• Your one stop for college news and resources!

Sara Hall

Likes: Good (read: bad) puns, puppies, embarrassing pop music, burritos, idolizing Beyoncé and Tina Fey Dislikes: Squirrels, typos, socks with sandals (and other unforgivable fashion mistakes) Sara hasn't always been a journalist -- unless you count that time she put out a newspaper in the third grade about her dog. Still, she's been making up for lost time ever since she began attending Eastern Illinois University and started writing for The Daily Eastern News. When people ask her why she wants to be a writer, she tells them it's because she genuinely enjoys journalism and everything that goes with it (which is true, but let's be real, she not-so-secretly wouldn't mind just being Carrie Bradshaw for the rest of her life). In the fall, you'll find her where she really belongs: as online editor, blogging and tweeting like it's her job -- because hey, it actually is (thank God).

Former cheerleader Sarah Jones is now being called "the female Sandusky"

Jones was allegedly involved with one of her students during her time as teacher

Former cheerleader Sarah Jones is now being touted as the “female Sandusky.” Jones, who was a former NFL cheerleader with the Cincinnati Bengals, is now speaking out about this new derogatory title she has earned.

Former cheerleader Sarah Jones worked as a high school teacher in Kentucky and was accused of having sex with a 17-year-old student. This incident has earned her the title the “female Sandusky,” in association with the former Penn State assistant football coach, who has recently been convicted of sexually assaulting 10 young boys.

“To read those things and not be able to comment, not be able to stick up for myself is not fair,” former cheerleader Sarah Jones told ABC News “People don’t know the real me. There’s blogs and postings out there that I have slept with numerous people. I married my high school sweetheart… I just asked the general public to maybe hold their judgment a little bit longer until the truth comes out.”

Speaking to ABC News could come back to haunt former cheerleader Sarah Jones as she was given a gag order saying she could not speak to the media about the lawsuit.

In April, the former one-time captain of the Cincinnati Ben-Gals cheerleading squad pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree sexual abuse and unlawful use of electronic devices.

It has been alleged against former cheerleader Sarah Jones that she sent “steamy” texts to her student and later told him to deny everything about the incident.

Former cheerleader Sarah Jones is even going as far to say the boy was a student but “not my student” and ”he was a family friend and I am very close to his parents. Had it not been for their support it would be very difficult to get through this without them.”

Seeing Victoria Beckham smile is rare sight

She says it’s all for fashion’s sake

It’s very rare that anyone may see Victoria Beckham smile, but she’s saying it’s not because she’s unhappy — it’s just that fashion took it away from her. The 38-year-old mom is spilling all in the September issue of Glamour, saying why it’s rare that anyone ever sees the infamous Victoria Beckham smile.

“I actually used to smile a lot in pictures. I think I only stopped smiling when I got into fashion,” the former Spice Girls member said. “Fashion stole my smile! I’ve created this person. And I’m not saying that’s not me, but I wouldn’t say that’s the whole me. It’s an armor that goes up.”

One thing that does make Victoria Beckham smile, she said, is the thought of her husband, David, and their four children: Brooklyn, Cruz, Romeo and Harper.

In the interview, Victoria said family is her top priority and in the next five years, “I’d like everybody to be healthy and happy. I’d like to be growing the business at a steady pace, and to be making more women feel empowered, beautiful and confident. And I’d never say never about another baby. It’s a juggling act — a career, family, a husband who’s busy. But I’d never say never!”

You may not see Victoria Beckham smile during her own fashion shows, but she said she did when her husband attended her fashion show for the first time during last season’s New York Fashion Week.

“It was the first time! He’s always been working or training. But I was nervous about this show. I was feeling a lot of pressure. He phoned me the night before, and I just said, ‘I want you to come be with me. I want a cuddle. I really do.’ And it was great to have him there,” Victoria said in the interview.  “I think he was surprised; I don’t usually bother him with much detail. And then you get there, and the models, the hair, the makeup . . . I think he was blown away!”

Look to see Victoria Beckham smile in the issue of Glamour out later this month.

Keri Walsh has pinkeye but will continue competing

Walsh is taking antibiotics to prevent her pinkeye from spreading or worsening

Keri Walsh has pinkeye, but it is not preventing her from continuing on in the Olympics. The Keri Walsh pinkeye case has left her left eye red and watery, causing her to squint on Tuesday at the meet-and-greet arranged by the international governing body of beach volleyball.

To end the Keri Walsh pinkeye case, she is taking antibiotics, hoping it will end as quickly as possible.

Keri Walsh-Jennings and her partner Misty May-Treanor are currently two-time defending Olympic gold medalists and have opened the London Games with victories in their first two matches in pool play with an almost guaranteed spot in the knockout round.

The Keri Walsh pinkeye case may have come from her husband, Casey Jennings, who also has an eye infection. His case, Walsh said, is much worse than hers.

”It looks like his eyeballs got their butts kicked,” she said.

Her sons have avoided catching the Keri Walsh pinkeye case, but she said she has not been allowed to hold them as to prevent passing it along to them.

”It’s not pretty, so we’re trying to keep that away from him,” she said. ”I didn’t even get to hold Sundance last night. I saw him in the stands, and he looked at me like he was so mad at me. So I need to love him out today, but I can’t kiss him or it would infect him. I don’t want to give him this.”

The Keri Walsh pinkeye case has also kept her from high-fiving her teammates. Still, she is not letting her pinkeye keep her from continuing to compete.

”It’s super minor,” she said Tuesday at a meet-and-greet with reporters. ”It just looks worse than it is.”

Woman lifts car, saves dad from death

Woman’s adrenaline rush saves father

A Virginia woman is being touted as a hero after she lifted a car off her father and saved his life. In the woman lifts car, saves dad story, Lauren Kornacki rescued her father after he had been working in the family garage on Saturday when a jack holding up his car slipped, according to daughter Kristen Kornacki.

Lauren Kornacki reportedly found her father pinned to the ground and unresponsive before the woman lifts car, saves dad story truly began.

“She proceeded to lift up the car, pull him out and then give him CPR,” said Kristen Kornacki.

Lauren Kornacki, 22, lives in Glen Allen, near Richmond, and is a trained lifeguard.

“It flashed like, oh my God, I’m going to lose my dad,” she told the CNN affiliate WWBT about the woman lifts car, saves dad story. “I knew I had to get his heart beating again.”

Alec Kornacki is being treated at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. His condition has currently not been released, but he does have several broken ribs, numbness and other fractures. It is not likely that he will suffer any permanent damage.

According to his daughter Kristen, Alec Kornacki is “healing fantastically.” His family shot a brief video of him walking in the hospital hallway to display this.

“He is walking and talking and laughing and joking. He’s feeling pretty good,” Kristen Kornacki said. “He’s Superman, that’s for sure.”

The woman lifts car, saves dad story is rather unusual, but it can be credited to an adrenaline rush.

In many cases where someone’s life is at risk, humans are known to be able to do tasks they are not normally able to do, such as lift a car off someone. Despite Kornacki’s small size, this explains the woman lifts car, saves dad story.

Mark Zuckerberg's sister now works for Google

Sister Arielle will now work for Google-owned Wildfire

Mark Zuckerberg’s sister is now working for the other team. Recently, it was announced that Arielle Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg’s sister and youngest sibling, is now an employee for Internet giant Google.

 According to Arielle’s blog, she is a junior product manager for the social media marketing firm Wildfire, which Google acquired Tuesday. Zuckerberg’s sister Randi worked for Facebook from 2005 to 2011 and now has her own reality TV show, Silicon Valley, which will air on Bravo.

 Randi recently tweeted about Arielle’s new employer Tuesday and also prompted gossip that another Zuckerberg family member may also work for Google.

 “Congrats Wildfire! There are officially now more Zuckerberg family members working for Google than Facebook! #awkward ;),” Randi said in her tweet.

Zuckerberg’s sister was on her Birthright trip when she found out the news. She posted on her Facebook, “I’m in Israel on Birthright and I just found out that I’m now a Google employee. Not gonna lie… This feels pretty awkward, but I also feel very proud to be a part of the Wildfire team on this exciting day for Alain and Victoria.”

Alain and Victoria are Wildfire co-founders Victoria Ransom and Alain Chuard. The two did not publicly discuss Zuckerberg’s sister now working for Google, but they did take to their blogs to announce in a joint statement, “We truly could not think of a more perfect home for Wildfire. It makes us so happy to know that joining with Google will make it easier for us to realize our vision of changing the way the world markets and enable us to live up to our commitment to make Wildfire an incredible place for our team and our customers.”

Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day brings big business, controversy

Same-sex couples plan to boycott on Friday

Yesterday marked Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, all while the fast food company’s controversial stance on gay marriage continues to cause controversy. Mick Huckabeee, the former governor of Arkansas and Fox News host, said today that Chick-fil-A Appreication Day went beyond “anything I could have imagined” and that the store experienced “record, historic sales.” Huckabee also called the recent controversy over the company “economic bullying” as a way to put CEO Dan Cathy “out of business.”

“It was just getting out of hand,” Huckabee said. 

Customers flocked to hundreds of local franchises Wednesday to show their support for Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.

Many protests have resulted as result of the Chick-fil-A controversy. Three days after Cathy made his statement, Chick-fil-A released a statement saying, “Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.”  After Cathy told the Baptist Press his company supports “the biblical definition of the family unit,” many local mayors even threatened to keep the fast food restaurant out of their city and to not allow Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day to occur in their city.

“It’s gone beyond anything I could have imagined,” Huckabee told Fox News in response to Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. “Every one of (the stores) that I know have reported record, historic sales yesterday. … A lot of the stores ran out of chicken before the end of the day.” 

Critics of Chick-fil-A argue that the company’s opposition to gay marriage and lifestyle go above and beyond Cathy’s statements to the press. Over the year, the company has donated millions of dollars to organizations that lobby against same-sex marriage legalization. Still, Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day brought out long-time customers, as well as protestors.

Gay-rights sympathizers have planned to protest yesterday’s Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day by gathering on Friday outside Chick-fil-A locations for National Same-Sex Kiss Day, where they plan to publicly embrace in an effort to draw attention to the company’s donations to anti-gay-marriage groups.

Matrix director undergoes sex change

Larry Wachowski now goes by ‘Lana’

Larry Wachowski, the director behind the Matrix movie franchise, has come out as a pink-haired transsexual named Lana.The Matrix director sex change may not come as a surprise to some, as Larry Wachowski has been undergoing the process for quite some time.

To undergo the sex change, Larry Wachowski has been undergoing hormone therapy for nearly a decade now. Now that the Matrix director sex change is underway, he has left his wife for a dominatrix named Ilsa Strix.

In a trailer for his latest film, Cloud Atlas, Larry Wachowski says in a quiet voice, “Hi, I’m Lana.” It is the first time since the Matrix director sex change that Larry has come out as Lana.

Cloud Atlas, which will star Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, is slated to be one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Based on the hit book by British author David Mitchell, the movie will focus on six interlocking stories beginning in the 1800s until  the future. Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent and Susan Saradon also star in the film.

James Holmes formally charged with 24 counts of murder, 116 counts of attempted murder

Prosecutors also presented with evidence during court hearing

James Holmes, the former graduate student accused of shooting during an Aurora screening of the latest Batman film, killing 12 people, has been formally charged with 24 counts of first-degree murder and 116 counts of attempted murder. Holmes, 24, was formally charged during his second court appearance since his arrest for the killings during the midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises on July 20. Holmes’ shootings left 12 dead and 58 injured, several still in critical condition.

During his court hearing, Holmes was seen wearing his jail outfit with his hair still dyed a bright shade of orange, looking blank and unaffected during the 45 minute hearing with two defense attorneys. Holmes did not speak at all during his court hearing except to reply “yes” when Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester asked if he understood the charges placed against him.

Prosecutors have more or less charged Holmes with two murder counts for each victim in the shooting massacre – one standard first-degree murder charge plus one count of murder with extreme indifference.

Collectively, prosecutors have charged James Holmes with 142 criminal counts for the shooting, 24 murder and 116 attempted murder counts, plus one count of possession of an explosive device and one count of committing a crime of violence. Evidence, including a package James Holmes sent to a University of Colorado psychiatrist, was turned over during the hearing. Prosecutors said they have not yet opened the package, which Fox News reported contains a notebook outlining the shooting scenario, complete with stick-figure drawings.

James Holmes was a doctoral student of neuroscience at U of C before filing paperwork to drop out in June.

Chick-fil-A public relations vice president dies suddenly

Fast food chain still in midst of controversy

Amidst all the recent Chick-fil-A controversy, the company’s longtime public relations vice president Don Perry suddenly died on July 27. Reports so far are indicating Perry died from a heart attack, but no official cause of death has been released yet.

Chick-fil-A released a statement in regards to Don Perry’s passing:

“We are saddened to report the news to you that our dear friend Don Perry, vice president of public relations, passed away suddenly this morning. Don was a member of our Chick-fil-A family for nearly 29 years. For many of you in the media, he was the spokesperson for Chick-fil-A. He was a well-respected and well-liked media executive in the Atlanta and University of Georgia communities, and we will all miss him. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”

The president of Chick-fil-A, Dan Cathy, recently made remarks on a radio show interview that blatantly indicated the company was against gay marriage, causing outrage in the gay community and in some politicians’ circles. Boycotts of the chain have come about as a result.

Cathy said in the interview that he supports “the biblical definition of the family unit,” which he defines as the traditional marriage between a man and a woman.

“I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,’” the Chick-fil-A president said in the interview.

Both approval and disapproval for Chick-fil-A has come as a result of Cathy’s outspoken interview. Chick-fil-A supporters have announced Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day scheduled for August 1st at local Chick-fil-A restaurants around the U.S. Those in opposition have called for a boycott of the fast food chicken chain, especially on that day.

Distracted walking becoming bigger problem than ever

Cell phones mainly to blame for distracted walking

Recently, a young man talking on his cell phone along the edge of a train platform at night lost his balance and fell head first on the tracks. He fortunately was able to escape before any trains arrived, but the incident helps put a picture to a growing problem in America: distracted walking.

Cell phones are a large source of the problem, as someone talking on the phone, texting while looking down, playing a game or listening to music is much more likely to become a victim to distracted walking.

Distracted walking injuries have reportedly quadrupled in the past seven years, and these numbers are still most likely underreported. A spike in pedestrians injured and killed in traffic accidents has also occurred, although there is no concrete data on how many of these incidents were caused by electronics.

 “We are where we were with cell phone use in cars 10 years or so ago. We knew it was a problem, but we didn’t have the data,” said Jonathan Akins, deputy executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, an organization which represents state highway safety offices.

Still, U.S. officials are struggling on figuring out how to combat distracted walking, but some are still questioning how far the government should intervene.

On April Fools’ Day, Philadelphia officials actually created an “e-lane” for distracted walking and drivers on their cell phone.

 “The sad part is we had people who, once they realized we were going to take the e-lane away, got mad because they thought it was really helpful to not have people get in their way while they were walking and texting,” Rina Cutler, deputy mayor for transportation and public utilities, said.

A University of Maryland study found 116 cases over six years in which pedestrians were killed or seriously injured as a result of wearing headphones and distracted walking. Two-thirds of the victims were men under age 30. Half the cases involved trains.