Story by Liam Carstens

For the first time in 20 years, and the third time in the last century, a member of congress was expelled from the House of Representatives. George Santos was a republican representative for the 3rd district of NY, located on Long Island. Before he was expelled, Santos already gained quite a bit of controversy. He was caught lying about earning degrees from both Baruch College and New York University. He also lied claiming both that he was a journalist working for a large media company and that he was a wall street investor.

In May 2023, Santos was indicted on multiple felonies, and in October, he was indicted on several more. These charges include 9 counts of wire fraud, 3 counts of money laundering, 1 count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, 2 counts of aggravated identity theft, and multiple other felonies. 

On December 1st, 2023, the House of Representatives voted to expel Santos in a 311-114 vote. He was the first Congressman to be expelled for a reason other than bribery or for supporting the Confederacy during the Civil War, making this a historically significant event.

Story By Tighe Grigg

The word is out, a new chain store called CosMc’s that is a branch of McDonalds just opened on December 7th. CosMc’s is a chain store that's focusing on coffee and drinks and seems to be a challenge towards Dunkin and Starbucks. It seems to be another way for McDonalds to increase their afternoon sales. The first CosMc’s is located in Bolingbrook Illinois, a suburb in Chicago with an additional 10 locations set to open in Texas. 

CosMc’s menu will include many different types of drinks and also some small treats. The drinks have a large variety and can either be coffee based drinks or non-coffee based drinks that are more on the fruity and refreshing side. This is very similar to how Dunkin and Starbucks organized their menu with the small treats and a mainly drink oriented menu. However CosMc’s drinks are supposedly on the more diverse side. 

The concept of the chain is that a “part alien, part surfer, part robot” from the 80’s opened a restaurant in 2023 to create “a Starbuck’s rival with even more indulgent drinks and name it after himself.” The store reflects this with its space themed look and its customizable, interesting drinks. The store could pose a threat to the two coffee giants; Starbucks and Dunkin. Brennan Lang stated “I like McDonalds and it would be cool if there was a drink place like CosMc’s. I think they made the logo font a little lame though.” The new fast food restaurant will definitely gain some attention that will be interesting to hear about.