Illinois School Shooting

Illinois School Shooting, A potential school shooting in central Illinois ended when a school resource officer shot and wounded an armed former student who opened fire Wednesday morning.

The 19-year-old suspect, who arrived armed at Dixon High School about 8 a.m., shot at the officer who then returned fire, injuring him, police chief Steven Howell said at a news conference.

Howell commended the quick response of the school resource office for his fast response.

“I could not be more proud of the police officer and the way he responded to the situation. With shots ringing out through the hallways of the school, he charged towards the suspect and confronted him, head on,” Howell said. “Because of his heroic actions, countless lives were saved. We are forever indebted to him for his service and his bravery.”

Howell said the suspect had fired several shots near school gym, where the resource officer confronted him. The suspect then ran away, and shot back at the officer, who had pursued after him. The officer fired back, wounding the suspect, who was then taken into custody.

The former student who was shot is believed to have sustained non-life threatening injuries and is currently receiving medical treatment, Howell said. The officer who shot him was not harmed and will be put on paid administrative leave, per a department policy. No Dixon High students or staff were injured in the incident.

Ozone Eating Chemical Emissions

Ozone Eating Chemical Emissions, Something strange is happening with a now-banned chemical that eats away at Earth’s protective ozone layer: Scientists say there’s more of it – not less – going into the atmosphere and they don’t know where it is coming from.

When a hole in the ozone formed over Antarctica, countries around the world in 1987 agreed to phase out several types of ozone-depleting chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Production was banned, emissions fell and the hole slowly shrank.

But starting in 2013, emissions of the second most common kind started rising, according to a study in Wednesday’s journal Nature . The chemical, called CFC11, was used for making foam, degreasing stains and for refrigeration.

“It’s the most surprising and unexpected observation I’ve made in my 27 years” of measurements, said study lead author Stephen Montzka, a research chemist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Emissions today are about the same as it was nearly 20 years ago,” he said.

Countries have reported close to zero emissions of the chemical since 2006 but the study found about 14,300 tons (13,000 metric tons) a year has been released since 2013. Some seeps out of foam and buildings and machines, but scientists say what they’re seeing is much more than that.

AP