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Northern Star

Northern Illinois University’s student media since 1899

 

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The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

Point Counterpoint: Boy Scouts on homosexuality

May 1, 2013

Holly New Columnist The debate about Boy Scouts of America (BSA) allowing gay members is not really about homosexual people at all. In reality, it’s just another long-winded debate about privacy. BSA is an independent group with Christian foundations....

Weird, wacky and strange laws in Illinois

By Holly New | April 30, 2013

Sometimes, I’m not very proud to live in Illinois. From our crooked politicians to our increasing debt, Illinois has a lot of room for improvement. I decided I wanted to seek out something that makes Illinois unique and interesting, something I could...

DeKalb should introduce non-alcoholic bars to residents

By Holly New | April 21, 2013

The definition of “bar” could soon see a change. The Other Side is a bar setting to open sometime this month in Crystal Lake. What makes this bar so different is that it won’t serve any alcohol. One of the goals stated on The Other Side’s website...

Tragedy doesn’t warrant religious persecution

By Holly New | April 17, 2013

The bombings in Boston shook us, as a nation, to our core. Any time something as random and violent as that happens, we are all forced to stop and look at the world around us. While looking for someone to blame, we begin to question what kind of world...

Monsanto Protection Act goes too far

By Holly New | April 8, 2013

Not too long ago, President Barack Obama signed HR 933 into law. Deep within Title VII, deceptively entitled “General Provisions,” lies a single yet terrifying paragraph known as Section 735. This little tidbit of the law “effectively bars federal...

Virginity should not be taboo in college

By Holly New | April 3, 2013

There is pressure to have sex. College students are consistently subjected to messages that push sex. From Cosmopolitan’s tips for having better intercourse to sexually suggestive songs like Flo Rida’s “Whistle” and Rihanna’s “Birthday Cake,”...

Mental healthcare is the key to gun control

Mental healthcare is the key to gun control

By Holly New | March 26, 2013

Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. This is the message that some are finally getting. On March 12, state officials put aside $20 million to revamp Colorado’s mental-health system as part of a plan introduced by Gov. John Hickenlooper in January,...

Don't get crushed under the weight of the world

Don’t get crushed under the weight of the world

By Holly New | March 18, 2013

College can be a struggle. The transition to higher education can involve a change in structure, responsibilities and location. Developing a new social group while maintaining a decent GPA can seem impossible. College, however, can be even more difficult...

Raising minimum wage will only hurt employment rate

By Holly New | March 13, 2013

Raising the minimum wage will do more than increase paychecks. According to Eyder Peralta of NPR, President Barack Obama proposed raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour by 2015 in his State of the Union Address on Feb. 12. A little closer to home, according...

Irony in Chicago politics

By Holly New | March 5, 2013

The last thing Illinois politics are known for are “ethical standards.” That, however, is the reason Gov. Pat Quinn decided to veto a gambling bill that “would have added casinos in Chicago, Lake County, Rockford, Danville and the south suburbs,...

Who needs privacy when you have Google?

By Holly New | March 3, 2013

I’ll be the first to admit I’m a Google addict. Google is my homepage, and whenever I need to look up anything, it’s my best friend. I even have an Android phone that is powered by (you guessed it) Google. However, my dependency on Google had me...

New York case reminiscent of ‘1984’

By Holly New | February 27, 2013

Although we aren’t supposed to be punished for our thoughts, apparently ones of cannibalism and murder are the exceptions. When Kathleen Mangan-Valle “opened her laptop computer and discovered that her husband had used it to visit a fetish website...