A class at CSUN has been testing rainwater for radioactive elements that may have escaped a nuclear reactor damaged in the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan March 11. The class has not detected an increase in levels of radiation, but facilities with more advanced equipment have. Professor of nuclear physics Duane Doty leads an advanced nuclear lab class in monitoring a sodium iodine detector that has been running around the clock since it was turned on. The… Read more

Harvard professor David Carrasco aims to connect ancient cultures of the Mesoamerican era to current immigration issues in Borderlands and Immigration: The Power of Religious Symbols and the Politics of Resistance being held at the University Student Union Theater. The lecture will look at the impact of religions on society. Dr. Rick Talbott, professor of religious studies, said religion is used to reach and influence people. This event will recognize religion as an integral force for all nations and connect… Read more

University Student Union (USU) board of directors allocated space in the student union for a veterans’ resource center, bicycle co-op and an LGBTQ resource center, the representatives of which appeared in droves to the make their case before the board Monday. The tenants must submit a detailed plan to manage their new locations and secure funding by December of this year to secure the spaces they were given, said Executive Director Debra Hammond. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) Resource… Read more

Junior Donna Adi Yehuda, has recently taken on a new venture. She has just launched a new line for the clothing company she has been running for the past three years. Point Blank LA is a T-shirt company that focuses on Los Angeles art and culture. The line uses 100 percent organic cotton and features a blog that Yehuda, 20, describes as an online magazine, meant to inform the public about the brand and lifestyle it promotes. “It is an… Read more

The National Football League ordered a lockout after talks between the league and the players’ union collapsed, resulting in the first workers’ strike in America’s most popular professional sport in nearly a quarter of a century. The reason the league and players were unable to reach an agreement was over a range of issues, including how to divide more than $9 billion in annual revenues. The NFL is a billion dollar corporation with national and global influence and while the… Read more

Hollywood still demands blonde bombshells above anyone else, so start heading back to the internment camps, you Asian American actors. Hollywood’s days of using offensive and racist buffoonery such as “yellow face” (i.e. Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Charlie Chan) are over, but the phenomena of casting white actors for roles originally meant for Asian Americans characters has trended profusely in the 21st century. Warner Bros. has invested in three different projects based on Japanese stories— Akira, Death Note, and All You… Read more

What started out as an opportunity for the defending Big West champions, Cal State Northridge, to climb up the conference standings, ended in another series loss as the Matadors dropped two of three at UC Santa Barbara to fall five games out of first place. With Northridge’s 4-2 defeat against the Gauchos on Saturday, the sixth-place Matadors lost all five of their three-game series and have not won back-to-back games since Mar. 19-20 (wins over Ohio State and Ohio). The… Read more

Track and Field The CSUN women’s and men’s track and field teams reached the conference standard in six events at Cal State Los Angeles’ Tiny Lister Classic after having three women and three men post times or marks good enough to qualify for the Big West Championships. In the 200 meters, both Sierra Brooks and Jasmine Cox finished in the top-six and posted conference-qualifying times. Brooks ran a time of 24.66 seconds and Cox ran at 25.05. Shane Mullany-Banks ran a… Read more