Unrest in Haiti. Super Tuesday. Podcasts contributors Zoë Bordes and Reese Dahlgren discuss with Podcasts Editor Jack Garland. News Editor Catherine Hamilton joins the show.

Jack Garland: Today’s Friday, March 8, and you are listening to “This Week” by Daily Bruin Podcasts. This week is our weekly news podcast for college students. We bring you news from around the world and across the country and we also highlight a Daily Bruin news article from the week. I’m Jack Garland, I’m the Podcasts Editor, and today I’m joined by two Podcasts contributors.

Zoë Bordes: Hi, my name is Zoë Bordes, and I am today’s international contributor.

Reese Dahlgren: Hi, I’m Reese and I’m the national news contributor for this week.

JG: And then later on in the episode, we’ll be joined again by Daily Bruin News editor Catherine Hamilton. So, does anyone have any weekend plans?

ZB: I mean, I was really excited because the sun’s gonna be shining. I was gonna go on a hike. But hopefully it doesn’t rain again, like it did on Thursday. So I guess we’ll see.

JG: Yeah, I’m trying to go to the beach on Saturday. So hopefully we don’t get rained out. And what about you, Reese?

RD: So I’m going to Indian Wells this weekend on Saturday. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a pro tennis tournament. Super excited.

JG: It’s one of the biggest ones of the year. Any specific players that you want to see?

RD: I’m looking forward to seeing, hopefully, I’ll get to see Sinner and Alcaraz, Djokovic, all of them.

JG: Sounds fun. All right. So Zoë, what is the top international story from this week?

ZB: Our top story this week is the crisis in Haiti, where a surge in gang violence occurred that experts are labeling a full blown rebellion. On March 4, armed gangs stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons, freeing over 4000 inmates. As a result, Haiti declared a state of emergency and it was only hours later that the country’s main international airport in Port-au-Prince was attacked. Reports indicate that around 80% of the capital is now under gang control. Haiti has been experiencing a lot of gang-related violent crime over the last few years. But what makes the situation unique is the collaboration among various gangs. They were previously in competition, but they’re now seemingly working together in order to take down the government.

JG: So why is there this escalation now? And why are the gangs collaborating all the sudden?

ZB: So following President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination in 2021, gangs sought to exploit the power vacuum that had been created. Prime Minister Ariel Henry, previously set to resign by early February, reversed his decision, citing the need for better security and delaying elections until August 2025. This has sparked widespread discontent throughout Haiti. While this government has been in office, living conditions have gotten worse, and poverty issues have become more pronounced. It’s also worth noting that while the country has the formal structure of democracy, there have been no elected officials in government since 2023.

JG: And what’s the Bruin angle here?

ZB: So the situation is important to follow because it’s creating a lot of human suffering in a country of 11.5 million people that has close ties with Americans. The situation could also cause an influx of migrants to the U.S. and other surrounding countries.

JG: And what other stories are you covering this week?

ZB: So we’re recording this episode on Thursday and later tonight, Joe Biden is set to give his State of the Union address. It’s expected that President Biden will announce plans for the U.S. military to construct a temporary port on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast in order to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid by sea. This news is coming as hundreds of truckloads of aid are stuck in Gaza, which is worsening the humanitarian crisis. International organizations like the UN have said that Israel doesn’t provide enough authorization to deliver sufficient aid. And even when it does, it’s tough to do so safely. Additionally, numerous countries such as the US have been air dropping resources into Gaza as famine concerns rise. But these are still pretty controversial, because there’s only so much aid that can be given in this way. The seaport the US has proposed intends to distribute more resources to civilians.

JG: So hopefully that seaport is actually built and is able to deliver more aid to Gazans. What else is going on around the world?

ZB: My last story for the day is that a former Google software engineer Linwei Ding has been charged in the U.S. for stealing trade secrets related to artificial intelligence while working secretly for two Chinese companies. Ding, also known as Leon Ding was indicted in California, and he allegedly stole over 500 confidential files, and he could face up to 10 years in prison and a million dollars in fines.

JG: Alright, so thanks for those updates. And now we’re gonna turn to Reese for the national news. So what is the top national story that you’re covering this week?

RD: So Super Tuesday happened this week, resulting in the expected election rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump. For listeners who are unfamiliar, Super Tuesday is the largest U.S. primary election day, with about 1/3 of U.S. states and one territory voting. On the Democratic side, President Biden remained steady as the leading Democratic candidate without any robust competition. While on the Republican side, Donald Trump soundly defeated Nikki Haley, with his widespread wins across the country, reinforcing his position as the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination. Haley officially suspended her presidential bid on Wednesday, but notably did not endorse Trump. Haley said, “it is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond that who did not support him.”

JG: So it seems like both nominations are just about secured. But what does the rest of the primary season look like?

RD: Well, the primary results for the remaining states will continue throughout the year. So we’ll keep updating on results and their future implications for this year’s presidential campaign cycle.

JG: On Tuesday, there was also an important primary in California for the open Senate seat. Can you tell us about that?

RD: Yeah, so the California Senate primary also happened on Tuesday. Democratic Representative Adam Schiff and Republican Representative Steve Garvey came out on top with the majority of votes and will face off in a one on one election for the late Diane Feinstein’s Senate seat. Garvey has targeted his campaign towards independents and middle ground voters. But California is a heavily Democratic state, giving Schiff an obvious advantage in his Senate bid. We’ll see how each of their efforts play out in November.

JG: Thanks for those updates and what else is going on around the country?

RD: Yeah, so Tuesday was also an eventful day for college sports, as Dartmouth’s men’s basketball team voted to unionize in a move that makes them the first labor union for student athletes. The players voted 13-to-2 in favor of the union, an election that was overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. This unprecedented action in collegiate sports gets at the deep rooted question of whether collegiate athletes are considered employees or not. According to AP news, the NCAA currently views the players as student athletes and not employees. And because they aren’t employees, college athletes are not paid by their schools. The players unionization may have unprecedented impacts not just for Dartmouth players but for the future of US collegiate sports.

JG: Wow, this is a major story for those of us in college and especially those playing a sport in college. And what are the other stories for this week?

RD: Yeah, in other national news this week, a bipartisan group of 19 U.S. lawmakers have pushed a bill forward that would call for Chinese company ByteDance to sell off its social media app TikTok within six months, or face a ban in the U.S. This latest restriction effort is largely related to growing fear amongst American officials that the collected and stored data from this extremely popular app may be a national risk for the U.S. TikTok is a widely used social media platform among students across the country. So we’ll see how this potential ban plays out in the coming months. And if there is any major pushback from younger generations.

JG: Alright, Reese, thanks for those updates.

RD: Yep, no problem.

JG: And now we’re gonna turn to Catherine for the Daily Bruin news story of the week. Thanks for coming on, Catherine.

Catherine Hamilton: Thanks for having me.

JG: And what story are you talking about?

CH: Today, I’m going to be talking about a story that I wrote Thursday morning about updates to the three properties that UCLA has acquired since September of 2022. And the first update is to the UCLA downtown property which will be housed in the trust building. The update includes the announcement of 31 programs that will be initially housed within the property.

JG: And what are those 31 programs that they’ll have at that location?

CH: They span across four different areas, which includes academics, arts, community outreach and research. And some examples of the initial proposals that have been accepted are the Center for Justice and UCLA Prison Education Program, the DTLA Community Media Lab, the UCLA Skid Row partnership and the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge.

JG: And you mentioned two other updates. What are those?

CH: Yeah, so the next one is the appointment of a special adviser to the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost for Immunology Initiatives at the UCLA Research Park. And the last update is that the UCLA South Bay Implementation meeting held its inaugural meeting in January, and the committee aims to support the academic offerings that will be available at the location.

JG: Thanks for coming on, Catherine.

CH: Thanks for having me.

RD: And that’s a wrap for this week. Tune in next week for our last episode of the quarter.