Its Official: Benedict Becomes Pope Emeritus

Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times

Today, February 28, 2013 marks the first time in six centuries that a pope has stepped down from his position voluntarily. Pope Benedict XVI stepped down as Pope of the Catholic Church and gave his least speech to his people at Vatican Square. He flew around in a helicopter in a town south or Rome for his last hours as the Pope and began to prepare for his new life. The eighty-five year old Pope gave his speech while thousands of people and church officials wept because of their love towards him. They did not want him to resign because he was that one person that millions of people around the world look up to and find a connection between themselves and God. The cardinals will have their meeting next Monday to vote for Pope Benedict's successor. 115 cardinals will cast their votes and the new Pope will be appointed according to their votes. Only church cardinals can cast a vote and that is the only way a new Pope will come up. Pope Benedict XVI pledges to be loyal to the new Pope and have an alliance with him whoever it may be. This shows his commitment and dedication to the Catholic Church that he served for.

The Prohibition: Early 1900's

From the day men found out how to use alcohol, alcoholic drinks were made to satisfy people who could afford it. Rich men bought expensive alcohol, while poor men bought the cheaper kind. However, the consequences to drinking too much alcohol have been the same from the beginning until now. People do not have complete control over their minds and act differently. This caused many problems in the early 1900's which made congress pass the Eighteenth Amendment. Prohibition of alcohol. This amendment was passed in 1920 which made the sale of alcohol illegal. Even with this amendment there were ways of obtaining alcohol. If a person was rich, they could illegally buy alcohol without the government knowing. The same concept was used in the book The Great Gatsby. Since it took place during the prohibition, the only way to get alcohol was illegally. Gatsby having huge amounts of money, managed to somehow acquire large quantities of alcohol into his house and have parties. People who could not afford the illegal alcohol would come to his parties for the sole purpose of obtaining something that they could not on their own. Methods like this showed the government that there would be no way to completely stop the sale of alcohol, which led to another amendment to stop the prohibition.

Russian Scientists Collect, Study Pieces of Meteor

Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times

Last Friday, a fairly huge meteor fell from the sky onto a small town in Russia. By the time this meteor reached its final location, it had already split up and the size had decreased by a large amount. One part landed in a frozen lake called Chebarkul, which made a twenty foot hole in the ice. The other, more destructive piece, hit a building with many workers there at that time. This meteor caused millions of dollars in damage and injured over 1,000 people in which hundreds were critically injured. Russian scientists recently went to the site of impact to recover the remains of the meteor. They did not come up with much findings however. The largest piece they found was seven millimeters long and possibly the surface particle of the meteor. With such small findings it is difficult to conduct research and find something important. The scientists said that the divers who went into the water looking for the pieces did not know what they were looking for. For this reason, the scientists have proposed an idea to make programs on this topic. They have also sent a proposal to the government for an early warning system to protect Russia from space dangers.