Darts & Laurels: June 6, 2019

Your one class of the day is finally done. Of course, the sky is dumping water down like the ground is on fire. “It’s just water. Stop being over dramatic,” you tell yourself. The impatient energy gets to you. It’s time to run. You push off the wet floor, but there is no traction. You slip and hit your head. You stare up in the sky and instead of stars you see…

Darts & Laurels

Almost 20 million Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp customers’ personal information may have been accessed through a cyberattack on its billing company, American Medical Collection Agency. From Aug. 1 to March 20,  hackers had access to the information. We are giving a dart to the hacking as it put 11.9 million Quest Diagnostics and 7.7 million LabCorp patients’ information at risk. On Monday, Quest Diagnostics disclosed the cyber attack in its Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The day after Quest Diagnostics rang in the bad news, LabCorp said ‘yeah...me too.’ For LabCorp, about 200,000 customers’ bank account and credit card information was stolen. Luckily, no medical data or laboratory results were compromised.  

The number of vaccinated UF students confirmed to have the mumps is up to 24. We are giving a dart to the outbreak that has plagued Alachua county. It is important not to share drinks, utensils or kisses during this testing time as the viral disease can be spread through saliva. It seems safe to say a night out at Midtown could be even more of a hazard zone than it usually is with spare cups/straws everywhere and people just standing around the corner ready to kiss you. Stay safe out there by throwing your cups away so no one accidentally drinks it, and keep your French kisses to yourself.

On Saturday, the world said goodbye to a culinary legend: Leah Chase. Known as the Queen of Creole Cuisine, Chase was an author, television personality and owner of Dooky Chase, one of the only New Orleans public places where African Americans could rendezvous and talk civil rights strategy during the 1960s. We are giving Chase a laurel not only for her life’s achievements but also because through her restaurant, she created a safe place for the black community in New Orleans. In 2010, Chase was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America, which is essentially the hall of fame of food. She died at the age of 96.

The House passed a bill on Tuesday potentially creating a path to citizenship for Dreamers. We are giving a laurel to the legislation as it will provide U.S. residents brought to the country as children an opportunity to gain citizenship to a country many of them have always called home. Almost all Democrats voted in favor of the bill along with seven Republicans. If the bill passes, nearly 2.3 million undocumented citizens who came to the U.S. as children would be eligible for legal status. Unfortunately, the Republican-majority Senate will probably not pass the bill or the president will veto it. On Monday, the White House Office of Management and Budget brought up concerns the legislation would increase the deficits and “only exacerbate illegal immigration.”

Lastly, we are giving a laurel in respect to the 12 victims of the Virginia Beach shooting. On Friday, DeWayne Craddock went from one room to the next fatally shooting a dozen people in the city’s municipal building. Five others were injured. According to CNN, all but one of the victims were Virginia Beach city employees. On Wednesday night, the Associated Press reported police were not able at one point to enter the building and confront the shooter because they did not have the key card required to open the second floor doors. Craddock had been a city employee for the past 15 years. He had a security pass. He also used a silencer and high-capacity magazine. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is calling for “votes and laws, not thoughts and prayers.” Rightfully so.

The Alligator Editorial Board includes the Opinions Editor Jackie De Frietas, Editor-in-Chief Mark Stine and managing editors Hannah Beatty and Lindsey Breneman.