Notable Stories of 2014 that continue to resonate into 2015

1. DRONES ARE HERE TO STAY. They are being used more and more for military purposes such as pinpointing enemy targets with small missiles. In Yemen and Pakistan they have taken out purported terrorists. They are allowed for recreational purposes in the US so long as they fly below 400 feet. They are not allowed for commerce; this leaves out Amazon's grand plan to use them for delivering packages to out of the way places.
  Obama just updated our position on drone strikes with these comments made during his current trip to India. He said that our policy of drone strikes combined with governmental information sharing isn't a perfect situation, but is the best approach in a bad situation. "The alternative would be us to play whack-amole every time there is terrorist action inside of any given country."
   DRONEGATE is now emerging with a two foot drone landing on the White House Lawn while the President and Michelle were in Saudi Arabia.

2. CHILDREN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST MALALA YOUSFAZI wins the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.  While defying a Taliban order forbidding female children's education (that is both teachers and students are banned), the then 14 year old has endured a serious shooting incident to her head as she was returning home from school. For more on this story see last years blog about her on Thirteen Top News Stories for 2013.

200 Nigerian girls are still missing 8 months later.

Associated Press

3. A COMPANION STORY TO THAT OF MALALA'S ACHIEVEMENT IS ONE PENNED BY CONNECTICUT WRITER SANDRA EAGLE: EDUCATION IS GREATEST THREAT TO TERRORISTS. This story is a must read. The Taliban has banked on depriving female children from getting an education and thus render them unable to "provide for their children." "In 2001, there were only 900.000 children in school in Afghanistan, and very few were girls. Today, more than 10.5 million children are in school in Afghanistan and 42% are girls." The goal of the GPE, the Global Partnership for Education, an international group of donors, is to get 29 million children into schools--in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as Afghanistan. Let these efforts be an initial antidote to the abduction and suffering of the 200 Nigerian girls captured and still held by the Boko Haram.

4. THE STAMFORD ADVOCATE TURNED 185 ON APRIL 8TH (ONCE CALLED THE STAMFORD INTELLIGENCER IN 1829). It closed down after a few months for lack of funds. It reopened as the Sentinel and has been publishing continuously since it first appeared on February 16, 1830.

5. THE HARTFORD COURANT TURNED 250 ON OCTOBER 29TH. IT IS THE OLDEST CONTINUOUSLY PUBLISHING NEWSPAPER IN THE UNITED STATES. On Oct. 29, 1764, Thomas Green, a printer, started a newspaper he named the Connecticut Courant; he published weekly and in 1837 the newspaper came out daily.

6. CONNECTICUT IS TO BE RECEIVING $12.5 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS TO FURTHER ITS PLAN TO PROVIDE UNIVERSAL PRE-SCHOOL. This great news follows my blog earlier this year that the Connecticut General Assembly established the Office of Early Childhood. This news represents a great start in jump starting early education, especially for children in low-income communities. By the way, in New York City, Pre-K applications this year are up 36%.

To be continued.... Go to Notable Biographies published in 2014:  http://tinyurl.com/nd6wuth