IN MEMORIAM: JAQUELINE ANDREWS

Jaqueline Sephora Andrews, a Seattle University graduate student, passed away suddenly on Sunday, April 24. Jaqueline was a Master of Divinity student at the School of Theology & Ministry and was a member of the United Church of Christ. According to a Mission and Ministry email, Jaqueline had many years of active ministry, including youth ministry, outreach to those affected by domestic abuse and ministry within the armed forces as an Associate Minister. Jaqueline served 10 years in the U.S. Navy and was deployed in Iraq. She is survived by her two children, Jamilah and Meshach Lacl, and by her grandparents, parents and other relatives. A remembrance service celebrating Jaqueline’s life will be led by the School of Theology & Ministry on Thursday, May 5 at 4:30 p.m. in the Ecumenical Chapel at Campion Hall. All are invited to attend. The Spectator staff sends our deepest condolences to Jaqueline’s friends and family.

VIOLENCE AT MAY DAY PROTESTS IN SEATTLE—

On Sunday, May Day protests in Seattle became violent as protesters lit fireworks and threw rocks at police, according to the Seattle Police Department. Following a peaceful march held earlier in the day, nine protesters were arrested and five officers were injured during the unrest. Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole said that her officers had planned for May Day by undergoing “enhanced crowd management training.” The city of Seattle has consistently had violent May Days in recent years. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray released a statement thanking the police for their “extraordinary work.” “It is unfortunate and deeply regrettable that in a city that goes to incredible lengths to respect First Amendment rights, there are some who disregard our values and engage in senseless acts of violence and property destruction,” he said.

INDIANA PRIMARY—

Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Indiana primary votes on Tuesday in their respective parties. Sanders received 52.7 percent of the Democratic vote next to Hillary Clinton’s 47.3, while Trump received 53.3 percent of the vote on the Republican side. Sen. Ted Cruz, who followed Trump with 36.6 percent, suspended his campaign that evening.
The Indiana primary was a crucial point for both the Democratic and Republican elections. Clinton and Trump both aimed to secure their places as the official nominees for their respective parties with big wins in the state, while Cruz and Sanders hoped to take back some of the momentum for their own campaigns. Even with Clinton’s loss in this primary, she still holds a large enough number of delegates to almost certainly claim the Democratic nomination.

REV. DANIEL J. BERRIGAN DIES—

Rev. Daniel J. Berrigan, a Jesuit priest and poet who led protests against the Vietnam war, died on Saturday in New York at 94 years old. Berrigan became a prominent voice in the ‘60s for his Roman Catholic “new left” view that racism and poverty, militarism and capitalist green were all interconnected pieces of a single problem—an unjust society. Some believed his opinions were radical, while others saw them as a pure reading of the Scriptures. Berrigan was arrested multiple times for varying degrees of offenses, most recently in 2006 for blocking the entrance to the Intrepid naval museum in Manhattan. Much of his later work was focused on helping AIDS patients in New York City. “The day after I’m embalmed, that’s when I’ll give it up,” he said in 2001, at 80 years old.

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S LAST WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER—

President Barack Obama performed the final comedic routine of his term at the 102nd Annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday. During his speech, Obama joked about his approval ratings (“The last time I was this high, I was trying to decide on my major,” he said), showed his distaste for Donald Trump and ended with “Obama out,” followed by a mic drop. He also played a four-minute comedic skit called “Couch Commander,” which showed Vice President Joe Biden and former Speaker of the House John Boehner advising him on what to do with the two years he’ll spend in D.C. after finishing his term. The dinner had a high celebrity attendance including Kerry Washington, Kendall Jenner and this year’s comedian of the night, Larry Wilmore.

MICROSOFT USES SYNTHETIC DNA TO STORE DATA—

Microsoft is looking into synthetic DNA as an option for storing the company’s data, an experiment that could become the future of digital storage. The company announced on Wednesday, April 27 that they have partnered with Twist Bioscience, a San Francisco-based company that will provide the oligonucleotides used for synthetic DNA storage. Microsoft will purchase 10 million strands of DNA, which they expect to store more data than has ever been possible. This experiment was prompted by the issue that data storage capacity is struggling to keep up with the quantity of digital data that exists, which is doubling approximately every two years. It is estimated that at 1.5 gigabytes per diploid cell in a human body, a human hand could provide a storage medium larger than the biggest mechanical hard drive in existence.