This week, Starr’s Mill students take on the third week of digital learning. Students and teachers alike have finally gotten into the swing of things and have officially lost track of what day of the week it is. Students eagerly await Spring Break to, well, sit around and do nothing. While students sit around, the news is buzzing. With a stolen Van Gogh painting, a toilet paper truck fire, and a hot spot for COVID-19, The Prowler has the stories. 

Van Gogh painting stolen from Dutch museum (3/30)

Vincent Van Gogh’s painting “The Parsonage of Spring”  was stolen from a Dutch museum just outside of Amsterdam early Monday morning. A report by the police stated that robbery took place around 3:15 a.m. and that the intruders entered by breaking through a glass door. 

The Singer Laren Museum, where the robbery took place, has been temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.It has been closed since March 13 after the Netherlands announced the country’s ban on large gatherings and events. The painting was originally stationed at the Groninger Museum but had been borrowed on a loan by the Singer Laren Museum.

On Monday afternoon, the museum had a press conference where the museum’s director Jan Rudolph spoke about the situation and expressed their remorse. Police are still investigating and have stated that the painting has been added to the Interpol list of stolen artworks.

 Trump predicts over 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus (3/31)

In a recent press conference regarding the quickly spreading coronavirus, President Trump said that he originally downplayed the severity of the virus and now predicts over 100,000 deaths to occur within the next two weeks. Currently, the most cases are located in New York and New Jersey, which is pulling up the total count. 

This is the first time the President has publicly offered projections as to how many Americans might die. He admitted he has been reluctant to give this bad news and has been advised to use a darker tone.

Officials have said that if Americans follow the distancing guidelines, then America should be able to prevent an additional 2.2 million deaths. Multiple members of his team have suggested the extent of the guidelines for another 15 days, but the President said he would rather be able to ease them earlier instead of extending them. The guidelines being to work from home and avoid large crowds.  

Truck full of toilet paper burns in highway crash (4/01)

On Wednesday morning, a truck in Texas carrying precious cargo was involved in a highway crash. That precious cargo was loads of toilet paper. The Texas Department of Transportation said that the truck crashed around 4 a.m. on Interstate 20 near southern Dallas County.

The driver stated that he had hit a bump in the road accidentally and lost control of the truck. The truck swerved into the highway barrier and overturned. The driver and his dog that accompanied him are okay, but the truck burst into flames, causing the cargo to burn as well. 

Crews of firefighters arrived on the scene to try and extinguish the flames, but by the time they arrived at the scene, the toilet paper could no longer be saved. The clean up process lasted several hours. 

Small city in Georgia becomes hotspot for COVID-19 (4/02)

A retired janitor died in southern Georgia, and crowds joined to mourn him. However, weeks later the city was brimming with coronavirus cases. The cluster of cases are linked to the funerals held in late February and early March for 64-year-old Andrew J. Mitchell and another man.

As of Wednesday afternoon, there were at least 490 confirmed coronavirus cases and 29 related deaths in Dougherty County as well as Cohila’s County, where Albany, Georgia is located. Around 20 people who attended these funerals contracted the virus, and it quickly spread from there.

Mitchell died of a supposed heart attack on Feb. 24, and days later a good friend of his, Emell Murray, was hospitalized. She suffered from high blood pressure and fever. Spending much of March in the hospital, Murray was diagnosed with COVID-19. A domino effect was created, so local Albany officials declared a state of emergency for the small city.

Atlanta Zoo’s Red panda says her final goodbye (4/03)

Friday Morning, the Atlanta Zoo’s staff had to make the hard decision to euthanize Idgie, the red panda. She was 14 years old and had been experiencing multiple health problems. Idgie came to the zoo in 2013. 

She was at a zoo in Cincinnati before coming to Atlanta. When asked about her, the workers described her as “saucy” and said she has a Pokémon character’s smile. Idgie was around the size of a typical house cat.

In contrast to common belief, red pandas are actually not directly related to the normal black and white panda. They have their own taxonomic family, the Ailuridae. Both pandas live in the rain forest of China, Nepal, and Myanmar.