1. Lee University ranked #23 

Lee University ranked #23 this year in the 2023 U.S. News and World Report's Best Colleges. 

Rising four spots from last year, in the top 50 of the “Best Regional Universities - South” category including both private and public universities. Lee also appeared in three speciality rankings as subsections in the “Regional Universities - South” category, “Most Innovative Schools,” “Best Value” listing and “Undergraduate Teaching.” 

“We are of course pleased with the results of this year’s rankings from U.S. News,” said Lee President Mark Walker. “It’s once again an affirmation of the quality we all strive to produce for our students here at Lee.”

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2. Bezos’ space travel company’s flight crashed

On Monday, Sept. 12, Jeff Bezos’ space travel company’s first accident occured. 

Jeff Bezos' rocket company has suffered its first launch failure. The Blue Origin rocket veered off course over West Texas about a minute after liftoff Monday. No one was aboard, only science experiments. https://t.co/WFjAItOXEt

— The Associated Press (@AP) September 12, 2022

The Blue Origin flight crashed back to earth shortly after liftoff. No one was aboard and the capsule parachuted to safety. The Associated Press reports the Blue Origin rocket is the same kind of rocket sending paying customers to space. 

“Booster failure on today’s uncrewed flight. Escape system performed as designed,” the Kent, Washington-based company tweeted close to an hour later.

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded the rockets until their investigation is over.

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3. Minnesota nurses go on three-day strike 

In Northern Minnesota and the Twin Cities, nurses from 15 hospitals went on strike. On Monday, Sept. 12, the union nurses began a three day strike starting at 7 a.m. with no negotiations planned during the strike. This union represents roughly 15,000 nurses.

MPRnews reports that “Union nurses have been in negotiations since March, and working without a contract since June.”

Nurses are on strike in the Twin Cities and Duluth area. Host Cathy Wurzer spoke with @laura_butter_ the health reporter for the Duluth News Tribune. Listen below. https://t.co/nHpftKohAM

— MPR News (@MPRnews) September 12, 2022

The main points under discussion were wage increases, retention, staffing and safety concerns and burnout due to the pandemic. 

"The most important thing for us is safe staffing. And we have proposals on the table to have nurses have a say in how things go. We do the work … we're the ones that take care of the patients. We need a say in how things go," said Tricia Ryshkus, a nurse at Children's Minnesota in Minneapolis and a member of the Minnesota Nurses Association negotiating team.

For more information, click here.