Wheaton professor leaving, not fired over Muslim post
WHEATON, Ill. – Wheaton College political science professor Larycia Hawkins has decided to part ways with the college just five days before a faculty hearing was scheduled to help decide her fate at the school, according to an email from president Philip Ryken to the campus on Saturday.
“The Administration and Dr. Hawkins have come to a place of resolution and reconciliation,” Ryken said in his email. “With a mutual desire for God’s blessing, we have decided to part ways.”
In a separate email to the faculty, Wheaton provost Stan Jones said in an email Saturday that he has withdrawn charges for firing Hawkins and asked Hawkins for forgiveness.
Hawkins was placed on administrative leave on Dec. 15 after she published a Facebook post suggesting that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. The statement set off a wave of controversy across the country amid larger debates about the role of Muslims in America. “I stand by my concerns that Dr. Hawkins’ theological statements raised important questions,” Jones wrote.
Japan gov. steps in to fight against heavy drinking
The Japanese government will introduce numerical targets in a bid to reduce the number of excessive drinkers, according to the draft of a plan to deal with alcohol-related health problems.
The draft plan says the government will establish at least one medical institution specializing in alcoholism, or a consultation center for the disease, per prefecture. It will also introduce numerical targets to lower the rate of excessive drinkers, who are highly likely to develop lifestyle-related diseases.
According to the draft plan, the government aims to reduce the percentage of excessive drinkers among male adults to 13 percent by fiscal 2020, from 15.8 percent in 2014. It also seeks to lower the percentage among female adults to 6.4 percent by the same fiscal year from 8.8 percent in 2014.
The government aims to promote the spread of knowledge about the risks of drinking. For example, excessive drinking can increase the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer, and women tend to become alcoholics more quickly than their male counterparts.
The penny just got a little cheaper to make in U.S.
While the billions of new U.S. pennies put into circulation every year still cost more to make than they are worth, the government is catching a break from the collapse in metals prices. Each one-cent coin – made almost entirely of zinc – cost 1.43 cents to produce last year, down 14 percent from a year earlier and the lowest since 2008, according to data from the U.S. Mint. As recently as 2011, the price tag was 2.41 cents. Since then, zinc prices fell 34 percent from a peak as demand slowed in China, the world’s biggest buyer.
The last time a penny cost what it was worth was in 2005. While the Mint doesn’t foresee breaking even on the coin, cheaper metal last year helped to boost output 16 percent to 9.155 billion pennies. For taxpayers, that meant the United States made 1.235 billion more pennies for about $555,000 less than it spent a year earlier.
Made almost entirely of copper until 1982, the coin is now 97.5 percent zinc, a metal used mostly to help prevent rust and found in all sorts of products, from electronics to paint to sunscreen.
The Washington Post
