HOT TOPICS: Friday, June 1, 2007

Here are just some of the hot topics in the news today that are stirring up conversation.  Please let us know in the comment thread below if you would like to write about any of the following topics or would like to pursue another current event.  If you post to the appropriate Essential, we will be on the lookout for your article and you will have a chance to be featured on the homepage.  

News/Politics Essential 

A U.S. border agent ignored a computer warning and allowed Andrew Speaker, the man with highly infectious TB, into the country.  Near misses like this allowed Speaker to travel freely through seven countries. 

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who has been in prison for the past eight years for assisting in the suicides of terminally ill patients, will be released today.  He has said that he will not continue his former practice. 

Russia’s President Putin has publicly accused the US of starting a new arms race, in regards to the so-called anti-ballistic missile (ABM) shield, a series of anti-ICBM missile installations being built in Eastern Europe.  Putin will visit Bush in Maine on July 1 and 2. 

Top Bush Aide, Dan Bartlett, leaving White House after 14 years on Bush's staff.  

News Essential 

New video footage of the Loch Ness Monster has been released.  It was taken last weekend by an amateur British scientist.  You can watch it on the web.  Is it real or a hoax? 

The National Spelling Bee wrapped up last night in Washington, D.C.  What is it about this competition that has us all so, ummm, spellbound? 

Health Essential 

TB patient talks to Diane Sawyer.  He says it wasn’t his fault and that he was given the green light to travel.  

Bush requested from Congress $30 billion to fight AIDS worldwide over the next five years.  

Music Essential

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