INTERNATIONAL:

AIRSTRIKES IN SYRIA CONTINUE AFTER CEASEFIRE IS ORDERED

Doctors in Syria are saying bombs are still falling after the United Nations ordered a 30-day ceasefire after airstrikes began on Sunday, Feb. 18.

“Security Council resolutions are only meaningful if they are effective,” António Guterres, United Nations secretary general said at the opening of a session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. “Eastern Ghouta cannot wait. It’s high time to stop this hell on earth.”

The airstrikes are occurring on the outskirts of Eastern Ghouta and have included ground attacks, activists inside the city report. More than 520 people have been killed and 2,500 wounded according to CNN.

“Nothing has changed,” Dr. Hamza Hassan said in an interview with CNN. “The airstrikes are continuing. A maternity hospital has just been hit in Saqba (a town in Eastern Ghouta) and is out of service.”

UN Humanitarian coordinator Panos Moumtzis told CNN there is believed to have been at least seven casualties since the resolution was passed.

NATIONAL:

COMPANIES CONTINUE TO CUT TIES WITH THE NRA

Ten companies have ended deals with the National Rifle Association in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Feb. 14.

“Americans have had it,” Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, told CNNMoney. “This feels like a different energy level.”

Companies that have cut ties include Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Enterprise Holdings, Hertz, Avis and Budget, Symantec, TrueCar, MetLife, SimpliSafe, and First National Bank of Omaha. Amazon, Apple and Google are among the major companies that are being criticized for streaming an NRA internet channel.

“More and more business leaders are becoming the voice of principled society,” William Klepper, a professor at the Columbia Business School told CNNMoney.

WCSD posts $19 million deficit for upcoming school year

The Washoe County School District released budget documents detailing a $19.1 million deficit for the 2018-19 school year. This marks the 11th year that the district has seen a deficit over $15 million.

According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, the school district faced a total deficit of $40.1 million that resulted in an increase in early retirement buyouts, shifting various programs to grant funding and increasing class sizes of grades 4-12 by two students.

Despite the large deficit, the number is lower than expected. The district expected a debt of between $22 million and $28 million, the RGJ reports. A school board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 27.

 
Karolina Rivas can be reached at karolinar@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @karolinarrivas.