Friday Scoop: Paying Respects
Welcome to the Morning Scoop for Friday, August 17, 2018. The world lost a great yesterday, and we’re not getting over it anytime soon.
Learning how to write a tribute to a late artist takes a lot of passion, and a little craft. That’s why we started our music journalism program, designed to help students get ahead in reporting what’s happening in soul, rock, pop, and every other scene you can imagine.
‘Queen of Soul’ Aretha Franklin: In Memoriam
It was announced this morning that the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, lost her battle with advanced pancreatic cancer at her home in Detroit, Michigan. She was 76 years old.
It was her iconic Atlantic years, beginning in 1966, that would see her release hits such as “I’ve Never Loved a Man The Way That I Love You,” “Chain of Fools,” and “Think,” and become a superstar.
Her songs also paved the way for activism among the counterculture of the US in the 1960s. On her 1967 hit “Respect,” she wasn’t just singing about reverence for one another during a tumultuous, racially charged time in American history. She was demanding it.
Aretha leaves behind one of the greatest legacies in American music. Read Nicole Kitchens’ full tribute on the site here.
NYU Medical School Will Now Have Free Tuition
The board of trustees at New York University School of Medicine announced yesterday that it would no longer require current and future students to pay tuition. With a goal to address the high cost of pursuing a career in medicine, NYU believes graduating debt-free will allow doctors “walk out unencumbered,” and “help people live better quality lives.”
While the new plan covers the $55,000 yearly tuition, many medical students still spend upwards of $29,000 per year on living expenses. The plan affects 350 current students, and 93 incoming first-year students.
West Virginia Just Impeached Its Entire Supreme Court
This past Monday, 11 articles in West Virginia’s House of Delegates passed through impeaching all four Supreme Court justices. The judges consisted of two liberals, Chief Justice Margaret Workman and Justice Robin Davis, and two conservatives, Justice Allen Loughry and Justice Beth Walker. Impeaching one judge is nearly impossible; impeaching an entire court is unthinkable. So how did we get here?
Local journalists uncovered the excessive spending of the justices, with each spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on office decor, furniture, and other nonessential items. They are also being charged with not holding each other accountable for their excessive spending as well as letting themselves get paid more than they are legally allowed.
Read what happened with the judges in Meaghan Lanctot’s story here.
Today in a Tweet: I’ll Take Some of That in my Tea
Ariana Grande put out her new album late last night, “Sweetener,” and it’s damn good.
Last But Not Least: FDA Approves First Ever Generic EpiPen in the United States
On Thursday, federal regulators approved the country’s first generic competitor to the EpiPen, which can now potentially lead the way of lowering costs for this medical device.
The Food and Drug Administration approved Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd’s generic version of Mylan NV’s EpiPen and EpiPenJr.
According to Business Insider, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb stated that “[The] approval of the first generic version of the most-widely prescribed epinephrine auto-injector in the U.S. is part of our longstanding commitment to advance access to lower cost, safe and effective generic alternatives once patents and other exclusivities no longer prevent approval.”
Check out Erin Whitten’s full report here.
Friday’s Morning Scoop was made possible by Meaghan Lanctot, Erin Whitten, Nicole Kitchens, and the CMN Staff. It’s time to go back to school. We can almost smell it now…empty red Solo cups and stale pizza. Living the dream for eight easy payments of $25,000. 
