“In the News” is an event hosted at the Paul Meek Library on the University of Tennessee at Martin campus every Wednesday at 4 p.m. with the point of the event being to engage students in meaningful, thought provoking discussion regarding current events, which can be local, regional or global.

“In the News” starts by presenting a globe with multiple pinpoints highlighting areas of hot-topic discussion. The host of the event is Johnnie LaDue, Ph.D., an assistant professor and information literacy librarian at the UT Martin. LaDue started with events from East to West on the screen and opened the forum to discussion with the participants.

The first event highlighted were events in Iran. Currently, there have been protests in Iran due to the failing economy. On December 28, citizens took to the streets of Tehran to express their anger at the falling value of the Iranian currency, the rial. This has led to widespread calls from citizens calling for political reform and change. LaDue focused briefly on this topic, explaining that the protests have been met with staunch opposition. Protestors are being killed as a result of violence. 

The next topic discussed was Israeli attacks in Lebanon. As of Jan. 5, 2026, the Israeli military began striking “targets” they described as Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon. This comes from claims that the military was planning strikes on Hamas “military infrastructure” in the region. These attacks have since become near-daily, and violate the ceasefire agreement established between the two nations in 2024.

Several other topics were discussed during the “In the News” forum, one of which was the war between Israel and Hamas. Israel has been very active in attacking Palestine and have since “redoubled efforts in the west bank trying to expand settlements,” LaDue said.

Other topics included happenings in the regions of Somalia, Burkina Faso, where a recent assassination attempt was taken against their current leader, Nigeria, where on Christmas Day the United States struck ISIS terrorist groups that were persecuting Christians in the region, and the World Economic Forum.

As the forum continued, LaDue reached the other half of the globe on the screen, which put participants in the Americas. Among the Americans, LaDue began in South America with Venezuela. In light of a recent forum held on campus about the events in Venezuela, much less was said about the events in the region. 

Finally, LaDue ended the form regionally and nationally, focusing on events at UT Martin and in the United States.

The main topic discussed regarding UT Martin was the recent renaming of the Civil Rights Conference. The Civil Rights Conference will now be called ENTICE, which stands for Evolving Narratives: Tennessee Initiative for Civic Engagement. The conference has been held annually at UT Martin for the last 25 years; this year will be the 26th.

The final topic discussed was the recent ICE developments in the United States, citing that ICE has been deployed in Nashville and Memphis. Among this, discussions were also held regarding the recent ICE arrests of civilians and the murder of Renee Good.

Laith Mansour, a freshman history major, began coming to the forums in Sept. 2025.

“I heard about it and was like, ‘I like news…’” he said. “There’s a mix of some stuff I have heard and some stuff I kind of haven’t heard about.”

When asked why LaDue decided to start leading the “In the News” discussions, she said, “[It helps me] forge better connections with the students; I enjoy talking with students, getting your perspectives. I liked to hear what you all are thinking…. It helps me teach better.”