3 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(10/22/18 11:57pm)
By Pooja Paidipalli
Staff Writer
Pope Francis expelled two retired Chilean bishops from the priesthood amidst claims that they committed sexual abuse against minors. The Vatican released a statement claiming that the pope made the decision — the harshest available in church law — on Oct. 11, according to The New York Times.
The decision was announced after Pope Francis met Chile’s president, Sebastian Piñera, in Vatican City, according to BBC. The two spoke about the clerical sexual abuse allegations against minors.
One bishop, Francisco Cox, 84, served as archbishop emeritus of La Serena and now suffers from dementia. He has a record of sexually abusing minors that dates back to his post as bishop of the Chilean diocese in 1974, according to The New York Times.
Cox was accused of sexual abuse by approximately a dozen people over multiple decades, according to The Wall Street Journal. He recently refused to discuss the accusations with a Chilean television crew.
Cox reportedly joined the Schoenstatt religious order following abuse allegations in 2002, according to The Washington Post.
The Washington Post released a statement from the order saying, “We receive this news with much shame for the damage caused to the victims. We show solidarity with them and their profound suffering. Today more than ever, we deplore every act of abuse that offends the dignity of people.”
Representatives of Schoenstatt in Chile released a statement saying that they were “embarrassed” by the harm caused by Cox and that they supported Francis’ decision, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Ordenes Fernandez, 53, was the second bishop to be defrocked. Fernandez is a retired bishop of Iquique in northern Chile. Six years after his appointment as bishop, Fernandez retired, allegedly for health reasons, but allegations of abuse soon followed his retirement, according to The Washington Post.
Fernandez has not been seen publicly since 2013, according to The New York Times. He has been living in Peru and it is believed that he adopted a life of prayer and penitence.
Cox and Fernandez will be forbidden from celebrating mass, administering the sacraments or identifying as priests. However, the Vatican will permit Cox to remain a member of the Schoenstatt religious order, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Prosecutors have launched extensive investigations into decades of clerical sexual abuse against children in Chile, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Juan Carlos Cruz, a prominent Chilean victim of clerical sexual abuse, tweeted, “Two less pedophile bishops. Now it is the turn of Chilean justice to do something.”
All active Chilean bishops offered to resign in May for mishandling the sexual abuse scandal of Cox and Fernandez. Pope Francis has accepted seven of those resignations, according to The New York Times.
(03/19/18 3:47pm)
By Pooja Paidipalli
Staff Writer
On March 9, Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation that imposed tight gun limitations following the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida last month, according to CNN. Senate Bill 7026 is the first legislative gun control measure taken after the grisly shooting in one of the most gun-friendly states in the country.
The bill, known colloquially as the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, raised the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21, extended the long guns waiting period to three days and banned bump stocks to prevent guns from firing automatically, according to CNN.
The bill permits police to seize firearms from the mentally ill, fund bulletproof glass and metal detectors and train teachers and other personnel to carry guns in every school, according to Fox News.
The bill also allocated over $69 million in funds for mental health services in schools. The government will spend an additional $98 million to heighten school building security, according to CNN.
Families of Parkland shooting victims applauded the bill.
“When it comes to preventing future acts of horrific school violence, this is the beginning of the journey,” said Tony Montalto, whose daughter Gina was killed, according to The New York Times. “We have paid a terrible price for this progress.”
The Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program, a section of the bill named after the coach who was killed while shielding students with his own body, is a controversial $67 million provision that arms teachers with the consent of both the school district and local police department, according to CNN.
The guardian program faced fierce opposition from teachers’ unions that sent letters to Scott, urging him to veto funding that would permit school personnel to carry weapons, yet Scott emphasized that the guardian program is voluntary, according to CNN.
“If counties do not want to do this, they simply can say no,” he said, according to CNN.
The bill carries significant political implications for Scott, who is approaching his term limit. Scott received high praise from the National Rifle Association in the past, and the signing of the bill marked his first time deviating from the organization’s philosophies, according to CNN.
The bill faced immediate opposition from the NRA, which filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court and deemed the new law unconstitutional for imposing age restrictions on purchasing weapons, according to NPR.
“Florida’s law banning adult law-abiding citizens under 21 from purchasing firearms of any kind is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment and 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution,” the NRA wrote in the suit, according to NPR.
The law’s passage surprised many residents of the state. Florida had previously failed to impose gun restrictions after shootings at Pulse nightclub in 2016, which claimed 49 lives, and Fort Lauderdale airport, which left five dead, according to The New York Times.
“To the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, you made your voices heard," Scott said, according to CNN. "You didn't let up and you fought until there was change.”
(11/10/16 7:43pm)
By Pooja Paidipalli
Staff Writer
The National Bureau of Economic Research’s recent academic study found a pattern of Uber and Lyft drivers discriminating against passengers. The study was released at a time when other transportation platforms are exhibiting discriminatory behavior, according to Huffington Post.
Historically, the traditional taxi industry has picked up white passengers more often than African American passengers, Lyft’s Director of Policy Communications Adrian Durbin told Huffington Post.
“We are extremely proud of the positive impact Lyft has on communities of color,” Durbin said. “And we provide this service while maintaining an inclusive and welcoming community, and do not tolerate any form of discrimination.”
However, new evidence shows that Uber and Lyft still have a long way to go. The National Bureau of Economic Research reported that researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and University of Washington conducted a two-year study in which they hailed about 1,500 rides in Seattle and Boston. They found there was a correlation between the way drivers treated passengers — sometimes cancelling trips — and the passenger's race and gender.
"The additional travel that female riders are exposed to appears to be a combination of profiteering and flirting to a captive audience," the study said, according to CNN.
Undergraduate research assistants were given identical smartphones, mobile carriers and data plans to guarantee no technical variations among the riders, CNN reported. Complex reported that the students were asked to request numerous rides and note the time the ride was requested, if the driver accepted the request, the time the rider was picked up and the time it took to reach the final destination. The study also tested various names that are traditionally female and stereotypically “African American-sounding.”
After comparing the rider’s experiences, the researchers found evidence pointing to racial and gender discrimination by drivers in each city, Huffington Post reported. Research revealed that many African American passengers endured longer wait times and numerous cancellations, while many female passengers were flirted with, taken on longer routes and overcharged for the longer rides.
According to Complex, the study revealed that it took up to 28 percent longer for drivers to accept trips for “African American-sounding” names. In Boston, Uber cancelled rides three times as often for men with a “distinctively black name,” while Lyft did not appear to cancel on male riders based on their names.
Researchers hypothesize that the reason behind this is that the Uber app shows the rider’s photo and name only after accepting the ride, and the only information given to the driver before accepting a ride is the time it takes to reach the final destination. Since Lyft allows drivers to see the passenger’s name and photo before accepting the ride, the study might not have captured the full extent of discrimination by Lyft drivers, according to Huffington Post.
Spokespeople from both Uber and Lyft have made it clear that the apps are intended to provide inexpensive and easy rides for everyone, so discriminatory drivers will not be tolerated.
“Discrimination has no place in society, and no place on Uber,” Uber head of North American Operations Rachel Holt said in a statement, according to Huffington Post. “We believe Uber is helping reduce transportation inequities across the board, but studies like this one are helpful in thinking about how we can do even more.”