By: Meredith Francis ~Campus News Editor~

Terminally ill woman chooses ‘Death with Dignity’ in Oregon
Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, chose to end her life with a physician-prescribed fatal dose of barbiturates. Maynard’s death brought attention to the controversy surrounding physician-assisted death. Having received a terminal diagnosis of stage IV glioblastoma, Maynard, with the supervision of a physician, ended her life in her home on Nov. 2. Under Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, Maynard’s action was legal.

SpaceShipTwo crashes, killing co-pilot and injuring pilot
SpaceShipTwo, a space aircraft designed by Virgin Galactic, crashed in the California desert on Oct. 31. The aircraft was designed to take private passengers on suborbital flights in the hopes of making commercial space travel a reality. The crash occurred during a test flight, killing co-pilot Michael Alsbury. Pilot Peter Siebold was seriously injured after parachuting from approximately 45,000 feet.

Mexican mayor and wife arrested for abducting 43 students
Jose Luis Abarca, Mayor of Iguala, Mexico, and his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, were arrested for being what authorities described as the “probable masterminds” behind a mass abduction of 43 students. The victims, who are still missing, were mostly men in their twenties studying to become teachers and disappeared after taking a bus to a protest. Authorities are still searching for the victims.

ISIS conducts mass killing of tribe in Iraq
ISIS carried out a mass execution of 50 men, women and children in Iraq on Nov. 2. The victims are all reportedly from the Sunni Al Bu Nmir tribe. These killings, which were all conducted as public executions, raise the death toll in that tribe to 150. ISIS continues to carry out these mass killings in Iraq and Syria.