Prez Selects Latina for Highest Court

President Barack Obama announced his pick for the nation’s highest court May 26. At the White House, the president introduced Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his selection to fill David Souter’s spot on the bench when the Supreme Court justice retires later this year.

If the U.S. Senate approves her appointment this summer, Sotomayor will be the third woman and first Latina to serve. Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court justice, retired in 2006. Sotomayor would join Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the bench, along with the other seven male justices.

President Obama describes Sotomayor as brilliant and highly qualified for the lifetime position. “Of the many responsibilities granted to a president by our Constitution, few are more serious or more consequential than selecting a Supreme Court justice,” the president said. “I have decided to nominate an inspiring woman who I believe will make a great justice—Judge Sonia Sotomayor.”

Sotomayor, 54, currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York. Before that, she was a U.S. District Court judge.

But it’s her family and growing up years that have shaped who she is. Her parents came to the United States from Puerto Rico during World War II. Sotomayor was born in New York’s South Bronx, where she lived in a government housing project.

At age 8, Sotomayor was diagnosed with juvenile (Type 1) diabetes, a serious, lifelong disease. The following year, her father passed away. By 10, Sotomayor knew she wanted to become a judge! Her mom worked as a nurse six days a week to raise Sotomayor and her brother. Her mom firmly believes education is the key to success in America. “Thank you, Mr. President, for the most humbling honor of my life. You have nominated me to serve on the country’s highest court, and I am deeply moved,” Sotomayor said.

Could Ida Be a Missing Link for Primates?

About 47 million years ago, a young primate fell into a deep volcanic lake and sank to the bottom, where it began to fossilize. In 1983, fossil hunters discovered the incredibly well-preserved, cat-size relic in an area known as the Messel crater in Germany. Unfortunately, the discoverers didn’t know how important their find was and kept it in a drawer for 23 years!

But a team of scientists now think it may be a missing link between higher primates like humans and a branch of more primitive ones.

At a fossil show in Germany, Dr. Jorn Hurum from the University of Oslo got a glimpse of it and had a feeling it was something great. Amazingly, the fossil is 95 percent complete, with highly detailed bones and teeth. It even shows fur and the creature’s last meal!

“This is really one-of-a-kind. There are so many stories about evolution that can be told by this one specimen,” Dr. Hurum said on a History Channel show called “The Link,” which introduced the world to this fascinating find.

The creature, named Darwinius masillae in honor of evolutionist Charles Darwin, is a female that died when she was between 6 and 9 months old—between 5 and 6 years old in human age. Because Dr. Hurum has a daughter about that age, they started calling the fossil “Ida,” the name of the scientist’s daughter!

According to the team, Ida was small but powerful. Based on her teeth, index fingers and an important anklebone, they believe she was more than just an ancient lemur—she also shares some traits of higher primates!

Primates are an order of mammals that have large brains, shortened snouts and well-developed hands and feet. Higher primates (a branch known as anthropoids) include monkeys, apes and humans. On the other side of the primate tree are the prosimians, which have held onto more primitive characteristics. Lemurs are a type of prosimian. Could Ida be an early ancestor of both prosimians and higher primates? Scientists are already picking sides but agree that Ida deserves a lot more study. “(She is) our most complete, earliest ancestor,” Dr. Hurum concludes in “The Link.” “This is the first link to human evolution, long before we started to divide into different ethnic groups.”

Tucson Little Leaguer Is GRRREAT!

Playing baseball teaches Little Leaguer John Lopez a lot. And the 13-year-old from Carson Middle School uses what he learns to help him get over those rough spots in life. The talented teen is a finalist for a big national sports award and needs you to vote for him NOW!

Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes and ESPN.com picked John as one of the final four kids in the nation to compete for this year’s Earn Your Stripes Youth Achievement Award!

John plays in the Palo Verde Little League, which is part of District 12. His team, the Yankees, needed him to fill a hole in the infield, even though he loved playing left field.

“One of the kids hurt his arm, so I had to play there (at shortstop),” John says. Shortstop is one of the busiest, hardest positions in baseball. “You have to cover a lot of ground and have fast footwork,” he explains. To help him learn the position, his family took him to Santa Rita High baseball games.

“Being a team player means going where your team needs you,” John points out. John has played Little League for six years. His adoptive dad, Joey Lopez, has helped coach all along.

John’s life hasn’t been easy. He has six older brothers and two younger sisters. When his family ran into problems, the state put him in a group home. A while later, Lopez and his wife, Emelda, adopted John and one of his sisters.

“When he came to live with us, he was a year-and-a-half behind in school,” Lopez recalls. “And through the will of wanting to play baseball and football, he caught up.

This year he made the honor roll.”

Kellogg’s came to Tucson to film John and his team all day to make an “Award Shorts” video. You can go online to www.espn.com/earnyourstripes to see John and the other three finalists, and to place your vote. Hurry, voting ends June 15. You can vote once a day.

Playing sports opened many doors for John. “I learned that it takes a lot of hard work to play shortstop. And if I set a goal for myself, I can do it on the field or off the field,” John says.

He and his family will fly to Los Angeles next month to attend the ESPY breakfast, where the winner will be announced. The winner will receive the award at the nationally televised ESPY Awards that evening.