Fact or fiction: Blood gang initiation

Supposedly the infamous blood gang holds annual initiation rituals every Halloween weekend. They have to kill a certain amount of women, or drive around with their headlights off, wait until somebody gives them a courtesy flash (as in, put your headlights on), and then chase them down and kill all members in the car.

Some say it is nothing more than an urban legend, and others warn people to be safe when they go out this weekend. You can read all the message boards on the internet and interpret it however you want. People say that memos have went out to mayors and police officers throughout the city warning of the danger, and internet users have accounted past experiences they had with the situation.

St. John’s and the City, Oct. 31-Nov.2

What’s shaking, St. John’s,

This weekend is a major week for all you boys and girls, as it is that time of year, again, to thrown on those sexy outfits and Mario costumes and make a trip down the road to halloweentown. I know I’m getting prepared, as my costume idea is fitting for my personality (The Baseball Furies, son!).

Now, we all know we have our parties, haunted houses and parades all figured out, so I’m here this week to give you an event that may go unnoticed here in the city that may be one of the largest of its kind. It starts right down on that lonely island known as Staten, and ends in the heart of Manhattan. No, it’s not my taxi cab ride-o-shame after my disappointing halloween night…

Inside Gate 6: Carnesecca Finished!

Just in case you missed it… we have a gym again! Carnesecca is finally finshed and open for business!

Phillies Win World Series

Hey St. Johnners,

After two days of cold rain (and a little bit of snow) delays, the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays came out tonight to play the last 3 1/2 innings of their game 5 match-up in Philadelphia. For Phillies fan, it was worth the wait.

After trading runs in the bottom of the 6th and the top of the 7th, Pedro Felix hit a single to send Eric Bruntlett home and give the Phillies the lead. It was more than enough, as Brad Lidge came in to close out the game in the ninth to give the Phillies their first World Series title since 1980 and to give the city of Philly their first world championship in any major sport since 1983.

The win finishes off one of the lowest rated World Series in recent memory, largely due to the rain delays. After the Rays tied the game at 2 on Sunday night, the rain came. Major League commissioner Bud Selig then announced the game would be suspended to Monday. The weather would continue into Monday and cause for the second suspension in as many days.

Tonight’s game marks the end of a Major League season filled with plenty of unforgettable moments and record-braking memories. Come back on Sunday for a year in review of the MLB

~Matt Goulet

Sarah Palin noose: Halloween prank gone too far?

The owners of a house in West Hollywood have sparked quite the Halloween controversy after hanging a mannequin dressed to look like Gov. Sarah Palin from a noose attached to the front of their home.  Read more about it at CNN.

We’re all in favor of Halloween tricks, but this one seems a bit more extreme than your average Halloween hijinx.  So what do you think?  Does this Halloween prank cross the line?  Take the poll, let us know.

(AP Photo)

 

– Prof. J

STJ Passport: Moon Cake

China has a tradition that we need to eat moon cake at Mid-autumn festival, which means the harmony of a family. At that day, all the members of family should come together, and sit there to enjoy the good moment with people who they love.

News Update: Dianne Wilkerson

As a follow-up to yesterday’s article involving her:

State Senator Dianne Wilkerson was released yesterday afternoon after laying out 50 grand in bail money, according to the Boston Herald.  Wilkerson, who allegedly used the money to splurge on nights at Foxwoods Casino and $6,000 handbags, appeared unrepentant in front of the courthouse today.  Her lawyer claimed the $6,000 in cash found in her bag was for “expenses.”

If you want to see her affadavit, it’s here.  The highlights are that Wilkerson is being charged with “attempted extortion under the color of official right,” and “theft of honest services wire fraud,” and has numerous previous charges, such as:

Science: New Planets

Attenion!  We are no alone in the universe!

No, we haven’t found ET, but we may be getting close.  The fine folks at SETI have been hard at work scanning a nearby star that goes by the name of Epsilon Eridani.  What they found is the first verifiable proof that our solar system may not be unique in the universe.  Essentially, this is what happened:

We want your Halloween Costume Pictures

 

 

Halloween

 We at the Flashlight want to see your Halloween costumes. Send us your pictures at sjutheflashlight@gmail.com and We will select the best ones and feature them here on our blog.

Will your costume have enough awesome to be featured?

– The Flashlight Staff

A letter from The Torch

 

Earlier this week a Flashlight blogger posted his opinion on The Torch endorsing Senator Barack Obama.In order to instill fairness in our blog we decided to post this letter sent to us from the editor in chief of The Torch. 

Read the original article here.

Greetings flashlight!

I think ‘angrier johnny’ is a bit hasty in bashing this article. After speaking with Alex more about this, I can understand that he is not bashing the torch at the end of this article, but rather suggesting that the paper is ‘not respected enough’ around campus – which is perhaps a very valid statement.

In regards to his opinion, I completely respect it – though I think it should be clarified further. At first read, I got the impression that Alex was suggesting an opinion section of a newspaper should be more objective – which, by its very nature, does not seem to make sense. Additionally, if a newspaper should never show any opinion, then why stop with ending endorsements? Logically extending Alex’s argument would mean ending all editorials from newspapers, which I think is not the right thing to do.

Though, I believe Alex has a good point – I think that perhaps presidential candidate endorsements could be too polarizing a topic for newspapers. It could alienate a significant portion of readers. So, while it is fine for newspapers to run editorials about legislation, local events, etc., it may be an unwise move to endorse a candidate simply because of the divisiveness of the issue.

Thinking of it that way, I can see where Alex’s opinion holds water. However, it is not my opinion; the Torch decided to endorse Barack Obama for a number of reasons – one, I believe it is an opinion we all wished to express. Two, I feel that students and faculty do respect the Torch enough to care about our opinion (at least I hope!). And finally, the Torch has historically endorsed candidates of both parties, so we felt no need to end that tradition, especially an election as talked about and important as this one.

I don’t believe any editorial statement regarding the candidates will hurt our coverage of the election – especially since our news has a pretty strict campus angle. All of our political coverage has linked back to the students and to how the campus feels about events more than anything, so the reporting has been objective and fair so far.

Interesting post, and I look forward to reading more on the Flashlight. But no need to hate on Alex’s opinion – it’s certainly an interesting topic, and one worth some discussion.

 

– Jose Silva