No Child Left Behind has, well, been left behind.
As the sun sets on Obama’s presidency, we are seeing a significant increase in wielded presidential power. Most recently, the President signed a new law getting rid of the vestiges of President George W. Bush’s infamous No Child Left Behind policy. Gone are the copious amounts of standardized tests and federal monitoring – rejoice! Now, please welcome the Every Student Succeeds Act, a law putting more power in the hands of the states. With Obama’s new education policy, the federal government will no longer be punishing schools for not delivering satisfactory test scores. Instead, the states will be given the power to set and enforce standards in their schools, provided their plans are approved by the Department of Education. The Every Student Succeeds Act sailed through both houses of Congress with flying colors, receiving strong bipartisan support – something that is nearly unheard of nowadays. So far, this new legislation has started off on a high note and marks a significant victory in education reform.
Iran and Saudi Arabia
Tension between two superpowers in the Middle East came to an all time high this month as the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia became more toxic than ever. This cold war reached a turning point when protesters in Tehran, Iran attacked the Saudi Arabian embassy on Saturday, January 2. The next day, Saudi Arabia announced the official end of their diplomatic relations with Iran. The day after that, Saudi Arabia banned its citizens from traveling to Iran and commercial ties were cut. The initial attack was sparked by Saudi Arabia’s announcement of the death of Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent religious and political leader of the Shia minority in Saudi Arabia. al-Nimr’s death was so controversial because of the divide between the two separate sects of Islam, Sunni and Shia. The predominantly Shia Iran became enraged to hear their minority was being targeted within the predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia. Though not the sole source of conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the Sunni and Shia differences are certainly contributing factors along with political power struggles, U.S. and Western relations, oil export policy and Islamic leadership. Though things were starting to calm down between the two countries towards the end of last year, this most recent development marks the continuation of a long conflict ahead.
The Powerball jackpot of the century
1.5 billion dollars is enough money to buy yourself more than a few mansions, a couple sports cars for kicks, maybe your own sports team, or better yet an island. All that and more was at stake in the biggest powerball jackpot to date that was held this past January. The winning combination was 4-9-19-27-34 with a powerball of 10. The Powerball brought in a good amount of revenue to the 46 participating states, but only three of the states were able to boast the titles of winner – Florida, Tennessee and California. A third of the 1.5 billion dollars will be distributed to each of three winners coming from each of the states, beating the odds of 1 in 292.6 million. Unfortunately, these three victors’ identities remain anonymous to the public. Each winner has the choice of receiving money split up over the course of a decade, or receiving a smaller lump sum. What’s 30 million dollars difference when you could buy a few yachts by tomorrow?
