurting Kind (2022).

Ada Limón was born on March 28, 1976, in Sonoma, California. She completed a B.A. degree in drama at the University of Washington in 1998. She earned an M.F.A. degree in creative writing from New York University in 2001. She worked in marketing for magazine firms in New York City, before she began writing full time in 2010.

In 2014, Limón began teaching in the M.F.A. program of Queens University of Charlotte, in North Carolina. She often gives readings of her poetry. In 2021 and 2022, she was the host of the poetry podcast called “The Slowdown,” which offers a few moments of reflection through the reading of a poem each weekday. The podcast was launched in 2019 by the poet Tracy K. Smith during her term as poet laureate of the United States.

Clusters of redbud blossoms cover the tree’s branches in the early spring, before the leaves begin to unfold.
Credit: © Thinkstock

Spring has sprung! Today, Monday, March 20th, is the vernal equinox. The equinox is the official marker of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere. The equinox occurs when the sun is directly above Earth’s equator. When the sun is in this position, all places on Earth receive approximately 12 hours of sunlight. The term equinox comes from a Latin word meaning equal night.

Many people in the United States are welcoming spring with piles of snow outside their front door! Unseasonal and abnormal storms have hit California and the northeast United States. Heavy rain, snow, hail, and even tornadoes have hit California in the last two months. The flooding has broken levees in some communities in northern California, raising fears of even more damage. A nor’easter hit New England on Tuesday, March 14th, after an unusually quiet winter, dropping nearly 28 inches (71 centimeters) of snow in Vermont and Massachusetts. A nor’easter is a powerful storm coming from winds going northeast that produces a lot of precipitation. Many people throughout the United States are keeping their snow shovels, boots, and parkas out for a few more weeks!

A snowstorm in the Boston area left two feet of snow. Credit: AP Photo

The equinoxes occur on March 19, 20, or 21 and on September 22 or 23. In the Northern Hemisphere, the March equinox marks the start of spring and is often called the vernal equinox. The position of the vernal equinox is called the first point of Aries. The word vernal means of spring. The September equinox marks the beginning of autumn and is called the autumnal equinox. The seasons are reversed in the Southern Hemisphere.

The time interval from the March equinox to the September equinox is longer than that between the September equinox and the next March equinox by several days. This time difference results from the earth’s elliptical (oval-shaped) orbit around the sun. The earth moves faster in its orbit when it is closer to the sun. The distance between the earth and the sun is shortest in January. Therefore, the earth completes the semicircle from the September equinox to the March equinox faster than it does the opposite semicircle.

The equinoxes are the two moments of the year when the sun is directly above the equator. As Earth moves in its orbit around the sun, the position of the sun changes in relation to the equator, as shown by the dotted lines in this diagram. The sun appears north of the equator between the March equinox and the September equinox. It is south of the equator between the September equinox and the next March equinox. Credit: WORLD BOOK diagram

Historically, the year began with spring in many cultures. Evidence of this practice in ancient Rome remains part of the modern calendar. Counting March instead of January as the first month of the year, we find that September, October, November, and December are the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth months. The prefixes sept-, oct-, nov-, and dec- come from the Latin words for 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Spring looks different around the world. The Northern Hemisphere has spring weather from late March through May. In the Southern Hemisphere, spring weather begins in September and lasts through November. The number of daylight hours increases during spring, particularly in the polar regions, and the temperature rises. Nature awakens in spring. Flowers bloom, and hibernating animals leave their winter sleeping places. Many cultures have festivals that celebrate the arrival of spring. Find your own way to celebrate spring this year. Spring is a new beginning, enjoy the flowers, longer days, and warmer weather!

Mikaela Shiffrin is a champion American alpine skier. Shiffrin won the slalom gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, making her the youngest slalom champion in Olympic history. In 2018, she won the giant slalom gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She has also won the slalom world championship several times.
Credit: © Stefan Holm, Shutterstock

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

On Saturday, March 11, 2023, American Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin won her 87th World Cup race in Slovenia. Shiffrin broke Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark’s record for most career World Cup victories. Her record-breaking victory occurred 12 years after her first World Cup win at 15. She completed the course hundredths of a second faster than her opponents, securing her place as one of the greatest skiers of all time.

Shiffrin was born on March 13, 1995, in Vail, Colorado. She began skiing at the age of 3. Her family moved to New Hampshire when she was 8. Shiffrin graduated in 2013 from Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont, a high school for young skiers. In 2011, she made her World Cup debut at the age of 15, winning the bronze medal at Lienz, Austria. Later that year, at the age of 16, she won the slalom title at the United States National Championships in Winter Park, Colorado. She thus became the youngest skier to win that event. Slalom skiing involves racing down a winding course with flags. In 2012, she won her first World Cup race and was named World Cup Rookie of the Year.

Shiffrin won the slalom gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, making her the youngest slalom champion in Olympic history. In 2018, she won the giant slalom gold medal and the combined silver medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She also won the slalom World Championship in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019; the super G World Championship in 2019; the combined World Championship in 2021; and the giant slalom World Championship in 2023. Shiffrin has won more world championship titles (7) than any other American skier.

The slalom, giant slalom, and super G are three of the skiing races that make up the Alpine World Cup. The cup is awarded annually to the men and women who have won the most points in a series of five races—the slalom, giant slalom, downhill, super G, and combined. Shiffrin initially concentrated on the slalom and giant slalom. She won the World Cup slalom title in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2023. In 2019 and 2023, she also won the World Cup giant slalom title. In 2016, she began competing in the other three World Cup events. Shiffrin won the World Cup super G title in 2019. She won the overall World Cup title in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023 for earning the most combined points in all the events. In 2022, Shiffrin won her 47th World Cup slalom race, setting the record for most career World Cup victories in a single event.