“It’s kind of a joke, but it’s not a joke.”

Glenmore Blackwood, the father of a Morgan State University student, regarding the shooting on campus during the school’s homecoming week celebration on Tuesday evening. Five people were wounded, none critically. The shooting occurred shortly after the coronation of Mister and Miss Morgan State as students were heading to a campus ball. (NPR — Oct. 4, 2023)

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, complaining about China buying up American farmland, which is just one of several recent incidents that show growing tensions between the U.S. and China, several of which have been panda-related. The National Zoo’s three giant pandas are set to return to China in early December with no public signs that the 50-year-old exchange agreement will be renewed or continued. Beijing currently lends out 65 pandas to 19 countries through “cooperative research programs.” If the National Zoo’s pandas do return to China in December, the only giant pandas left in America will be those at the Atlanta Zoo, and their loan agreement expires late next year. (Associated Press — Oct. 3, 2023)

U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, regarding his triggering of a fire alarm in a congressional office building on Saturday afternoon ahead of a spending bill vote. Republicans allege that Bowman was trying to delay the vote and have called for him to be punished, while Democrats insist that Bowman was simply trying to open a closed door that was usually open. (NPR — Oct. 1, 2023)

West Des Moines, Iowa, school district spokesperson Laine Buck, regarding the district’s decision to add disclaimer signs, but not remove any Little Free Libraries on school grounds. At least two suburban school districts have placed disclaimers on the free-standing outdoor displays where people are encouraged to share books in response to a new state law that bans books that describe sex acts from libraries and classrooms. Webster Elementary school in the Urbandale school district’s disclaimer on the “little libraries” states that they are not funded, sponsored, endorsed or maintained by the district and are not “in any way part of the Urbandale Schools library program.” (Associated Press — Sept. 29, 2023)