Local

Know: Four shootings in the St. Louis area resulted in at least six victims, Oct. 7.

Inform: St. Louis Police responded to a shooting on the 8500 block of Gilmore Avenue at 8:35 p.m. At the scene, police found one man who had been shot but was conscious and breathing as they transported him to the hospital. Minutes prior, police responded to a shooting on the 1000 block of Garth Avenue, where a nine year-old boy had been shot and debris injured a 74 year-old man. The shooter fired at the man but did not hit him. Earlier in the morning, police had responded to two women both shot in the arm on the 900 block of Manhattan Place and a teenager shot in the leg on the 3500 block of Nebraska Avenue.

Care: While the shootings did not result in any deaths, the St. Louis metropolitan area has already had 144 homicides by firearm since Jan. 1. Homicides by firearm account for the majority of the homicides. Students have chosen to speak out against the problem of gun violence within schools. With the Tuesday, November 6 election approaching, voters need to take into account each legislator’s views and how they line up with their personal opinions when voting. Each legislator has their own views and plans if they take office and it is important to find and vote for a candidate who has plans that you support. The last day to register to vote for the election is Oct. 10.

National

Know: The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh into the United States Supreme Court, Oct. 6.

Inform: President Donald Trump first announced his nomination of Kavanaugh, July 9, following Anthony Kennedy’s departure from the Supreme Court after retiring. Kavanaugh graduated from Yale Law School and served 12 years in the Washington D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals before being nominated. The Senate Judiciary Committee began Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, Sept. 4. News broke that a letter accusing the nominee of sexual misconduct had been found, Sept. 12. Kavanaugh and the White House quickly dismissed any allegations against the judge. The Washington Post published an article where Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party in the 1980s, Sept. 16. Both Ford and Kavanaugh testified, Sept. 27. The Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed Kavanaugh with a 50-48 vote, Oct. 6.

Care: Twenty-seven years ago, Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court nominee, of sexually harassing her when they had worked together for the Department of Education. Hill would go on to testify during Thomas’ confirmation hearing and Thomas would be confirmed in a 52-48 vote. The 1991 scenario bears striking similarities to the Ford-Kavanaugh allegation, setting a precedent for Supreme Court nominees facing sexual misconduct accusations. Now two members on the Supreme Court, both men of power, have been accused of sexual misconduct and have avoided any formal charges. Additionally, the addition of Kavanaugh means a 5-4 conservative majority on the court. He is the second justice that Trump has put on the court in less than two years, a major win for the Trump administration.

International

Know: The United Nations released a study saying that global warming has the world spiraling downward, Oct. 8.

Inform: The study, released from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, urges citizens to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees-Celsius. The planet is currently at one degree-Celsius above the pre-industrial level it should be at. Limiting warming would require “rapid” transitions in daily life and carbon dioxide emissions would need to drop 45 percent by 2030. Scientists warn that the 1.5 threshold could be passed by as soon as 2030 if changes are not made. The report urged people to buy less meat and milk products but buy more locally grown food, as well as drive electric cars and use only low carbon emitting products. The cost of the entire mission to save the Earth would be upward of $2.4 trillion, as an entire new energy system would have to be put in place.

Care: If global warming reaches two degrees-Celsius, drastic changes will already take over. One-hundred percent of the Earth’s coral reefs would be wiped out and the global sea-level would rise 10cm. By keeping the sea-level down one-half of a degree-Celsius, 10 million less people would be at risk for flooding. Additionally, food scarcity would be less of a problem if the threshold is not passed and there would be less extremely hot days, which result in heat-related deaths and forest fires. If the people of the Earth can take the necessary measures to prevent global warming from increasing, not only would they be saving the future, but they would be saving themselves, as these changes can take place in as soon as 12 years.