Weekend News Update

Over the weekend, nurses were accused of spending their days playing cards, Queen Elizabeth celebrated her birthday and Sri Lanka had a heartbreaking Easter Sunday. Here’s your weekend update.

Washington state lawmaker Maureen Walsh is facing a substantial amount of backlash after implying that nurses “play cards for a considerable amount of the day” and should be exempt from uninterrupted meal breaks and protection from mandatory overtime.

After the remark was made Tuesday, many nurses took to Twitter to express their objection to Walsh’s comment by posting their personal accounts of being overworked and having a significantly high patient to nurse ratios.

The Washington State Nurses Association stated in a blog post, “No, senator, nurses are not sitting around playing cards. They are taking care of your neighbors, your family, your community.” The website crashed shortly after due to an exceptionally high amount of viewers.

While attempting to defend herself during a statement Monday, Walsh claimed that she was “tired” and “taken out of context.” However, even after her apology, there have been numerous posts on Twitter, decks of cards in her mailbox and petitions made in order for nurses to get the justice and appreciation they rightly deserve.

By Tuesday morning, a petition calling for Walsh to shadow a nurse during a 12-hour shift to obtain an experience of the reality of their daily lives had already raked in over 650,000 signatures.

After previously passing the House without the amendment, the bill has now passed the Senate with the amendment excluding small hospitals.  

On another note, while many families were celebrating Easter, Queen Elizabeth spent the day honoring her 93 birthday.

The Queen celebrated by attending Easter services with her family in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. While her whole family was not available to attend the services with her, they still commemorated her on social media with countless photos and birthday wishes.

Queen Elizabeth is the longest reigning monarch in British history and does not appear to be ready to slow down anytime soon. While her husband Prince Philip has taken a step back and retired from public duties, the queen remains active and manages to keep herself busy.

Though celebratory festivities were evident throughout the weekend, the queen and her family will formally acknowledge her birthday in June, with the Trooping the Color parade.

However, Easter Sunday was not fun and celebration for everyone.

On Sunday, April 21, coordinated attacks in both churches and hotels in Sri Lanka killed 359 people and injuring over 500. Locals and several foreign tourists are among the deceased.  

Suicide bombers are being attributed to National Thowheed Jamaath by Sri Lankan officials, which is a group that has no significant terrorist attacks and are unknown by U.S. intelligence agencies. On Tuesday, the leader of the attacks and seven followers released a video pledging allegiance to the Islamic State.  

These are developing stories. Stay tuned for more information.