One dead, more than one dozen injured in Fort Hood shooting
Four people were killed and up to 14 people injured after a gunman opened fire at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to Austin news station KXAN.
According to KXAN, 34-year-old Ivan Lopez opened fire Wednesday afternoon in the Medical Brigade building on the base while wearing an Army uniform. The base was in lockdown for several hours after the attack.
The initial report said that the incident started as a soldier-on-soldier confrontation, CNN reported. It is not terror-related, sources said.
Lopez was among the causalities, and appeared to have died from a self-inflicted wound, KXAN reported.
Fort Hood was also the scene of a shooting that killed 13 people in 2009.
Two K-State Goldwater Scholars named
Two K-State students were selected for the Barry M. Goldwater scholarship, adding to the longest list of Goldwater scholars in history.
Max Goering, senior in mathematics from McPherson, and Christine Spartz, junior in chemistry from Ellington, Conn., were selected for the award. Approximately 300 students are selected annually for the $7,500 scholarship.
Goering is currently working with Pietro Poggio-Corradini, professor of mathematics, to research the mathematical modulus of finite graphs. Goering will be presenting results at the Mathematical Association of America meeting in Emporia and at K-State’s All-University Open House on Saturday.
Spartz has worked with Christer Aakeröy, university distinguished professor of chemistry, since 2011. They are altering the water solubility of the cancer drug 5-flurouracil to explore drug administering methods. She plans to pursue a graduate degree in food chemistry.
Goering and Spartz become the 69th and 70th K-State recipients of the Goldwater scholarship. Thuy Cao, junior in biochemistry, and Brendan Heffernan, junior in physics, were also nominated for the award.
Facebook page dedicated to bullying shut down
A Facebook page named ‘Salina Confession,’ dedicated to name calling, threats and suicide encouragement, was shut down earlier this week.
According to Eyewitness News 12, dozens of people contacted Facebook to ask for the page to be removed. According to Facebook’s Community Standards, content that contains inappropriate material such as violence, threats, bullying and harassment, hate speech and graphic content is not allowed.
Eyewitness News’ FactFinders 12 Investigators team contacted Facebook after learning about its existence; the page was taken down approximately an hour later.
According to Eyewitness News, the Salina school administrators declined as interview because it was a “student discipline” issue.
KU Professor suspended for tweeting to return
David Guth, the Kansas University professor who was suspended after his controversial tweet about the Navy Yard shooting in September 2013, has announced that he will return to the university in the fall.
Guth will return from a seven month paid leave, which, he claims, had been in “the works since 2012.”
The social media incident brought to light the Kansas Board of Regent’s lack of social media policy. Since then, the board has assembled a work group of faculty and staff from the six state universities, including K-State, to study the issue. They expect to make final recommendations in April.
Guth is expected to teach History of Journalism and Mass Communications and Message Development within the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Major earthquake rocks Chile, causes tsunami
Late Tuesday evening, an 8.2-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of northern Chile. It triggered small landslides and generated a tsunami.
Four men and a woman died; two suffered heart attacks and three were crushed. Approximately 300 prisoners escaped from a prison in Iquique after the natural disaster.
Following the earthquake, the Chilean National Emergency Office asked residents to evacuate the area. Many areas continued to experience aftershocks and downed power lines among other destruction. Wednesday night, around 9:45 p.m. local time, a 6.4-magnitude aftershock shook the same area; 45 minutes later, a 7.8-magnitude aftershock struck the area, causing more damage.
The earthquake triggered a tsunami that resulted in 6-foot waves on the coast of Pisagua. Iquique was also hit by 7-foot waves. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued several tsunami warnings, but canceled them by early Wednesday.
Chile is on the “ring of fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin that is prone to earthquakes. A 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit 37 miles west-northwest of Iquique on March 16, followed by a 6.1-magnitude earthquake in the same place a week later.
