News Brief: kindergarteners going to college, Derek Fisher and social media changes

Headlines from Feb. 8-12:

• Strangers pledge $1 million to put 26 kindergartners through college (CNN)

A California couple, Marty and Seon Burbank, have pledged $1 million dollars to put 26 kindergarteners from Rio Vista Elementary through two years of college. The promise comes with one condition: each child must draw a picture or write an essay every year about what going to college will mean for him or her and his or her family. For many of the students, they will be the first of their families to attend a college or university.

• Derek Fisher fired by Knicks in his second season (ESPN)

Phil Jackson, president of the New York announced that Derek Fisher has been “relieved of his coaching duties,” naming Associate Head Coach Kurt Rambis as interim head coach. Fisher started his career with the Knicks less than two years ago in June of 2014. An official statement of why Fisher was fired has not been directly stated. In a press conference on Monday, Jackson simply said, “It is time for us to make a change.”

• Social media changes: Twitter and Instagram (The Verge)

Twitter has rolled out a new algorithm for its timeline that will push popular tweets to the top of timelines, disorienting the platform’s original reverse-chronological timeline. Though the feature is optional, Twitter users started to tweet their disapproval with the hashtag #RIPTwitter. Also new in social media this week, Instagram announced that it supports multiple account switching – up to 5 accounts per login – for all users.

• Study: 1 in 12 college students make a suicide plan (WCYB)

Travis Lloyd, former foster child turned national speaker and author, is seeking support in the form of online votes for a new Suicide Prevention campaign, #STOP1in12, aimed at college campuses nationally. The movement is aimed at changing the high suicide rates in college students ages 18-24, referring to a recent study that revealed 1 in 12 college students have written down a suicide plan as a result of stresses related to school, work, relationships and social life.

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