December 2011 Archives

Two giant pandas arrived at Edinburgh, Scotland from China recently, according to BBC News.

The pandas' names are Sweetie and Sunshine, and arrived in Edinburgh after a 5,000 mile non-stop flight from China.

After five years of negotiation with China, it was decided that the pandas will be staying at Edinburgh Zoo for the next 10 years.

Sweetie and Sunshine are the first pandas to be loaned to Britain in more than 17 years, and they are costing Edinburgh Zoo 600,000 pounds a year, but the Zoo hopes that because of the pandas, Zoo attendance will increase over the years.

Western United States, particularly California, got hit with severe wind storms recently, according to ABC News.

These violent winds left nearly 200,000 people without power in parts of California and Utah after the worst wind storm in a decade, reported ABC.

Power lines were downed, fires raged throughout the night, and lights on all terminals at the Los Angeles airport went out at the same time.

Winds of over 150 miles per hour devastated parts of Utah and Colorado, destroying houses and toppling trees all over the West.

The Red Cross has opened stations in parts of California that saw the worst damage, providing people with food and shelter if needed.

The mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, told ABC News that crews from all over the West have been called to help clear the streets of fallen trees and debris.

Pennsylvania's Milton Hershey School recently rejected entry to a student because of the fact that he was HIV positive, according to CNN.

The circumstances of this situation were ironic, given that the school's decision was made during the week of World Aids Day and because the school was founded over 100 years ago for the purpose of providing education to disadvantaged students.

The denied student, who wished not to show his face on the broadcast, said he was put under emotional stress because of this and wished that no other teenager would have to go through something similar.

The Aids Law Project of Pennsylvania filed suit on the student's behalf, claiming that the Hershey School violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, reported CNN.

The school believed that they made the right choice because they felt the student would prove to be a direct threat to the health of others, saying that he might engage in sexual intercourse with fellow students.

An increasingly large number of Minnesota parents are opting out of vaccines for their children, according to

A new Associated Press analysis shows that Minnesota has the third highest rate of skipping out on required immunizations in the United States at 6.5 percent, reported 5 Eyewitness News.

Many parents have opted out of immunization for their children due to religious, medical or philosophical reasons.

Patsy Stinchfield, Director of Infectious Disease at Children's Hospitals and Clinics in Minnesota, told 5 Eyewitness News that even one family opting out of immunizations could be harmful to an entire community if they would happen to then contract that disease for which they opted out for the shot.

However, Stinchfield reminded 5 Eyewitness News that the majority of parents are taking the responsibility to obtain the immunizations for their children.

In the midst of the lowest United States unemployment rate since March 2009, a Minnesota-based company has recently laid off 2,000 employees, according to Kare 11 News.

Cargill is a food and agricultural giant with headquarters in Minnesota that employs 138,000 people worldwide and has declined the opportunity to comment on the situation.

Recently laid off employees told Kare 11 that this letting go of workers has been widespread in the company during this holiday season, beginning on the first of the month.

Employees had to sign a confidentiality form stating that they wouldn't speak publicly about what happened, and Cargill has yet to release a statement about its recent activities.