President Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize

President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Friday, nytimes.com reports. The honor comes after the president was only in office for nine months.

The award, which was announced in Oslo early Friday morning, recognizes the president for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” and his efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

This honor, however, has been met with much controversy as many Republicans are already criticizing the president saying that he only won for his “star power.” Others claim that the award seems premature and he is being awarded based on good intentions rather than actual accomplishments.

President Obama joins two sitting American presidents have won the prize: Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. 
 

My take: I chose this story because it has already ignited a lot of controversy around the world. Many feel that this award was too soon, seeing as how the nominations for the prize were due back in February after President Obama was only in office for a few weeks. The questions that have arisen are whether this is based on his intentions and star power or if he truly deserves the honor.

Ithaca College offers money to students who defer enrollment

According to Syracuse.com, Ithaca College is paying students $10,000 to not attend school this year.

After the school saw a decline in enrollment last year, they changed admission policies and ended up over-enrolling by 250 students. In order to provide housing for the extra students, the college built a temporary residence hall, which cost the school $2.5 million.  The students who could not be accommodated were offered $10,000 to defer until next fall.

With the incentives, the college claims that they will benefit financially from the over-enrollment.

My take: This story was interesting because I have a couple friends who attend Ithaca College and they told me about the over-enrollment when it happened. They also knew a few students who were given money to live off-campus instead of on-campus to make room for the new freshman.

Florida’s Tebow is game day decision

It is still not certain whether Florida’s star quarterback, Tim Tebow, will play Saturday night against LSU, espn.com reports.

Florida coach Urban Meyer says that Tebow will be tested after the flight to LSU, and again on Saturday. Based on the tests, Meyer will make the decision whether he will play or not. 

There is speculation whether Meyer will play Tebow even if he is cleared due to the fact that he has only had three practices since the injury.

Tebow sustained a concussion September 26^th during the Gator’s 41-7 win at Kentucky.

My Take: This story is important because it will be interesting to see if Meyer plays Tebow or f he will play back-up John Brantley instead. It’s a big game for LSU and many believe that LSU can win without Tebow at the helm of the Gators. Time will tell.