LOCAL

Off-campus housing burglars caught red-handed at OSU

The  Lantern Four individuals, one of them a juvenile, were caught red-handed by Columbus city police burgling an off-campus student residence near Ohio State on Thursday. The group admitted in questioning to having burgled at least one house, although police suspect that another five off-campus residences hit earlier this month were also victims of the quartet’s doing.

Newark residents refuse tax hike to repair infrastructure

The Newark Advocate Newark voters declined to raise the Newark income tax by 0.15% with the goal of raising revenue for road, bridge, and sidewalk repairs in the city. Mayor Jeff Hall said that he does not plan to propose a new tax in 2015. Voters interviewed for exit polls indicated they felt the city government should affect repairs with money they already have. 

NATIONAL

Obama takes blame for midterm loss

The New York Times President Obama defended his administration’s policies in an interview Friday, following Republicans gaining control of both the House and Senate in last week’s midterm elections. He said that the loss was due to the White House’s poor communication with voters. He also spoke about sending troops to Iraq and immigration reform.

Freedom Tower opens in New York

CNN One World Trade Center opened last Monday, Nov. 3, concluding more than a decade of construction on the site of the Twin Towers. The new tower, which stands beside the memorial for the destroyed towers, is 1,776 feet tall, in a nod to the year of the Declaration of Independence. Its 104 stories will mostly be used by businesses.

INTERNATIONAL

80% of Catalans demand freedom from Spain, unofficial vote shows

The Guardian In a Sunday vote unrecognized by the Spanish government in Madrid, 80.7% of over 2 million Catalans support Catalonia’s full independence as a sovereign state. The referendum asked voters whether Catalonia should be a state, and, if so, if that state should be independent. Only 4.5% of voters answered “no” to the first question, according to organizers. The vote comes only months after a similar effort by Scottish independentists failed by 55-45 in a popular, binding referendum. 

Germany commemorates 25th anniversary of Berlin Wall’s end

BBC Angela Merkel, top politicians, and citizens of Berlin commemorated the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall on Sunday. The day’s events included the release of over 8,000 balloons and reflective speeches by German leaders. The dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989 paved the way for German reunification, widely seen as the trigger for the collapse of the Soviet Union and of communism in Europe.