TASK DEFINITION: Generate an explanation for the given claim using the provided supporting material from the paragraph. Please consider the following points while generating an output. 1) The claim will always have supporting proof in the paragraph, and the paragraph will have a clear point of view supporting the claim. 2) There can be instances where direct correlation to the claim is not available. Make use of the sentences in the paragraph to provide a corresponding output supporting the claim. 3) The explanation should be at least one and at most twelve sentences long.
PROBLEM: Paragraph: Chemical engineer Glenanne Johnson was terminated from her position as a lab manager at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center following her complaints about mouse droppings and dead rodents, KOB-TV reports. Johnson said the work environment got her sick and she later tested positive for Hantavirus — an infectious disease spread by rodents. The university would not comment on why she is no longer employed. But lab director Michael Stanley told the station when Johnson first reported the problem and shared pictures of the working conditions, he temporarily shut down the labs. “We want to respond if we see a problem. We want to take care of it and fix it because it’s very important to us that everybody go home safely every day,” said Stanley. Claim: Scientist: Complaints about rodent infestation led to firing.

SOLUTION: A New Mexico scientist says she was fired from a New Mexico Tech lab job after complaining about a rodent infestation.

PROBLEM: Paragraph: "Gail Collins loves telling the story of how Mitt Romney drove his family to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car -- and telling it, and telling it, and telling it. The liberal New York Times columnist has mentioned the incident in print 19 times, by our count. She devoted a column to the incident in 2007 when Romney first ran for president. In another column, she suggested John McCain pick Romney for his running mate ""so I can repeatedly revisit the time Mitt drove to Canada with the family dog on the station-wagon roof."" And when Sarah Palin was picked instead, and Collins opined that ""unlike Mitt Romney, she has never gone on vacation with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car."" Collins regularly includes the incident in jocular news quizzes she writes. (A typical question: Which Republican hopeful ""continued to fail to explain why he drove to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car?"" Mitt Romney.) She complained that his 2010 campaign book No Apology didn't mention it, calling it ""a critical oversight."" Last year, just in time for the holidays, she suggested someone make ""a tasteful Mitt Romney Christmas Ornament"" depicting the scene of the dog on the roof. And just last week, she noted that the issue wasn't discussed during the Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Library. Romney's top rival, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, reportedly shot a coyote that was threatening his daughter's dog, which made the Romney anecdote relevant. ""His puppy-rescue is a stirring picture, especially considering that Perry's chief competitor is the man who drove to Canada with the family dog Seamus strapped to the roof of the car."" Aside from wondering why Collins is so obsessed with the story, we also wondered: Is it true? We reached Collins to ask her why she liked the story so much, but she said she'd rather let her columns speak for themselves. (See a picture of Seamus here.) The story of Seamus the Irish setter is not an Internet rumor. It first appeared in the august pages of the Boston Globe in 2007, when the paper published a seven-part profile of Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who had just launched a presidential run. The story of Seamus kicked off Day Four, a story about Romney's family life, written by Globe reporters Neil Swidey and Stephanie Ebbert. It begins in 1983 with a 36-year-old Mitt Romney carefully packing up his five sons and luggage into the family station wagon for a 12-hour trip from Boston to Ontario, where his parents had a cottage on Lake Huron. At the time, Romney was a successful young consultant with Bain & Company, but he hadn't yet started buying and selling companies with Bain Capital in the private equity field. ""As with most ventures in his life, he had left little to chance, mapping out the route and planning each stop. ... Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family's hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon's roof rack. "" Cruel? It's not presented that way in the story, which noted Romney built a special windshield for the carrier, ""to make the ride more comfortable for the dog."" But Seamus must not have been all that comfortable, because he began to experience, um, gastric distress. From the story:   As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. ''Dad!'' he yelled. ''Gross!'' A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours. As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management. As the story quickly made its way around the Internet, Romney loathers -- and dog lovers -- had a field day. The liberal blog Wonkette said it showed Romney would be a great commander-in-chief for the notorious Iraq prison Abu Ghraib. David Kravitz of the liberal blog Blue Mass Group called it ""nuts"" and ""classic Romney: it solves a problem efficiently, in a business-like manner, and with no regard whatsoever for the suffering that the solution may cause."" Ingrid Newkirk of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals told Time's Ana Marie Cox that Romney was giving his children ""a lesson in cruelty"" and that dogs under extreme stress might lose control of their bowels. ""That alone should have been sufficient indication that the dog was, basically, being tortured,"" she said. Cox explored whether Romney's actions might have been illegal under animal cruelty laws. (A moot point, because the statute of limitations has long expired.) As to the accuracy of the story, the Globe learned of the incident from friends of the family and confirmed the details with the Romney family. And the candidate himself didn't dispute the report. In fact, in the days following, he defended it. Seamus loved riding in the carrier, Romney told reporters on the campaign trail in 2007. ""He scrambled up there every time we went on trips,"" Romney said. ""He got (up) all by himself and enjoyed it."" He also said PETA had targeted him because there was a rodeo at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, and because he went quail hunting in Georgia. ""And they're not happy that my dog likes fresh air,"" he added. Actually, Seamus had been dead -- of natural, non-station wagon-related causes -- for years when the story appeared. (He had retired to California to live with Romney's sister, who had more space.) We didn't get answers about Seamus from the Romney campaign, but from Neil Swidey, the Boston Globe reporter who unearthed the story. Swidey said he chose the incident to begin his story because he thought it would resonate with readers as an illustration of Romney's approach to solving problems -- trip is interrupted by dog poop, so Romney pulls over, borrows a hose, takes care of the problem, and is back on his way. ""I certainly didn't write it to make it the basis on which you judge a presidential candidate. The fact that some people appear to be doing that is a little bit crazy. But I can understand why it resonates with people,"" Swidey said. ""It's a window into how this guy operates."" Swidey said some people see it as evidence of Romney's heartlessness, while others see him as logical man and a problem solver. He confirmed the impression we got from reading the story, that the incident was amusing family lore, and that none of the Romney family was upset or disturbed by the dog riding on the roof. In fact, some of the Romneys said they thought the dog actually liked riding on the roof. (Finally, lest we be accused of utter frivolousness, we asked Swidey what aspects of Romney's biography might be more relevant to voters considering Romney for president. He pointed us toward the Globe's coverage of Romney's business career in private equity, his time as governor and Romney's relationship with his father George, who ran for president himself back in 1968.) Here, we're ruling on Collins' statement that Romney ""drove to Canada with the family dog Seamus strapped to the roof of the car."" It's important to note that the dog was not literally strapped to the car, as in tied around its midsection. Rather, Seamus was in a carrier with a protective windscreen that Romney had built. The dog's diarrhea might indicate that something was amiss, but Romney's family didn't seem bothered by it. The anecdote is presented in the Globe as funny family story, not as evidence of Romney's barbaric cruelty." Claim: "Mitt Romney ""drove to Canada with the family dog Seamus strapped to the roof of the car."

SOLUTION: Mitt Romney and the dog on the car roof: one columnist's obsession

PROBLEM: Paragraph: Producers told nominees for the 91st annual Academy Awards that they will have 90 seconds from the time their name is called until when their speech will need to be a concluded. The sprint is needed to keep the Feb. 24 ceremony to three hours, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President John Bailey told this year’s class of nominees Monday at a private, untelevised luncheon to honor them. “It means you can hit the parties by 8:15,” Oscars producer Glenn Weiss reminded the dozens of hopefuls in the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton, the same room where the Golden Globe Awards are held. Weiss and his co-producer Donna Gigliotti showed the room their ideal acceptance speech — Steven Soderbergh accepting the best director award for “Traffic” and promising to offer individual thanks in private, not public — and implored nominees to speak from the heart and not a sheet of paper. “The thing is, run,” said director Brad Bird, who has learned from experience. “Then keep your speeches short and simple as possible ... and then you get out alive.” Acceptance speech how-to is a standard fixture at the annual luncheon, which provides a chance for the nominees, from Lady Gaga to Rami Malek, to socialize ahead of the Oscars ceremony in a low-pressure environment. But beyond the truncated runtime, no mention was made of the uniqueness of this year’s show, where some awards will be handed out during the commercial break, and there may not even be a host for the first time in 30 years. While some below-the-line nominees in the editing and sound mixing categories complained in private about how “insulting” it is to not air all the awards during the main broadcast, the tenor of the star-studded event was largely celebratory. “Today in its purest sense is a celebration of being part of a collective community,” said film academy governor Laura Dern. “This is our opportunity to recognize your profound input.” Attendees included best actress nominees Glenn Close and Gaga, directors Spike Lee, Alfonso Cuaron, Adam McKay, actors Mahershala Ali, Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Malek and many more. Aside from the famed “class photo” in which every nominee is called individually to the front of the room, mingling is the main game at the luncheon, where many stars, like Gaga, ignore their salads and fish dishes to socialize. Gaga at one point made her way to Bradley Cooper’s table, where she ran into her fellow best actress nominee Yalitza Aparicio. At a nearby table, Cuaron, the “Roma” director, had a private conversation with “Green Book” director Peter Farrelly. One of the trickiest feats to coordinate is getting all the socializing nominees to actually take their seats to get the festivities started. With only one minute to go before the “official start,” Regina King, Amy Adams and Richard E. Grant stayed deep in conversation while Marvel chief Kevin Feige snuck in a word with Cooper. The academy joked about the problem on Twitter, writing: “We’ve reached the part of the #OscarsLunch where the announcer asks nominees to take their seats and...the nominees just continue to mingle and have amazing conversations. We get it.” The event often creates a fascinating mix of film stars and newcomers, as nominees are often seated with a mix of people from films that aren’t necessarily their own. One table had Adams, “Black Panther” costume designer Ruth E. Carter and “Bao” director Domee Shi. Another had Gaga, Feige, jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard, nominated for “BlacKkKlansman,” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” director RaMell Ross. Ron Stallworth, whose story became the basis for “BlacKkKlansman,” headed straight to the bar when he entered the venue and said being there was “crazy.” He was seated at a table with director Spike Lee, who brought Stallworth’s story to the big screen and earned six Oscar nominations, including for best picture and best director. “RBG” director Julie Cohen stopped to say hello to “A Star is Born” nominee Sam Elliott, while Bradley Cooper said hi to the filmmakers of the nominated documentary “Minding the Gap.” Before the luncheon started, Close, “Free Solo” climber Alex Honnold and director Phil Lord spoke in a circle for about 20 minutes as other guests trickled in. The hanging out even continued on the bleachers waiting for all the nominees to be called for the photo. But unlike the Academy Awards broadcast, there was no rush here. All the nominees proudly cheered on their own, one by one. And as if designed to ensure a teary-eyed Gaga, right as the photos were about to be snapped of the full class, “Shallow” started playing faintly in the background. Claim: At Oscar nominees luncheon, a pitch for brevity.

SOLUTION:
Winners at this year’s Oscars will need to be quick, both in their walks to the stage and their acceptance speeches.