News Brief Oct. 9-13

Due to the ever-changing nature of the Israel/Hamas conflict, the Talon has chosen to omit stories about the conflict from its news briefs. 

International

Finland has launched a criminal investigation into the “possible sabotage of an undersea gas pipeline.” The line runs between Finland and Estonia. Over the weekend, the pipeline was shut down due to a leak. 

Finnish authorities have confirmed the leak was due to “external activity” but are unsure if the damage was done intentionally or by accident, nor do they know who caused the leak. In addition to the pipeline, a telecommunications cable was damaged. 

“The damage appears to have been caused by mechanical force, not an explosion,” Risto Lohi, Finland National Bureau of Investigation chief inspector, said. “At the moment we are determining what happened and (who) may have been involved. Considering the situation, we will not speculate, but work to find facts, analyze them and then draw conclusions about what caused the damage.”

The pipeline is funded by the European Union and transfers national gas between Estonia and Finland. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said if the incident is confirmed as deliberate, it will be met by action from NATO. 

The repairs to the pipeline are said to take five months. 

National

A new study has shown female frogs will “fake their deaths” to avoid unwanted attention from male frogs. The scientific term for this phenomenon is “tonic immobility.”

This tactic can be life saving for the frogs, who can get stuck in “mating balls,” where several male frogs pile onto the female in an effort to get her attention.

The study began with Carolin Dittrich, an evolutionary and behavioral ecologist, observing male frogs to see if they chose females with larger bodies due to the ability to carry more eggs. Research showed the male frogs were interested in all female frogs, so the focus then shifted to how the females avoided the males.

The smaller female frogs did have one advantage to the larger frogs. They could perform a twisting motion to escape the drip of the male frogs while the larger females could not slip away so easily. 

Since the frogs only have an “explosive” breeding season once a year, Dittrich believes tonic immobility is an evolutionary adaptation for the out of shape females. 

Local

The chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court is recommending a lower court judge be removed due to footage depicting the judge scrolling on social media and texting during a murder trial.

District Judge Traci Soderstrom exchanged more than 500 texts with the courtroom bailiff throughout the trial. 

The contents of the messages included mockery of the prosecution, praise of the defense and crude comments about the prosecutor’s genitals.

“Why does he have baby hands?” Soderstrom texted in reference to the prosecutor. In contrast, she asked if she could “clap” for the defense attorney during her opening statement.

She also texted asking if a juror was wearing a wig and questioned if the juror had teeth.“pretty. I could look at him all day,” she typed in reference to a police officer called to testify. 

Soderstrom was sworn in Jan. 9 following the Nov. election and has been suspended with pay until the Court of the Judiciary determines whether to remove her from the bench.