Welcome to Optimize, a weekly update to keep you informed on what has happened during the week. Here are four national/international stories (and one local one) that you should know:
Vatican sexual abuse conference
There is a high demand for the Roman Catholic church to reform its practices and laws after cases of sexual abuses fail to cease. Pope Francis organizes a meeting to discuss the issue and guide church leaders on how to handle abuse cases in a responsible manner. However, critics of the church are arguing that Pope Francis is ignoring it the issue rather than solving it.
Investigators inspect fire in Bangladesh
A fire broke out in the oldest part of Dhaka, Bangladesh on Feb. 21 and police investigators arrived on the scene to inspect the situation. Police are trying to find the cause of the fire and help those affected.
Anti-semitic vandalisation of French graveyard
As anti-semitism acts have risen by 74 percent in France since 2017, the most recent attack has occurred in a graveyard near the France-Germany border with spray-painted swastikas and other recognisable pro-Nazi slurs. France has the largest concentration of Jews in Europe, but officials warn of rising numbers of attacks on the Jewish and other minority groups. French citizens have recently responded to the attacks with overwhelming opposition in protest rallies today and yesterday.
10 states are in danger of losing hospitals in their less populated cities
Five agrarian hospitals, out of 430, are in danger of being shut down due to their financial situations. The areas have physician shortages, and citizens have a hard time accessing healthcare. The shutdown will cause the loss of 150,000 jobs in the US. The number of hospital shutdowns has been doubling each year since 2013.
Local Bonus: Second Aldi location to move into former Barnes and Noble
Aldi officials have announced that a second location of their storefront will move into the former Barnes and Noble by late summer. This is a part of a company wide initiative to invest $5 billion into 2,500 of their discount grocery stores by 2022.
