Bravo to the Billy Ray Harris, the homeless Missouri man who returned a woman's lost engagement ring. According to the Associated Press, a woman had accidentally dropped her ring into Harris's collecting cup. It's refreshing to see that while nearly every other news story is concerned with tragedy, there are still decent people in the world.
Boo to usually comedic parody news outlet The Onion for calling 9-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis, a nominee for Best Actress at the Oscars, an obscene name. The comment came about via Twitter and was quickly rescinded after much criticism from the public. The Onion had no First Amendment right to target Wallis, much less use obscenity in reference to an innocent child. Although the comedy news source often pushes the envelope, this was just not cool.
Bravo to Paul N.J. Osttonsson, Per Halberg and Karen Baker Landers, the Academy Award winners who tied for the sound editing Oscar. Halberg and Landers won for editing "Skyfall," while Osttonsson won for "Zero Dark Thirty." There have only been five other ties in Oscars history.
Boo to the car crash at the NASCAR Daytona 500 on Feb. 23 that left 28 fans injured. While we understand there is an assumption of risk that should be acknowledged while attending these sporting events, fans fear that they could possibly leave the racetrack in critical condition is still a terrible blemish for NASCAR.
Bravo to actress Helen Hunt for stepping out in an H&M; dress — at the Oscars. A previous Oscar winner, she praised the Swedish brand for being "sustainable."
Boo to the clothing company DKNY for using photographer Brandon Stanton's work in the display windows of a Bangkok store, without his permission or compensation.
Bravo to US Airways not relocating the Tempe corporate office to Fort Worth, Texas, which could have negatively affected Tempe’s economy, specifically local businesses in the downtown area. Concerns arose among the Tempe community after US Airways and American Airlines announced a merger of the two airline companies on Feb. 13.
Boo to the arrival of midterms (and final exams for Session A students). It’s already that time of the semester, and you know the drill: study, procrastinate, lose sleep, underdress, spend too much money on coffee, stress, hate everybody, repeat. It will be a difficult challenge for the many ASU students who are trying to survive their exams while still finding time to book their spring break trip to Lake Havasu in two weeks.
Bravo to Arizona's Legislature for looking to help veterans. Four pieces of legislation (if passed) will help create scholarships, allow military education and experience to count toward civilian licenses and certificates and give businesses a tax credit for hiring veterans. Let's just hope that the legislation follows through with its intentions; our veterans deserve it.
Boo to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for doubling down on his previous statements alleging that certain members of the Harvard Law School faculty were card-carrying communists. While it may be a common assumption that university professors tend to lean to the political left, to claim that such professors "believed in the overthrow of the U.S. Government" is ridiculous. We've been through this before.
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