Erika's News and Media Blog

Japan closes schools for an entire month due to fast spreading Coronavirus.  In the past couple weeks the outbreak of the Coronavirus has been terrorizing the public. The virus, also referred to as COVID-19 , was first discovered in China. It has since spread throughout the Asian and European countries, as well as a few cases found in the United States. Japan has recently shocked the nation by shutting down all schools for nearly a month . Closing schools for more than two weeks is almost un-heard of; many parents are surprised by the drastic step to help keep the country healthy. If the virus is continuing to spread, there is talk that the 2020 Olympics to be held in Tokyo will also be canceled. The Olympics has only been canceled in 1916, 1940, and 1944 due to World War I and World War II. Residents in the U.S. have been nervous about the eventual spread of the virus in the states. It can be spread through human interaction and even through the air. However, officials say ...

Santa Fe College gives back to its community every year by building a home for a family in need. Around the country, people are being given homes for low prices by Habitat for Humanity.  Santa Fe College has partnered with Habitat for Humanity for a decade now, building a home a year. This week, I was able to cover part of the process of making the new home. The students in the Construction and Technical Program spend an entire semester building a home. Different sections of the particular college take care of the plumbing, carpentry, heating & air, and the construction. Keshawn Wilson is a first year student in the program. He says he is excited to see the family get their new home. Wilson says giving back, while also getting his degree is an awesome experience for him. The future home will be approximately between 1,200 and 1,500 square feet. It will also have four bedrooms. It will be given to a married couple that has five children. While the house isn't completely free...

The book "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug was originally published in 2000. This book describes how your brain works and reacts when you read a web page. The web page causes your brain to stop you in the middle of a sentence and think about what you're doing and why you're doing it. I believe that the author, throughout this book, is trying to convey that this slows you down and makes your life tougher. During the first part of the book, Krug adds that these web pages are just adding to our brain's workload. I have to say that I agree. The more things we think about, the more our brain has to work. This is probably why most people don't necessarily read the entire web page; as Krug explains. I know firsthand that, when opening a new tab in my browser, I don't read the entirety of the page. I pick out certain things that I like and move on from there. Related to this, most web designers are now designing pages that are meant to only be scanned an...

With Temperatures Dropping Low in Gainesville, What are Local Homeless People Doing for Warmth? Recently in Gainesville we have had some wicked spells of cold temperatures. Some days even dropping down into the mid 30s. When I was driving home from the grocery store earlier this week, I saw a homeless man near the highway. It was very cold out at that point, and this made me think about homelessness in Gainesville. I've seen a vast amount of homeless people near my apartment and underneath the DNA bridge on 13th street. I recently put a few calls into different homeless shelters to see what they're doing during these next few months. St. Francis House said they are currently at full capacity for their residents, but hope they will soon be able to make more room for more guests. They said they love donations of food and blankets to help everyone they can. One of their main hopes is to keep everyone warm and safe during the brisk months of winter. In Florida, we will exper...