February 14, 2018 The Skanner Page 11
News
Gunman Kills at Least 17 People at
Florida High School
UO Plans to Start Construction
on Black Cultural Center
By Terry Spencer and Kelli Kennedy
Associated Press
PHOTO VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Officials expect to open by September 2019
University of Oregon
Associated Press
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) —
Construction begins this
summer on a Black Cul-
tural Center at the Uni-
versity of Oregon, and
school officials expect
to open the $2.2 million
building by September
2019.
The Black Student Task
Force sought the center
in 2015 when it made a
list of 13 demands to im-
prove the experience of
Black students on the
Eugene campus. Other
demands, some of which
remain unmet, includ-
ed changing building
names, hiring more
Black teachers and en-
hancing Black studies.
Review
cont’d from pg 9
est was captured while
the camera was on. To be
honest, what I found most
memorable was learning
that you can hear rats
scurrying around in the
“Black students need
a place that will provide
us an opportunity to
gather, explore resource
prospects for success,
and reinforce our aca-
demic pursuits,” the task
force said in a statement
Wednesday. “The Black
Cultural Center will in-
deed be this place for
black students.”
The UO has raised near-
ly $1.7 million for the
two-story, 3,500-square-
foot building and still
needs $500,000, The Reg-
ister-Guard reported .
Roughly $1 million
of the money raised
so far came from Dave
Petrone, who earned an
undergraduate degree
and a master’s degree in
business administration
from the UO in the 1960s.
The cultural center will
include room for small
gatherings, classes, tu-
toring and meetings, said
Kevin Marbury, the UO’s
vice president of student
life. Planning documents
submitted to the city
of Eugene last month
show the center having a
courtyard, a gallery and
a lounge.
The Many Nations
Longhouse is currently
the only building on cam-
pus dedicated to an eth-
nic group, Marbury said.
Native American stu-
dents asked school lead-
ers to build it in the late
1960s and early 1970s.
Information from The
Register-Guard.
White House ceiling in
the middle of the night.
And that the place has
roaches, too! Who knew?
Overall, an unremark-
able “fly-on-the-wall,” or
should I say, “roach-on-
the-wall”
documenta-
ry strictly for political
junkies and Obama fans
who might miss the man.
Good HH
Unrated
Running time: 89 min-
utes
To see a trailer for The Fi-
nal Year, visit TheSkan-
ner.com.
PARKLAND, Fla. — A former stu-
dent opened fire at a Florida high
school Wednesday, killing at least 17
people and sending scores of students
fleeing into the streets in the nation’s
deadliest school shooting since a gun-
man attacked an elementary school in
Newtown, Connecticut.
Frantic parents rushed to Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School to
find SWAT team members and am-
bulances surrounding the campus as
classes prepared to dismiss for the
day. Live footage showed emergency
workers who appeared to be treating
the wounded on sidewalks.
“It is a horrific situation,” said Rob-
ert Runcie, superintendent of the
school district in Parkland, about an
hour’s drive north of Miami. “It is a
horrible day for us.”
The 19-year-old suspect was taken
into custody without a fight about an
hour after he left the scene, authori-
ties said.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel
said the suspect, who was previously
expelled for disciplinary reasons, had
at least one rifle and multiple maga-
zines.
“It’s catastrophic. There really are
no words,” Israel said on Twitter.
Most of the fatalities were inside the
building, though some victims were
found fatally shot outside, the sheriff
said.
The gunman was identified as Nico-
las Cruz by a U.S. official briefed on
the investigation. The official spoke
on condition of anonymity because
he was not authorized to discuss the
information publicly.
In a cul-de-sac near the school, Mi-
chael Nembhard was sitting in his
garage when he saw a young man in
a burgundy shirt walking down the
street. In an instant, a police cruiser
pulled up and officers jumped out
with guns drawn.
“All I heard was ‘Get on the ground!
Get on the ground!” Nembhard said.
He said he could not see the suspect’s
face, but that the man got on the
ground without incident.
“
It’s catastrophic.
There really are
no words
The day started normally at the
school, which had a morning fire drill,
and students were in class around
2:30 p.m. when another alarm sound-
ed.
Noah Parness, a 17-year-old junior,
said he and the other students calmly
went outside to their fire-drill areas
when he suddenly heard popping
sounds.
“We saw a bunch of teachers run-
ning down the stairway, and then
everybody shifted and broke into
a sprint,” Parness said. “I hopped a
fence.”
Beth Feingold said her daughter,
Brittani, sent a text at 2:32 p.m. that
said, “We’re on code red. I’m fine,” but
sent another text shortly afterward
saying, “Mom, I’m so scared.”
Brittani later was able to escape the
school, which is one of the largest in
the state, with about 3,000 students.
Inside the school, students heard
loud bangs as the shooter fired. Many
of them hid under desks or in closets
and barricaded doors.
Television footage showed those stu-
dents who fled leaving in a single-file
line with their hands over their heads
as officers urged them to evacuate
quickly. Parents hurried to the scene.
Read more at TheSkanner.com