04/30/24

Good morning! It’s Tuesday, April 30th.

Honesty Day.

Honesty day should be every day. I mean, really… why are we going around lying? It’s not nice, and frankly it’s mentally taxing because you gotta remember all the things you lied about. Just tell the truth.

And now, the news.

North Carolina Shooting

-via AP News

We start how we start here in America, with three police officers dead, and another five injured, after a shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina.

It began when three officers on a U.S. Marshalls task force approached a house to serve a warrant for possessing a firearm. As they approached, the suspect they were attempting to serve the warrant for shot at the officers, who returned fire and killed the suspect.

A second person that began to fire from inside the house.

What followed was a three-hour standoff, during which armored vehicles crashed into the house and tearing off doorways and windows.

A woman and 17-year-old male were found in the house, and are currently being questioned.

To be honest, it kind of sounds like a mess – a horrific mess. Details are still coming out, so I think a few days out from this, we might have a better idea of what actually happened. But as it sounds like right now – three officers are dead, and of the five injured, one is in critical condition.

College Protests

-via ABC News

As protests continue on college campuses all over the country, Columbia University has begun arresting and suspending protestors.

The university gave students a 2 PM deadline to leave the encampment, with many students refusing to leave. As of this recording, which is far past that 2 PM deadline, it doesn’t sound like police have entered the encampment. So, I’m not sure what’s going to happen there. Police are on the campus.

At Ohio University, police, many in riot gear, began pretty aggressively breaking up the encampment, including breaking down and damaging the tents.

At UT Austin, as protestors chanted, “there is no riot here, so why are you in riot gear,” police broke down the encampment and began making arrests.

Last week, more than 50 people were arrested at a pro-Palestine protest at UT Austin, with the charges later dropped.

Vampire Facial Leads to HIV

-via NPR

Three women who received “vampire facials,” (I’ll explain those in a minute, don’t worry) at an unlicensed medical spa in New Mexico have been diagnosed with HIV, marking the first time the virus has been passed through a cosmetic procedure.

A "vampire facial," more officially known as a platelet-rich plasma microneedling facial, involves drawing a client's own blood, separating its components, and then using tiny needles to inject plasma into the face to rejuvenate the skin.

People get these procedures every single day, but this is a great reminder that really, anything involving needles should probably be licensed.

Gender-Affirming Surgery Must Be Paid by Health-Care Plans

-via Washington Post

On Monday, a federal appellate court in Richmond, Virginia made history by being the first to rule that state health-care plans must pay for gender-affirming surgeries.

The decision came from a set of cases out of North Carolina and West Virginia. In it, state officials argued that their policies were based on cost concerns, not, you know, being absolute freaks when it comes to bodies that literally have nothing to do with them. This ruling rejects that argument, saying the plans were discriminating against trans people in need of treatment.

To which the states said, well yeah… I kinda… thought you knew that. But can’t we just pretend it’s about money?

Judge Gregory, wrote in his ruling that, “In this case, discriminating on the basis of diagnosis is discriminating on the basis of gender identity and sex.” Adding, “gender dysphoria is so intimately related to transgender status as to be virtually indistinguishable from it.”

It will be appealed and head on up to the Supreme Court, which is a bummer, but in this moment… this is great news.

Oceanside Pier

-via CBS 8 (Oceanside) and CBS 8 (Seal Beach)

And we’re gonna end on a bummer of a story and if it bums you out, just know that my mom has asked, two days in a row, why I haven’t covered it yet. To which I said… I forgot. Which is true. The first time I didn’t cover it was because there wasn’t enough information. But it wasn’t in Monday’s episode because, you know… sometimes I forget things.

As we all know, I am very proudly from Oceanside. Of the many things to be proud of about Oceanside (a list on which I’m sure I’m at the top of), we have a truly incredible pier.

At 1,954 feet, it’s the longest wooden pier on the west coast. It’s also old! It opened in 1888… I remember it well.

But over the weekend, flames engulfed our perfect pier.

To be honest, I was very sad. The pictures were really sad!

95% of the pier is fine, the fire was able to be contained at the end of the pier, where, among other things, there was a closed Ruby’s Restaurant. Ruby’s closed to dine-in during the pandemic, only to permanently close in 2021.

So it’s been closed for a while. ATF is investigating the cause of the fire, but believe that it started inside that Ruby’s.

Interestingly, back in 2016, a fire broke out on the Seal Beach pier in Orange County. The pier was rebuilt, but the fire started in… an abandoned Ruby’s. The cause Seal Beach pier fire was electrical.

We’ll see what the investigation shows.

In the meantime, the city is committed to rebuilding.

When I was a kid, this is real but I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone this (calm down, it’s not salacious. I just didn’t say anything because it’s lame), but I used to have a reoccurring nightmare that I’d be walking on the pier and fall through the gaps in between the planks (they’re like a ¼ inch so… plausible for sure). So this isn’t… you know… helpful.

But there we are.

This pier story is an absolute bummer, but you know… we’re Oceanside. We’ve been through worse.

Wait, that’s not the way I wanted to end this…

We’re Oceanside! We’ll rebuild our pier, thank you very much.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of Oceanside!

Also honestly.

And honestly? More than an oatmeal cookie (it’s also National Oatmeal Cookie Day)… because you’re also very excellent (I really love an oatmeal cookie. That’s not a joke. It’s a top three cookie for me.)… and because you put up with my oatmeal cookie rants… I’m proud of you.