Education

In Berkeley, a big fireball and a swimming pool that makes high schoolers lose body hair

Font Size:

It’s been a bad few days for Berkeley, Calif.

On Monday, a huge explosion ripped through through the air on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. The blast sent a giant fireball high into the air, injured four people and left some 20 people trapped in elevators for a couple hours, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Labs across the prestigious, sprawling campus were evacuated. A school-wide text message ordering students to evacuate campus was sent about eight minutes after the explosion, reports KGO-TV.

Power had gone out all over campus about two hours before the incident. The blast happened as power crews were attempting to bring back power.

Electricity has been largely restored, but Cal students have had a hard time because midterm exams start on Tuesday.

“I can’t study anymore,” frustrated student Suneesh Kaul told the ABC affiliate. “I don’t have a charge in my laptop. My phone’s out. It’s basically crazy.”

UC Berkeley officials believe the power outage and the subsequent explosion may be tied to a large-scale theft of copper wire from an electrical station near the campus.

As of the wee hours of Tuesday morning, it was not clear whether classes will be held as scheduled on Tuesday, notes the Times.

Meanwhile, the city government in Berkeley was forced to shut down the swimming pool at Berkeley High School last week because students using it have reported symptoms including the mysterious disappearance of their body hair.

Alarming levels of chemicals in the water are to blame, reports Berkeleyside, a local independent news site.

City officials ordered the pool closed after students on the water polo team and their parents complained about burning eyes, hair so bleached it has turned white and, in some instances, vanishing body hair.

The city sent someone to test the water in the pool. The results of the test showed a pH level of 8.5, which was “exponentially high.”

The problem was traced to a broken CO2 tank.

Parents aren’t happy.

“We didn’t want the pool closed,” one unidentified parent told Berkeleyside. “We don’t want to make a political issue out of it. We want a safe and healthy environment for our children.”

The same parent charged that the hair on his son’s arms and legs is now basically gone.

A new CO2 tank is on order and should arrive in a few days. Until then, water polo players don’t have a pool for practice or for matches.

City officials have promised to measure the chemical status of the pool three times a day forthwith. Also, an independent contractor will now evaluate the pool monthly.

Follow Eric on Twitter and send education-related story tips to erico@dailycaller.com.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel