1. Investigation underway after body found at First Baptist Cleveland

On Monday, Oct. 31, an employee of the First Baptist Cleveland church on Kieth Street found an unknown man in a car in the parking lot, who was unresponsive. He was pronounced dead by EMS when they arrived on the scene. As of now, the man’s name is not being released by police.

Cause of death has not been determined however, the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate the case.

2. Congressional report regarding Hypersonic Weapons

On Oct. 27, Congress was presented with a Research Service report regarding the research and development of hypersonic weapons. Funding for these weapons has been significantly restricted in the past, however, they have become a focus for the United States armed forces since both Russia and China have recently developed advancements in the technology.

The Pentagon’s 2023 budget request included $4.7 billion for hypersonic research, which is higher than the $3.8 billion included in the 2022 budget request.

The US has primarily focused on two types of hypersonic weapons: glide vehicles and cruise missiles. Hypersonic Cruise Missiles are the more viable of the two weapons, as it operates the same way as a standard, sub-sonic cruise missile, but at higher speeds at about Mach 5. For comparison, the Concorde, the only hypersonic passenger plane, had a top speed of Mach 2. 

Hypersonic Weapons enable “responsive, long-range, strike options against distant, defended, and/or time-critical threats when other forces are unavailable, denied access, or not preferred,” said former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Commander of U.S. Strategic Command General, John Hyten.

Critics of hypersonic weapons say that they lack clear mission parameters for their deployment and do little as a deterrent. 

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3. Royal mail employees in the UK go on strike

On Nov. 1, the Royal Mail Service in the United Kingdom announced that members of its largest union, the Communication Workers Union, will be performing two separate strikes in the months of November and December. The first strike will be on Nov. 24 and 25, and the second will occur on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. The CWU canceled the two additional strikes planned for Nov. 12 and 14.

The CWU executives will be meeting on Thursday, Nov. 3 to discuss new actions leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. According to a statement released by CWU, the meeting will also include a vote to reject an offer sent by the RMS and will be discussing whether or not employees have confidence in the current company chief, Simon Thompson.

This dispute has flared up again, after CWU rejected an offer by RMS for a conditional pay increase.

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