Edition 2 - Semester 2

In Fortnite, a player can choose to play the game by themselves, with a partner, or with a group of four people. When people play with a partner or a group they can revive their teammate(s), if they get knocked down by an enemy. To be knocked down is when an enemy hits a player down to the point where the player can’t do anything and the person has hurt them.

To prevent being eliminated, a player can find a shield potion or health regenerators. There are three different kinds of shields. The three are mini shields which will give the player 25 more shield, a big shield which gives the player 50 more shield, and a chug jug which gives the player full shield and full health if the player is down on health. Them can find a bandage and that will give them 15 health back, and a med kit will get the player full health. The most health and shield you can have is 100.

Players can get three resources which are wood, brick, and metal. Wood is the weakest, brick is in the middle, and metal is the most durable. People can build walls, platforms, stairs, or a pyramid. During combat, some people build using the resources to protect them. The most resources allowed to each player 999 materials.

Each player can have up to five items in their loadout. The loadout contains items such as weapons, shields, and health regenerators. On the other hand, traps, campfires (used to gain health for multiple players, and they burn out eventually), and launch pads (make a player fly in the air to travel faster to a place) are not in the loadout but more like a resource.

Another big factor in the game is the storm. The storm moves in and will take away health if a player is in the storm. The storm is put in the game to make sure the game will end, and so people come close to each other so they can fight. The storm takes about two minutes to come in then it stops. When players are first in the storm, it only takes away one health, but later on it will take away two health, then more and more.

Much of Fortnite’s popularity is the fact of the weekly updates. Epic Games adds things from new suits to new weapons weekly to keep players interested. In the Season 3 update, Eric Williamson, lead designer of the game says that they will be bumping the FPS (Frames Per Second) from 30 to 60 and they will start a program called “level streaming” that will give the player a chance to earn rewards from getting experience in played matches or daily challenges.

Though the game is free, some things in it are not. A form of currency is called “V-Bucks”, and people can buy new harvesting tools (what the player starts out with-in the start of the game), emotes (dance moves or icons), suits and gliders. Another thing available every few months is the battle pass, which gives the player more features so they can have more chances to level up and get items to use in-game.

Fortnite Battle Royale is considered the “best” game for gaming consoles (Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC) by Rolling Stone, Tech Radar, and Forbes. The consideration is mainly focused on the total time spent playing and the amount of money spent on it. With new items keeping the player entertained each week, there are about 450,000 downloads. Fortnite has been the most downloaded game of the year and will possibly continue to grow as the year progresses.

Is Chemical Farming Good or Bad?

Riley B. & Jeremiah L.

Chemical farming- a lot of farmers are using chemicals to speed up the process of growing plants for money. Eighty percent of pesticides in the United States are used on these following crops: corn, soybeans, potatoes, cotton, wheat, sorghum, oranges, peanuts, tomatoes, grapes, rices, apples, sugarcane, lettuce, pears, sweet corn, barley, peaches, grapefruit, pecans and lemons.

Farmers are using pesticides to protect the crops from bugs and pest, it may also help prevent thousand of weeds from growing. There are different types of pesticides and fertilizers that help the plants grow faster and bigger.

There are different ways of spreading pesticides and fertilizers. Some different fertilizers are manure and ammonium sulfate. Most farmer’s use a crop duster for pesticides and a big sprayer for fertilizer. There are different kinds of fertilizers and pesticides, some are liquid and some powder.

Each type of pesticide kills a certain type of pest for example, insecticides kill insects, herbicides kill plants, rodenticides kill rodents, bactericides kills bacteria, fungicides kills fungus, and larvicide kills larvae.

Some of the chemicals can be dangerous if it is not wiped or cleaned off of the vegetable before it is eaten. Eating foods with traces of pesticides is bad for your health-especially for kids. Research confirms that pesticides can harm people in various of ways. Some pesticides can cause to poisoning to people when came in contact with.

Low dose exposure can be linked with damage to your brain and nerve system, disrupt people’s hormones and can cause cancer. Also, pesticides can contribute to neurological problems, which impair learning, memory, and attention. Neurological is a relating to the anatomy, function and organic disorders of nerves and the nervous system. Pesticides can cause immune suppression, diminished intelligence, and reproductive abnormalities.

Some people think that washing the fruit and vegetables will remove all traces of pesticides. Cleaning the fruit and vegetable removes dirt, and traces of human handling. It also reduces pesticides, but not all of them.

Chemical farming can also affect the environment by hurting the animals that live around the fields of fruits and vegetables. The animals that live around the fields are important to the ecosystem. Without the chemicals, the ecosystem wouldn’t grow good fruits and vegetables.

Without the chemicals to help plants grow, the plants wouldn’t grow and produce for people to buy at the store or at markets. Without it, people wouldn’t have very much of any plants they depend on.

James led his team to a Division lll state title by scoring 25 points in the championship game. The word of James’ basketball skills had spread, and he received several honors for his performance.

As a sophomore in high school, James was chosen for the USA Today, All-USA first team. James was the first sophomore to ever get selected for this award. During his sophomore basketball season, he also led the basketball team to another Division lll state title basketball championship.

The following school year, James was named Parade magazine’s High School Boys Basketball Player of the Year, and Gatorade Player of The Year. Following the end of his junior year, James was such a skilled player that he considered going pro.

Deciding to finish his education, James had a tremendous senior year on the court.

James averaged about 31.6 points a game and helped the team get their third State title. The St. Vincent-St. Mary’s basketball team also earned the top national ranking in his senior year. James would soon emerge as one of the NBA’s leading players.

Eventually, after James’ high school career, he got drafted to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first pick straight from high school in the 2003 NBA draft

Many people consider that James’ first season with the Cleveland Cavaliers was a success. James helped the team to eighth place in the Eastern Conference. James was rewarded with Rookie of the Year, and also he was was the youngest player to be selected for the Rookie of the Year at the age of 20. In 2016, James also led the team to a championship playing against the Golden State Warriors.

James is considered to be the best basketball player in the NBA. James could possibly play for many more seasons to come.

The Indians Come Out Swinging

Aidan G. & Case Z.

The Indians have a winning preseason record. Cleveland placed 1st in AL (American League) last year (2017). Their preseason began on February 23rd, and it will end on March 27th, 2018. So far, the Cleveland Indians have a record of 12-7-2. They will play 40 games in their pre-season.

This is also during the time that the Cleveland Indians are lowering the use of their Chief Wahoo logo. They have replaced Chief Wahoo with a block letter C. This is due to people finding the logo offensive to Native Americans.

The MLB has been working on ways to lower the amount of time a game takes. An average game now takes almost three hours to play, not including extra innings. The games in the 1970s took on average two and a half hours, not including extra innings. They have limited the time between pitches, and the amount of times the coach can talk to the pitcher during the game.

Manager Terry Francona is back with his team after attending the funeral of his father. Francona says, “Cleveland is as close to my family as you can get in a professional setting for (my father) and myself.”

"He had a really good off-season. He was able to refresh a little bit and looks really strong and good," says Mike Chernoff, (the General Manager for the Indians) when talking about Corey Kluber, a starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians.

“They're going to go all the way,” says Cody S., who is an 8th grader at Monroeville Junior High.

“I hope they go all the way, but I don't know if they will,” claimed Spencer F., a 7th grader at Monroeville Junior High.

The Indians are getting ready for their regular season, Cleveland has a winning record and feel strong going into the regular season.