Brazil’s youngest lawyer-to-be?

Joao Victor Portelinha de Oliveira dreams of becoming a federal judge. He passed the law school entrance exam at Universidade Paulista, a Brazilian multi-campus private university.

He is only 8 years old.

However, when Oliveira showed up for classes with his father, he was turned away. The university decided to withdraw his admittance due to the fact that he has not graduated high school, a law school prerequisite.

Oliveira’s test scores have created nationwide concern regarding the standards of law schools in Brazil.

Education Minister Fernando Haddad has opened an investigation of Universidade Paulita.

Although Oliveira is ahead two grades, his mother Maristela told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper he is a regular boy.

“He is very dedicated, likes to read and study, but he has fun and makes friends,” she said.

Playing one-handed

Southern Utah University’s star basketball player, Dax Crum, is left-handed because he was born without his right hand.

His disability hasn’t kept him from starting for the Thunderbirds, a NCAA Division I team, though.

“I think I’ve changed a lot of people’s perceptions of what people in my situation can do,” Crum said in an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune.

He walked onto the team and was benched until his coach, Roger Reid, took notice of him. Recognizing Crum’s dedication, Reid began playing him more and awarded him a scholarship so that he could work one job instead of three.

This season will be Crum’s last as he finishes up his graduate degree in finance. However, Crum doesn’t expect his basketball career to be over, as he wants to pursue coaching and “keep inspiring people.”

No room in the cemetery

The mayor of the small southern French town Sarpourenx warned all inhabitants that if they were buried in the town’s cemetery, they would be punished, according to a Reuters article.

The mayor’s ordinance read: “All persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish. All offenders will be severely punished.”

The mayor said he was forced to post the ordinance after an administrative court ruled that adding land to the parish cemetery would not be possible.

The 70-year-old official finds no humor in what he considers a grave situation.

“It may be a laughing matter for some, but not for me,” he said.

[Reach columnist Erika Cederlind at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]