Transcript
ISABEL SILAGY, INTRO: This is Beach Weekly.
(SOUNDBITE OF “SUMMER SOLSTICE ON THE JUNE PLANET” – BAIL BONDS)
ISABEL SILAGY, BYLINE: Welcome to Season 9: Episode 11 of Beach Weekly, a podcast created and produced by Long Beach State’s student-run newspaper, the Daily Forty-Niner. I’m your host Isabel Silagy, coming to you from the 22 West studios on the Long Beach State Campus. Well everybody it is October 31st, so Happy Halloween! I hope you all have a wonderfully spooky day, and celebrate hard but not too hard that you regret it tomorrow. Anyway we have a lot to get into today, but before we do that, let’s hear a word from our sponsor:
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LEILA NUNEZ: Southland Credit Union is offering a $200 bonus when you open a free Long Beach State Checking account at their new Campus Branch in the University Student Union Plaza. This offer is only available during the Fall 2022 semester! For more information, visit www.beachCU.com.
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ISABEL SILAGY: Long Beach State President Jane Close Conoley announced last Wednesday that the Spring 2023 commencement will be hosted at Angel Stadium for the third year in a row, as well as for the foreseeable future.
Although the initial decision to move commencement to Angel Stadium was made to maintain safe distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Conoley says the decision to remain at the stadium is because of a steady increase in the number of student graduates surpassing available space to host the ceremonies on campus.
Commencement will proceed similarly to the previous year with only a few key differences:
There will be two additional commencement ceremonies added to the traditionally scheduled seven for the seven distinct colleges—three ceremonies on each day between May 15, 16 and 17. The decision to incorporate two additional ceremonies was made in order to mitigate the hour-long processions from the larger colleges such as Liberal Arts and the College of Health and Human Services.
In the past, when the ceremony was on campus, students would provide a note card before stepping on stage to have their names called. Conoley and her team are currently weighing different options such as having a pre-recording of all student names announced. She says plans are still being finalized, but for now, commencement for Spring 2023 will be back at Angel stadium.
Long Beach State men’s golfer Ian Gilligan just received the title of No. 1 collegiate men’s golfer in the country. This most recent accomplishment of Gilligan’s comes after he was awarded the 2022 Freshman of the Year title, and helped lead his team to a championship at the Nick Watney Invitational, where he won the individual title. Congratulations to Ian!
The Billie Jean King Library, located in downtown Long Beach, reopened last Thursday after security concerns caused a four-week closure. Since Sept. 23, the library has only been offering ‘to-go’ services due to these safety concerns.
After working with Long Beach city manager’s office and the Long Beach Police Department, the library determined it is safe enough to reopen, with library staff having received additional safety training and Long Beach PD going to patrol the library while it’s open.
The Library has modified their hours to align with the available security, but they are expected to go back to their regular hours on Nov. 1. The temporary hours for the library include being closed Sunday and Monday, and open Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Wednesdays from 12 to 6 p.m., Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Alright, that is all for news from around the Long Beach Area, now let’s look at headlines from across the country:
The San Francisco Bay Area was rocked last Tuesday after experiencing its largest earthquake in 8 years. A 5.1 magnitude earthquake hit in the late morning on Tuesday about 12 miles east of San Jose, along the Calaveras Fault. Aftershocks continued until the late afternoon, with the largest ones reaching a magnitude of 3.1 and then 3.6. According to ABC News, no injuries or damage to infrastructure occurred because of the earthquakes.
Many residents in the Bay Area were notified of the earthquake via mobile notifications, through a system developed by the US Geological Survey. Some Android users, however, received notifications seconds before the earthquake even hit though the Android Earthquake Alerts System. According to Wired.com, the Android system does not predict earthquakes, but detects them early enough to give people even a few seconds to take shelter before the major movement of the earthquake begins.
That sounds kind of odd, but honestly super cool? Fingers crossed we don’t have a major earthquake anytime here in Southern California, but if we do, Android users will apparently be the first ones to duck under tables.
Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia, is facing allegations from a second woman that he pressured her into having an abortion. You heard that right, this is the second woman to come forward and allege that Walker, a passionate pro-life advocate, pushed her to have an abortion in the 1990s.
The woman, who is keeping her name private out of safety concerns, claims to have had an affair with Walker while he was married between 1987 and1993. She claims Walker drove her to the abortion clinic and paid for the procedure in 1993.
According to NPR, the woman is interestingly a registered independent who voted for former President Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020. The woman said that she was motivated to come forward after hearing Walker deny allegations made by another ex-girlfriend of Walker’s, that he pressured her into having two abortions.
At a press conference, the woman’s attorney, Gloria Allred, shared several items that the woman had from her relationship with Walker, including photos, letters, and a voicemail.
The U.S. Senate candidates in Pennsylvania, television personality Dr. Oz and former PA lieutenant governor John Fetterman, faced off in a debate last week.
It did not go very smoothly though, in part because Fetterman is dealing with some verbal communication difficulties after having a stroke 5 months ago. Fetterman, who has been medically cleared by his doctors, was very upfront about his recovery and sometimes difficulty in speaking at the beginning of the debate, but this did not stop Dr. Oz from making some arguably rude comments. Also, Fetterman’s occasional struggle to speak during the debate set off a firestorm of conversations online, some of which definitely strayed into ableist rhetoric.
The rocky debate has unnerved Democratic officials in the country, who are concerned that Fetterman’s performance may impact his electability in the upcoming midterm elections.
The billionaire who everybody loves to hate, Mr. Elon Musk, officially took control of Twitter last week. The world’s richest man paid $44 billion dollars for the platform in the finalized deal, which was threatened to not even happen for months due to legal dealings and a feud between Musk and the Twitter board.
In just the first day of Musk’s reign over Twitter, layoffs of Twitter employees began, aligning with reports that once the deal was closed, Musk planned to cut as much as 75% of Twitter’s staff.
Clearly Musk is not too concerned about the layoffs, as he signified the deal’s closing by changing his Twitter bio to ‘Chief Twit’, yes, you hear that correctly. Musk claims he is purchasing the platform to quote “help humanity” – what a philanthropist.
Alright, that is all for Season 9: Episode 11 of Beach Weekly. Thank you to our editor, Andy Nguyen and our producer, Leila Nunez. Thank you to 22 West, and a very big thank you to all of you for listening!
If you want to learn more about the stories we discussed today and also see all of our other very marvelous content, head on over to Daily49er.com. And to make sure you don’t miss a single thing that happens on campus – so you can show up all your friends with your news knowledge – give us a follow on our socials @Daily49er. Have a great week everyone, happy Halloween, and we’ll meet you back here next Monday!
(SOUNDBITE OF “SUMMER SOLSTICE ON THE JUNE PLANET” – BAIL BONDS)