Long live Flaco the Eurasian eagle owl…

Happening in the World: Phil Goff, New Zealand’s most senior envoy, has been removed from his position following remarks he made questioning Trump’s understanding of history. Serving as the country’s High Commissioner to the UK, Goff was speaking to an audience at an event in London where he compared efforts to end the war in Ukraine to the 1938 Munich Agreement, which gave Adolf Hitler the authority to annex Czechoslovakia. “President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office,” said Goff. “But do you think he really understands history?” New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters has stated that these comments are “deeply disappointing,” making his position “untenable”. (BBC)

Happening in the US: President Trump is currently preparing to sign an order that would effectively shut down the Department of Education, and an administrative official has stated that this could occur as early as today. This follows Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education, emailing the department’s staff regarding its “final mission” as her first action in office, indicative of the Trump administration’s plan to eliminate the department. Randi Weingarten, president of The American Federation of Teachers, has stated that “Any attempt by the Trump administration or Congress to gut these programs would be a grave mistake, and we will fight them tooth and nail.” A draft of President Trump’s order has circulated in Washington, as of yesterday. (NYT)

Happening in NYC: Two years ago, a Eurasian eagle owl named Flaco escaped from the Central Park Zoo, making Central Park his new home. Flaco amassed a crowd of adoring fans, quickly becoming New York City’s most famous bird. Around a year ago, he died by flying into a building, but he is forever being memorialized in a new HBO documentary currently in production about his life. “We’re really trying to carefully capture the whole year, and then also investigate what happened before he was [in New York], learn about his family tree, learn about zoo ethics, learn about Eurasian Eagle Owls, so it’s not just the story of Flaco, but the story of all the different questions and avenues that his story opened up,” said the film’s director Penny Lane. The film is set to finish production in roughly a year, and they are asking New Yorkers to take to social media to share their personal stories about Flaco. (Gothamist)

Happening in our Community: From 6:30-7:30 pm, a discussion regarding the film Hereditary and its exploration of bioethics and mental health will take place in the Vagelos Education Center, room 902. The discussion is a part of the larger Bioethics in Film: From Screen to Seminar program that seeks to allow participants to engage in multidisciplinary conversations with bioethics experts and other specialists. The event is open to anyone and the link to register can be found here.

Owl via Bwarchives