Awareness week focuses on alcohol

Thousands of college campus communities across the country set aside the third week in October for National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week, a time to educate themselves on the dangers of alcohol.

This year, many are focusing on binge drinking, defined as consuming five or more drinks in a single sitting. Binge drinking is a widespread problem on most college campuses and interferes with the mission of higher education and also carries with it serious risks of disease, injury and death.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism:

Hurricane Rick to make landfall

In more natural disaster news, meteorologists continue to track Hurricane Rick, which they have downgraded to a Category 3 storm early today.

The hurricane is headed towards Mexico’s Pacific coast, and is expected to make landfall midweek. Right now, it is producing winds around 125 miles per hour, and forecasters say despite the downgrade it is expected to be a dangerous hurricane and warned people in western Mexico to take steps to protect themselves in advance.

Philippines in for another disaster

A strong typhoon is making its way towards the Philippines today, as the nation continues to recover from two massive storms in the past month.

Tropical Storm Ketsana and Typhoon Parma have ravaged the country recently, leaving a still-rising death toll of 858 in their wake. Many died immediately when the storms struck, but bacterial infections due to tainted water have left many still sick and dying. The recent storms have also wiped out rural farming and fishing towns.

School says lesbian student can't wear tux in yearbook photo

17-year-old Ceara Sturgis has never tried to hide her homosexuality. She’s out and proud. The honor student who plays the trumpet and serves as goalie on the school soccer team, doesn’t own a dress. So no one should have been surprised when she wanted her senior photograph in a tuxedo used in the 2009-2010 yearbook, but school officials balked at her request, saying in a letter that only boys could wear tuxedos.

Shut up and drive!

Car crashes are the leading cause of teen deaths. This scary statistic demonstrates the importance of this cause week: National Teen Driver Safety Week.

Biggest polluters sit down to solve money troubles

Representatives from the world’s 17 largest and most polluting countries held talks in London yesterday, in an attempt to nail down a financing plan to limit climate change and reduce carbon emissions worldwide.

In December, these countries will attend a conference in Denmark which is meant to end two years of negotiations on a global climate change treaty, and finalize a global plan for action.