[fblike]
Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
To access a list of all our old quizzes, click here.
1. On Monday, the Supreme Court refused overturn the decisions of federal appeals courts regarding gay marriage bans in these five states.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Federal appeals courts had struck down the gay marriage bans of each of these states and the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the cases lets these decisions stand. Since Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wyoming are in the same judicial circuits as these other states they must also abide by the ruling. The Court’s decision now legalizes gay marriage in thirty states.[/toggle]
2. Which two candidates will face off in Brazil’s presidential runoff?
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]President Dilma Rousseff and Aecio Neves. Environmentalist Marina Silva, who had led some polls in the weeks leading up to the election, saw her support nosedive in the closing weeks. The runoff will be held on October 26.[/toggle]
3. This European country is the first to have a domestic Ebola case.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Spain. The Spanish health minister announced on Monday that a nurse, who was treating an Ebola victim in Madrid, acquired the virus.[/toggle]
4. Catalonia announced that it would decide by this date whether to hold a referendum on independence.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]October 15. Spain’s Constitutional Court has suspended Catalonia’s attempt at a referendum as its examines its constitutionality. Catalan leaders have given mixed signals about whether they will defy the Court and proceed anyway.[/toggle]
5. Bill Clinton’s first Senate ad of 2014 is in support of this Senate candidate.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Alison Lundergan Grimes. Grimes is facing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel in Kentucky and a new poll shows her ahead 46-44%. However, five other polls taken over the last month show McConnell in the lead, so the poll might be an outlier.[/toggle]
6. Teachers in this city had their the healthcare provision of their union contract cancelled. The city’s school system justified it on the grounds of the financial distress.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Philadelphia. Teachers will have to pay their health benefits, which should save the Philadelphia school district $43.8 million this year. The Philadelphia school system is facing a $71 million budget shortfall next year.[/toggle]
7. This computer company recently announced that it will split into two parts.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Hewlett-Packard. The company plans to divorce its printing and computer businesses and list them separately on the New York Stock Exchange. The plan also calls for laying off 5,000 workers.[/toggle]
8. This American was recently knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg was knighted for his “prodigious entrepreneurial and philanthropic endeavours.” Due to the U.S. Constitution, Bloomberg cannot be called “Sir Michael,” but he can add KBE, which stands for Knight Commander, to the end of his name.[/toggle]
9. Vice President Joe Biden made a significant foreign policy gaffe last week. What did he say?
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Vice President Biden was forced to apologize to Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for suggesting that they were fueling the rise of extremist groups in Syria. The Obama administration worried that the comments might undermine international cooperation against the Islamic State.[/toggle]
10. This former Haitian leader died last week.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]On Saturday, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier died of a heart attack in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince at the age of 63. He governed the country from 1971-1986 and was accused of corruption and human rights abuses during his rule. In the early 1970s, he was the youngest ruler in the world, having taken power when he was only nineteen years old. More than 100,000 Haitians fled the country during his rule.[/toggle]