The Breakdown: Deadly Synagogue Shooting Latest in Series of Attacks on Places of Worship

Getty Images: Mario Tama / Staff

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The One Big Thing

Deadly Synagogue Shooting Latest in Series of Attacks on Places of Worship

A gunman on Saturday shot and killed a 60-year-old woman and injured three others at synagogue in San Diego. The terrorist was reportedly yelling anti-Semitic slurs and had posted a white supremacist manifesto online, apparently inspired by the one posted by the terrorist in the New Zealand massacre last month. The attack adds to a trend of violence in places of worship, including the burning of 3 Black churches in Louisiana, the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, and recent attacks on mosques and other places of worship.

(Pop) Culture Shock

Brie Larson Said Marvel Movies Need Better LGBT Representation After Fans Were Disappointed With The MCU's First Openly Gay Character

This past weekend, the long awaited Avengers: Endgame opened in theaters, smashing every box office record. Notably, the film included a small step in the way of LGBTQ+ representation with a brief moment of a man discussing his same-sex dates that had vanished. One director of the film, Joe Russo, told Deadline, “We’re trying to represent everyone in everyday life. These are global movies that reach a lot of people. They are important to a lot of people and everyone has the right to see themselves on the screen and identify somewhere.” Despite the criticism and the long path ahead to better representation for LGBTQ+ people, this is a step in the right direction.

The Good News Is...

World’s First Malaria Vaccine to Go to 360,000 Children

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that 360,000 children in three different African countries will receive the world’s first malaria vaccine. In this large-scale pilot, WHO is focusing on children as children under 5 are at the greatest risk of its life-threatening complications. As CNN reports, “More recent data suggests that malaria is making a comeback, with 219 million cases in 2017, compared with 217 million in 2016.” The vaccine prevents approximately 4 out of every 10 malaria cases, as found in clinical trials where the vaccine has been tested.

That's What She Said

“Within a period of a few weeks we could have about 600 people in LA county with measles. That's why we are taking this so seriously.”

-Barbara Ferrer, director of the LA County Department of Public Health, on why some LA college students and staff are being quarantined after a measles outbreak.

Quick Hitters

Why aren’t more people talking about… Phillip Youmans, an NYU freshmen, the youngest filmmaker to debut a feature at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Meanwhile, in Malawi… Meet Kamkwamba, the African teen building windmills out of junk to supply his village with electricity.

My heroes today are… the US Youth Climate Strike activists, who launched a massively successful petition to demand a climate debate from Democratic presidential candidates.

I’m obsessed with… this meme describing how moms look at funny memes. It’s just too relatable. (Love you, Mom!)