A mother and son were found shot in the backyard of their california home on Sunday, June 5..

Officers responded after gunshots were reported, when they arrived at the scene the wounded woman and boy. Both victims were shot in the upper body. The mother was pronounced dead at the scene while the boy who was around 5 or 6 died later at the hospital.

“Detectives believe this is a domestic related incident, and the suspect fled the scene,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

The believed killer was the woman's boyfriend, 36 year old Rigoberto Covarrubias. Neighbors say they saw him leave the home following the gunshots. He was taken into custody related to the murder.

“We just heard gunshots, like five or six gunshots,” neighbor Brian Sanchez told KABC-TV. “My dad came out to see what was going on and the guy with the gun ... just told him to ‘go inside because there are gunshots. I suggest you two go inside.’"

The victims' identities have not been released to the public yet.

Jif Peanut Butter, is the peanut butter that you may or may not use to make sandwiches and other desserts that I’m too lazy to list. It's becoming apparent that the J.M Smucker Company which makes Jif Peanut Butter, is having all of their products containing their peanut butter recalled. The origin of the recall all started when The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention began to get reports from 14 people in 12 different states. Two of the people who reported the peanut butter went to the hospital but no deaths have happened. The CDC says in this article it said that five out of the 14 people sick that were contacted had eaten different types of Jif Peanut Butter products made before becoming sick.

The main illness people have gotten because of the peanut butter was salmonella. Salmonella does not need to be introduced, but the main cause of salmonella is when food handlers don’t wash their hands. After the FDA investigated and collected samples from J.M Smucker in a plant in Lexington, Kentucky in 2010, the FDA concluded that this plant was the main cause of the cases happening. Smucker put a voluntary recall, and as I explained in my last article which you should read, a voluntary recall rarely happens or doesn’t happen at all. You can even see a warning on their website. This website was made to feature company news and this recall news is all over the website which you should check out for more information related to this.

The FDA does have a list of all the products that were recalled and you can find more useful info on their website. One thing I would like to point out, is that the website links to a list that says that J.M Smucker Company is only recalling certain products that have the lot code numbers 1274425-2140425, but it's only if the first seven numbers end with 425 which is where the Lexington plant is located at. A total of 69 products were affected by this recall and other companies have also been affected by the recall. The original recall that Smucker did affected 49 Jif products I found this information here. This article also says that this recall doesn’t only affect the U.S it also affected 10 countries which are Canada, Dominican Republic, Thailand, and Japan.

The first report happened back on February 17th and ever since then, 14 people have gotten sick in 12 different states. The FDA and CDC say it could be way more people than the number listed, but on CBS's website, it says 16 people were infected with two people in hospitals so far. It’s even gone through to Disney World. Which isn’t offering its snacks that contained peanut butter and on Instagram the eatery explained that the recall had slowed down bulk stocks of peanut butter coming into Florida which is where Disney World is located, has left them in “a pickle” due to them needing hundreds of pounds a day to keep their desserts on sale. While some desserts have been removed some things have stayed but don’t ask me what it is because I don’t know. The Magic Kingdom also pulled some peanut butter sauce off of its shelves in an ice cream shop there so it seems like this recall has affected almost everyone with peanut butter products.

There are tons of more examples of peanut butter recalls, but this seems to be the biggest one yet in my opinion. Since this will be my last article of the year, I just want to thank everyone for following this very nice (but stressful) journey with me. Let's hope that the articles for next year will be good, have a wonderful summer, Whitford!

On Sunday May 29th Sergio “Checo” Perez won the Monaco Grand Prix. Although starting 3rd on the tight narrow street circuit that is known for being difficult or even impossible to overtake. But how was this incredible feat even possible? To understand the entire story we must start on Friday May 27th.

Friday May 27th Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2

For the first practice session the Mexican had a great practice session being 2nd fastest and was only slower by 0.039 seconds. However there was another chance for Perez to reach the fastest time of the session but he sadly wasn't able to accomplish the goal and was sadly slower by 0.379. Perez set some very impressive lap times and he may be able to do something impressive on Saturday for qualifying.

Saturday May 28th Free Practice 3 and Qualifying

In the last practice session Sergio Perez was able to set the fastest time by 0.041 Seconds faster than second place Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari. The pace was incredible and was just amazing and was leading up to be a very good qualifying for the mexican. Checo made it into Q3 and had a strong pace. After his first run through the qualifying session he was only 3rd fastest and was behind by 0.253 seconds from 1st place Charles Leclerc. However on his second run Checo was beating his original lap time but on turn 8 right before the tunnel he put the power on too early and spun causing his rear wing to be completely destroyed then seconds after Carlos sainz hit him causing even more damage and the session was red flagged. Although starting 3rd could he come back and take 1st on the hardest circuit in the world?

Sunday May 29th Race

When the drivers got out onto the grid they were expecting to race in the hard conditions with hard rain coming down but after the formation lap the FIA decided to postpone the race for 2 hours giving the rain a chance to lighten up. After a while the rain did lighten up and the conditions were tricky with some drivers choosing to put on intermediates and others choosing to keep their full wet tires. Monaco is not known for overtakes so that’s why when the race started and Pierre Gasly was cutting though the field like it was nothing people knew they were in for a treat this time. But now let's talk about Checo and how he actually won the race.

Checo was able to maintain 3rd place and when the track was dryer the Red Bull pit strategist and engineer on lap 16 called Checo in and they put him on intermediate tires which are supposed to help with grip on a damp track. Then, two laps later on lap 18 Charles Leclerc was called into the pits. So before the pits the order of the grid was 1 Charles Leclerc, 2 Carlos Sainz, 3 Sergio Perez. But then after it was too late Ferrari told Charles to stay out but he was already in the pit lane so Charles did his pit stop and came out 3rd. Checo had moved up one place and was on route to pass Carlos Sainz. Checo didn't have to work too hard to get 1st as Carlos Sainz pitted one lap later. Checo’s undercut strategy worked and Checo was now leading the Monaco Grand Prix. On lap 27

Mick Schumacker had a very big shunt after he missed the racing line by 2 centimeters that's smaller than the size of a crayon on turn 15. The incident caused a red flag and the race was stopped. The accident did not affect the outcome of the race but there was an unusual reason that the race ended. The race had reached the 2 hour time limit so the race was stopped due to time running out.

“It’s Perez in the Principality he wins the Monaco Grand Prix” David Croft as Checo won the race. Checo is now only 15 points behind the championship leader and is also the most decorated Mexican Formula 1 driver ever. Could Checo win the next race in Azerbaijan, could he be world champion?

A lot of crazy things have happened ever since early September around the world. As a sort of memoriam to this year and the roller coaster it has been, I am wanting to break some of it down for you all.

Devious Lick

I don’t know about you guys, but I almost forgot about the infamous “Devious Licks” by now. This started with a kid who posted a video showing a box of disposable masks being pulled out of his backpack. He supposedly stole them, and the video had a caption associating “devious lick” to it. This led to a huge problem for American Middle and High Schools as the property would get stolen, or destroyed.

UN Climate Change Conference

In November of 2021, a climate change conference was held in Glasgow. It was an agreement of which the world agreed to unite to slow down climate change and potentially end it. The conference lasted two weeks and had nearly 200 nations fighting against climate change. No nation has completed the tasks that will put a halt to the climate crisis. At this point, it is only a matter of time until the nations step up to the plate to help fix this.

December Violence and Tragedy Continue

On December 23rd, a 14 year old was killed by an officer’s stray bullets as they went through her dressing room wall. They did this because they were openly firing on a suspect for assault with a deadly weapon in the store. However she wasn’t the only person that took a fatal bullet that day, the suspect was also fatally shot.

Russian - Ukraine War

I’m sure many people know about the huge conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Russia decided to invade Ukraine on February, 24th, 2022. They did this because Putin saw Ukraine as a threat and could not feel safe to “safe, develop, and exist.” It is an all out bloodbath in Ukraine thanks to Russia.

In conclusion, so far this year has been an absolute insanity. How do you think next year will be?

Hate crimes on an all-time rise .

Hate crimes have been around in the USA for decades. According to CNN, “More than 10,000 people reported to law enforcement last year that they were the victim of a hate crime because of their race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, religion or disability.” And these are just hate crimes that have been reported. Think of how many more there are. But hate crimes have had a spike since 2019. Why have they had a spike? And, how can we stop them?

What is a hate crime?

A hate crime is a crime committed based on someone's bias toward someone else's race, religion, or sexuality. Hate crimes can be small things and large crimes that can really hurt someone mentally or physically. According to the FBI,“A hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism.”

Who is being affected by hate crimes the most?

Anyone can be affected by hate crimes. It doesn't matter your race, gender, sexuality, or religion. But, most of the time People of color, women, The lgbtq+ community, and other religions are affected by hate crimes. These people are called minorities. So what are minorities? Minorities are people that are looked at as weaker or do not get paid as much as the average person. They do not get paid the same as the average person because of their race, language they speak, religion, sexuality, gender disability, and more.

Why are hate crimes on a spike?

Scientists have noticed a spike in hate crimes since the pandemic. COVID-19 has affected a lot of people's mental health and this could be the reason they are acting this way. As some of us know Asian hate crimes were skyrocketing in 2020. This was because COVID-19 started in China. But this does not give these people the right to what they are doing or an excuse. Hate crimes are very serious.

America's future

In conclusion, hate crimes are a big issue in America, and sadly are leading lots of people to suicide and depression. Hate crimes are very serious and need to be recognized more. If nothing changes in the next decade, hate crimes are just going to get worse. But if we change what is happening right now, we can stop some of this hate. Hopefully, America's future is hate free.

Social media platforms are one of the most popular apps or websites created. Tons of people around the world use social media platforms to communicate with each other every day. According to Adobe Express Blog Posts.com, they have Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat for their top seven social media platforms. Most websites have different social media platforms higher than others based on the information they have gathered. For example, Adobe Express Blog Posts has Facebook as the 3rd best social media platform but most of the other websites have Facebook as the biggest social media platform right now.

Despite where the social media platforms might be ranked, they all are really popular apps/websites that bring in at the very least millions of users. Twitter is one of those platforms. Twitter was founded in 2006 in San Francisco, California by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, Even Williams, and Noah Glass. Twitter has 400 million+ MAU (Monthly Active Users) and the company makes 3 billion dollars or more. Originally, there wasn’t a specific person who owned Twitter. Twitter was made up of Chief Executive Officers and Shareholders who owned a percentage of the company. But just recently, someone bought Twitter for 44 billion dollars. That person was Elon Musk.

According to TheVerge.com, Elon Musk originally purchased 9.1 percent of Twitter making him the largest shareholder of Twitter. Later that day, Elon musk tweeted ways that Twitter could potentially be improved as a social media platform which resulted in Twitter offering Elon Musk a place as a board member (Someone who is given certain decisions.) At first, Musk said yes but later on decided to decline the offer. Elon Musk then decided to bid for the whole company for 44 billion dollars. Technically Elon Musk isn’t the owner of Twitter yet, but if the deal with Twitter is closed soon, he will officially be the owner of Twitter. Elon musk could always choose to back out from the deal but it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll do that.

Even though Elon Musk will most likely make a lot of money from buying Twitter, that’s not the reason he's buying it. As the owner of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk makes billions of dollars. Elon Musk thinks of Twitter as a digital town square and wants to make Twitter a free speech platform so that anything can be said on it. He also wants to make Twitter private which would remove Twitter from the New York Stock Exchange, one of the biggest stock exchanges.

No one truly knows if Elon Musk's plans for Twitter will come true or if he's actually going to buy it but even if he does hopefully Twitter will still be the same great social media platform it once was.

Two Shootings took place overnight on June 5th in Philadelphia and Chattanooga Tennessee. Six people have been pronounced dead and 25 others have been injured between these two shootings. As of recently, Congress is preparing to take up gun-control legislation.

Philadelphia Shooting Details:

Shortly before midnight on June 5th, several police officers that were currently on duty in a popular nightlife area in Philadelphia heard gunshots and saw “several active shooters” firing into a crowd near them.

One officer was within about 10 to 15 yards of one of the shooters and shot at the suspect. It is not confirmed if the officer was able to get a direct shot at the suspect. Two guns were recovered at the scene, including one with an extended magazine. As of early Sunday (June 5th), no arrests had been made. The violence in Philadelphia marked the sixth mass shooting in the US just this weekend.

Chattanooga Tennessee Shooting Details:

Three people were killed and at least 14 others were injured in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Some victims were struck by bullets and others were hit by fleeing vehicles. 14 victims were shot while three others were hit by vehicles attempting to leave the scene. Police believe multiple shooters using several types of guns were involved. Two of the three victims were killed by gunshots while the other victim was killed by a vehicle. No suspects are in custody, and police have yet to identify any potential suspects or victims.

According to Vox.com’s article, more young Americans are being killed by Guns than cars now. Since Friday (June 3rd), there have been shootings with multiple people wounded or killed in Arizona, Virginia, and Houston, Texas that haven't made it to National News. There have been at least 239 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Recently NASA revealed the “sharkcano” eruption. The pictures that NASA showed of sharks living in extreme temperatures. This is located in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of the Solomon Islands in Australia. It’s one of the most active volcanoes in the pacific. The volcano is 3,960 feet deep. 65 feet below sea level. What makes this volcano so special? The volcano started to erupt in October, that is what NASA had said. But when it fully erupted, what or who they found surprised them. It’s not just a volcano, it’s a home. How did they survive? What did the sharks look like?

What makes this volcano so special? Well, when the volcano first started to erupt it looked like any other underwater volcano. But over the months nearing April and May, there was a weird color to the water. Just a couple of days later on May 14, the volcano erupted. However, an article from USA Today talks about how the volcano has been “spewing” particles into the water making it extremely heated for animals to live in. This is why they didn’t assume any animals lived in this area. Although, earlier on, in 2015 researchers discovered that there were two different kinds of sharks living under there. One was even a hammerhead shark.

How did they survive? Well, 9 news interviewed professor Micheal Heithaus, who has been studying sharks for the past 25 years. Sharks have what's called “a cluster of pores” which is located on their snout otherwise known as the ampulla of Lorenzini. It’s known as the “sixth sense”. Professor Micheal Heithaus believes that this can detect “changes in the earth's magnetic field”. This allows the sharks to swim to safety if the eruption occurs. In this article by 9 news, studies have shown that sharks can detect approaching tornadoes or even hurricanes. Researchers think that if the sharks can do all of these things they may be able to move out of the way when something bad is about to happen.

What do the sharks look like? When Nasa dropped the camera down into the orange boiling water, on one of the world's most active submarine volcanoes, they were expecting to see lots of activity. But, what they weren't expecting to see is mobs of sharks under there. Researchers said that there were, reef sharks, hammerheads, and scalloped hammerheads. They all swam up to the camera unbothered that the eruption had taken place just moments before. However, sharks were not the only thing living down there. There were also “gelatinous animals” living down there too.

However, this eruption has raised many questions. For instance, how are all of these animals (sharks and gelatinous animals) living in what's boiling water? This volcano has been erupting since 1939. They have just found the sharks in only 2015. What else is this volcano known for? Well, it’s been known for creating temporary islands of debris that usually get washed away by the ocean. What will come next? What else is living down there?

Did you know that in the summer there are many National days? Some national days are created via presidential proclamation or a resolution in the House or Senate. National Sister Day, National Ice Cream Day, National Best friend Day, and National Take A Road Trip Day are a few that I will be talking about.

National Sister day, August 7th

According to National Today, “This day is meant to celebrate the special bond that exists between sisters all across the US and beyond and the great love that sisters share.” There are lots of fun things to do with a sister. You could go to a movie, go shopping, or write a song and sing it together.

National Ice Cream Day, July 17th

According to National Today, “(President Ronald), Reagan wanted to commemorate a treat enjoyed by over 90 percent of the US population. In 1984, he decreed a day for ice cream, and his proclamation glorified the dairy industry in America." National ice cream day is a day to eat ice cream!

National Best friend Day, June 8th

National Best Friend day is a great way to hang out with your best friend(s). According to Better Homes & Gardens, “Congress wanted to devote a day to celebrating close friendships, and picked a date in early summer that would be convenient for getting together since many parts of the country have good weather this time of year.” There are many things you can do with your friends when you're hanging out. You could have a dance party, go for a sunrise walk, and go to lunch.

National Take A Road Trip Day, May 27th

National Take a Road Trip Day is perfect to go and take a road trip somewhere. According to National Road Trip Day, “The Friday before Memorial Day (in 2022, it is May 27th) is declared National Road Trip Day and serves as the official kickoff of the summer road trip season. Millions of Americans hit the road each year over the long weekend, visiting friends and family while paying tribute to our American heroes.”

There are lots of fun things you can do in the car when you're on a road trip. You could watch a movie, take a nap, play the state license plate game, and listen to music.

There are over 1,500 National days in the world. You can find all of the National days on the National Day Calendar.

Milana Li was found missing on May 8th. 8th. She was a 13-year-old 6th grader attending Conestoga Middle School. Over a month later, she was found dead in a creek at a park and Li’s cause of death was declared to be a homicide.

A 16-year-old boy was a primary suspect in the murder of Milana Li. Daniel Ryan Gore was charged with first-degree murder. He appeared by video conferencing in Washington Juvenile Court. According to The Oregonian, Daniel had lacked a plea. A plea is a basic response to what has been suspected of the suspect. There is still no information on how Daniel knew Li or how she died. According to the Oregonian, “Li’s mother, Assel Li, stood up to speak, clearing her voice between words and staving off tears.”

“I feel that my family will not be safe if he is out, and it’s dangerous for him to be outside, inside the community,” she said. “And I have a small kid, another girl. She’s 5.”

The family was shown to have a hard time as they did not speak clear English and had to sit next to a translator telling the courtroom what the mom was saying. Judge Brandon Thompson stated that Daniel was to make an appearance on June 3, when his next court session was in play. Deputy District Attorney Dustin Staten noted that Daniel had a history of crimes. He once tried to set a movie theater on fire. Another time, he had tried to destroy and steal from one. In those cases, Daniel was accused of second-degree-arson, criminal mischief, and second-degree theft in those cases.

Daniel was supposed to be sent with his father and stepmother since there was no clear evidence of him having to do with the disappearance of Li, but he ran away two weeks later. When she was found dead in the creek, Daniel was accused of Measure 11. According to the Oregonian, this means “Juveniles charged with Measure 11 crimes no longer are automatically sent to adult court under a 2019 law that aims to keep young defendants in Juvenile Court, where sentences are shorter, focusing on rehabilitation.” Other people known as prosecutors wanted Daniel to be moved to an adult court. When people like this happen, a judge must investigate whether or not the youth possessed “sufficient sophistication and maturity to appreciate the crime and whether keeping the youth in Juvenile Court is in their interest.” If Daniel were found guilty, he would be released from Oregon Youth Authority Custody at 25.

Li’s family was distraught after this incident. According to The Oregonian, County spokesperson Philip Bransford said, “Our hearts go out to Milana’s loved ones and everyone affected by her death.” According to Yahoo Finance, “Community members mourning Li’s death have left a memorial for the 13-year-old.” "My mother and I decided to plant some lavender and purple flowers by the creek," Li’s classmate Savanna told KOIN-TV. "We wanted something that would just stay there for her."

On May 9, 2021 Tristyn Bailey was brutally stabbed to death in Jacksonville, Florida. Where was she that night? Who was she with?

• At around 12 am Tristyn's sister saw her talking to an unknown white male who was wearing a backwards baseball hat on a video chat in the gurage.

• Phone records prove that Tristyn had an incoming call from a number that was later found to be Aiden Fucci’s at 12:25 am.

• After being at Aiden's house for about half of an hour Tristyn and him left his house together at 1 am.

• Surveillance shows two subjects believed to be the two teenagers walking towards a pond in Dr. Larry Schoenberg’s neighborhood.

• At 3:27 am more surveillance from Schoenberg shows one subject walking. west, away from the pond, wearing a light colored sweatshirt carrying a pair of white nikes.

• Tristyn’s family reported her missing at 10 am.

• At 6:00 pm a body was discovered during the investigation.

Charged with first-degree murder, Aiden Fucci, 15, will stand trial in November, Judge Lee Smith said at Thursday's hearing. Aiden was arrested along with one of his friends and was placed in a police car during which he stated “ We’re having fun, in a f****** cop car.” According to Tristyn’s autopsy report, she was stabbed 114 times in her head, neck, hands, shoulders, arms and back.

Fucci’s girlfriend told an investigator that he would hear voices when he got angry. They would tell him that he was worthless and a disappointment, even going as far as telling him to kill people. She also said that Auden would surprise her from the back and put a knife to her throat and pretend to slit it; he even had names for them, “picker” and “poker”. She told detectives that less than a month before Bailey was killed, Fucci had told her he was going to kill someone, that was going to find a person walking at night, drag them into the woods and stab them.

“First and foremost Erik you’re dealing with a juvenile here,” said defense attorney John Holzbaur. Even after their attempts to make Aiden look incapable of this crime he will still be tried as an adult.

Social media platforms are one of the most popular apps or websites created. Tons of people around the world use social media platforms to communicate with each other every day. According to Adobe Express Blog Posts.com, they have Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat for their top seven social media platforms. Most websites have different social media platforms higher than others based on the information they have gathered. For example, Adobe Express Blog Posts has Facebook as the 3rd best social media platform but most of the other websites have Facebook as the biggest social media platform right now.

Despite where the social media platforms might be ranked, they all are really popular apps/websites that bring in at the very least millions of users. Twitter is one of those platforms. Twitter was founded in 2006 in San Francisco, California by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, Even Williams, and Noah Glass. Twitter has 400 million+ MAU (Monthly Active Users) and the company makes 3 billion dollars or more. Originally, there wasn’t a specific person who owned Twitter. Twitter was made up of Chief Executive Officers and Shareholders who owned a percentage of the company. But just recently, someone bought Twitter for 44 billion dollars. That person was Elon Musk.

According to TheVerge.com, Elon Musk originally purchased 9.1 percent of Twitter making him the largest shareholder of Twitter. Later that day, Elon musk tweeted ways that Twitter could potentially be improved as a social media platform which resulted in Twitter offering Elon Musk a place as a board member (Someone who is given certain decisions.) At first, Musk said yes but later on decided to decline the offer. Elon Musk then decided to bid for the whole company for 44 billion dollars. Technically Elon Musk isn’t the owner of Twitter yet, but if the deal with Twitter is closed soon, he will officially be the owner of Twitter. Elon musk could always choose to back out from the deal but it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll do that.

Even though Elon Musk will most likely make a lot of money from buying Twitter, that’s not the reason he's buying it. As the owner of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk makes billions of dollars. Elon Musk thinks of Twitter as a digital town square and wants to make Twitter a free speech platform so that anything can be said on it. He also wants to make Twitter private which would remove Twitter from the New York Stock Exchange, one of the biggest stock exchanges.

No one truly knows if Elon Musk's plans for Twitter will come true or if he's actually going to buy it but even if he does hopefully Twitter will still be the same great social media platform it once was.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.

Justin Trudeau announced that Canada is sending additional military support to Ukraine, including drone cameras, satellite imagery, small arms, and ammunition. Canada is donating about 19.3 million dollars to the U.N. World Food Program, which is providing emergency food assistance to people in Ukraine.

U2’s frontman Bono and lead guitarist The Edge performed a concert in Kyiv at the central metro station. The two Irish artists delivered an hour-long preformance at the Metro Station, which used to be Kyiv's busiest metro station. "The people of Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you're fighting for all of us who love freedom," Bono told the crowd between songs.

Sanctions will be imposed against Russia's Channel One, Russia-1, and the NTV Broadcasting Company, including cutting off the outlets' access to technology like video cameras, microphones, lighting equipment, and software services, according to the fact sheet. Advertising dollars derived from the United States will also be prohibited from funding the companies.

Pope Francis on Sunday prayed for peace in Ukraine, entrusting to the Virgin Mary the ''sufferings and tears of the Ukrainian people."' In front of the war's madness, let us please continue to pray the rosary for peace every day," the pope told thousands of people gathered in the Vatican's St. Peter's Square for his weekly address and blessing. For many Sundays in a row, the pope has led prayers for peace in Ukraine and has condemned the Russian invasion of the country, calling the act of war "senseless" during an Easter Sunday Mass last month.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-05-08-22/h_dcd8de2ea914f0977391a38c665e5286

https://www.aljazeera.com/where/ukraine/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/04/30/whats-happening-ukraine-this-week-graphics/9581447002/?gnt-cfr=1

145 years ago, the first phone was invented. Now, in present-day with the coronavirus, researchers have repeatedly relied on one thing, the location on your smartphone. The data used for this allows wide-ranging looks at the movements of millions of people. But it worries many people about privacy. People have asked, “Is my phone listening to me?” What are the dangers of sharing my location?” and “What are the benefits of sharing my location to my phone?”

Is my phone listening to me?

The answer is yes. First Siri came out in 2011, then it was Google assistant, then came Alexa in 2014. Each of these devices had one objective. They are wanting buyers to listen to their commands. This could be making phone calls, texting a friend or relative, asking about a sporting event, or even asking about the weather for the week. For the most part, our phones are listening to us virtually, to assist us. For example, “Hey Google” or “Hey Siri”. But it sure is no accident when you're having a conversation with your phone near you, then you see an ad on the object later that day. An article from Nortan gave a great example. “It’s similar to how search engines track our activity to ensure we’re delivered the most relevant results” They had also talked about how we could think of our phone or device as a “verbal search engine” as well.

What is the danger of this data sharing my location?

Even though the data excludes names, phone numbers, or other recognition, even unacknowledged information can be revealing. The New York Times even reported on the aggressiveness of some of the data. They had stated that this could show “intimate details like trips to the doctor’s office and outings with romantic partners." Some companies have even collected, stored, and soled location information. These days, hackers can access location information and even follow a person. Ait can be very dangerous.

What are the benefits of sharing my location?

The location from your phone is often used for what's called “targeted advertising”. Meaning if you go to work out a lot at the gym your phone will most likely show you ads for sneakers, new gym clothes, yoga mats, etc. Apps that help you get to places like Apple Maps or Google maps, also use location information to help you know how much traffic there is, or the amount of time it takes to get somewhere. With the coronavirus, location information has also helped show spots where people were socially distanced, where they are traveling, and where somebody could have been exposed to the virus. The New York Times has used data like this to give an idea of how the virus may have spiraled out of control.

Overall, if you want to avoid apps collecting your data, using your location and selling it, or hackers trying to follow you, I suggest going through your phone to see which apps are using more of your information than you think they are. Always make sure you are watching your surroundings and not walking around with your head buried in your phone. Now that you know a little more about your phone, you can be the judge whether or not you still trust it as much as before.

Now you may know the cereal brand Lucky Charms. What you might not know is that the brand that makes Lucky Charms, General Mills is currently under investigation by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for reports of poisoning in the cereal. It all started on Iwaspoisoned, a website made to report food poisoning in a similar way to social media feeds like Twitter. The reports that are made come from real people in real-time, as the website explains starting in late 2021, reports came in and started trending on the website with over 4,500 people reporting being sick. This has not been the first time this has occurred, in The Wall Street Journal says that in 2018 an outbreak of salmonella happened in Kellogg Co.'s cereal called Honey Smacks which infected 135 people.

The reports came from around the U.S and they report similar symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and headaches. The reports came from 49 states across the U.S, in this article by Food Safety News the FDA made a statement to the website that said “The FDA is aware of reports and is looking into the matter. The FDA takes seriously any reports of possible adulteration of food that may also cause illness or injury. Depending on the seriousness of the problem, an FDA investigator may visit the person who made the complaint, collect product samples, and initiate inspections. Complaints of a less serious nature or those that are more isolated incidents are monitored and the information may be used during a future inspection of a company to help the FDA identify problem areas in a production plant. The complaints are also discussed with company management during these inspections.”

A spokesperson for the FDA said that they didn’t receive any calls linked to the Lucky Charms poisoning going around, but encouraged that if you are getting symptoms to report it to their website linked here. As for the possibility of the cereal being recalled, it’s a very slim chance that it will happen. As this article by the Miami Herald says the FDA rarely orders recalls for products but they do issue a do not use advisory for the product. Some companies do issue recalls voluntarily but most of them don’t take this route. As for what General Mills thinks about this problem, they responded to a Facebook comment by saying “we take the consumer concerns reported via a third-party website very seriously, through our continuing interval investigations, we have not found any evidence of consumer illness linked to the consumption of Lucky Charms. Nonetheless, we’d like to report this to the appropriate personnel. Could you please send us a PM (private message) so we can collect some more information?”

It’s very important to note that it’s very rare for cereal to be contaminated with something because cereals are baked. The Wall Street Journal says that since the cereal is baked, it kills pathogens but it can be contaminated after the baking process is over like when they place the sugar coating on the cereal or when it’s packaged. As for if there were incidents that have happened before this, other than the Honey Smacks, there have been very minor reports that have happened but not as big as this one. Patrick Quade, the creator of Iwaspoisoned, said that breakfast cereal doesn’t often get complaints on his website. In 2021, he only got 100 complaints about different types of breakfast cereals and in 2020 there were only 11 complaints made to the website. Honey Smacks aren’t the only cereal Kellogg Co. has had a problem in because in 2010 they had to recall 28 million boxes of their cereal called Froot Loops due to its taste and smell.

What I’m trying to say is that while yes, cereal getting contaminated is rare but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen once in a while. Overall the only lesson that we can take from this is not to trust cereal. Note, that it was a joke. Eat whatever you want I’m just saying what I think but what do you think about this? Answer the poll below!

Through thousands of movies and franchises, it would be impressive if there was a person who’d never seen one of Johnny Depp’s acting roles. His most famous being Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Even though many know him as the guy on stage, a lot was going on behind the scenes. In 2009, Johnny Depp had met Amber Heard, an american actress who was casted as his loved interest in the movie ‘The Rum Diary’. Three years later the movies was to be released in 2011. During this time, Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard had entered a relationship in which they would later take to the next step in 2015. They were married for only a year when they both filled a divorce in 2016, a short lived marriage.

Two years post their divorce, Ms. Heard had written an article for The Washington Post. The article is still up and can be found under the title of; Opinion: Amber Heard: I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change. In the article, Ms.Heard talked about harassment and sexual assault. She wrote about how it was something she had experienced a lot in her life. She voiced how these problems had cost her many crucial and important events in her life. She expressed how these problems made her and others doubt if her acting role like Mera in the Aquaman or Justice League movies was secure.

Her third paragraph in the article was; ‘Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out’. Even though Ms. Heard had not specifically named anyone in this article, the suspicions quickly rose against Mr .Depp, whom she'd been in a marriage with two years prior.

This alone caused Mr. Depp crucial acting roles for his career. Many accused Mr. Depp of being an abuser. The Sun Newspaper from England even called him ‘A wife beater’ in one of their headers. The article was not the only time Ms. Heard had accused Mr. Depp of abuse. In 2016, she accused him of verbal and physical abuse. She claimed that he bruised her face after he threw a phone at her. Mr. Depp was not charged anything after he denied Ms. Heard's claims.

Now, in 2022, Mr. Depp is suing Ms. Heard for $50 million over the opinion article she had written back in 2018. He said he was suing her for the article who had caused him crucial acting roles such as Jack Sparrows in Pirates Of The Caribbean. This is not the first case that had both of them involved with allegations. In 2020 they did have a trial back in the U.K. in which Johnny Depp lost.

After the $50 million dollar lawsuit Johnny Depp had placed against Ms.Heard, she responded with a counter suit of $100 million dollars that she placed due to Mr. Depp calling her a ‘Fake’, a ‘Liar, and a ‘Sexual Violence Hoax’.

The trial began on April 11th 2022 and is planned to last six weeks with Johnny Depp’s testimony recently ending and Amber Heard starting hers. The trial has just recently passed it 3rd week.

Through the trial, they both have accused each other of all types of abuse, both denying the others accusations. Mr.Depp has said, “Never did I myself reach the point of striking Ms. Heard in any way nor have I ever struck any woman in my life.”

One of the first main accusations in the trial was one of Johnny Depp’s top middle finger was severely injured and left with a scar. He claimed that it was caused when Ms. Heard threw a vodka bottle at him. Ms. Heard then denied the allegations and said that Johnny Depp’s fingers was actually caused when he’d thrown a phone at her who she claimed had shattered and then cut his finger, leaving the scar.

Through the trail, Johnny Depp’s alcohol and drug use has been heavily used against him. He said. “If anybody ever had a problem with me drinking, it was me.” He went on to say how he had suffered much which led him to a very dark place. He also explained that the messages used against him of him talking to his friends about Ms. Heard where the ways he used to cope. He had called her a ‘Rotting corpse,” and multiple other offensive names that included many bad words. He said “And sometimes pain has to be dealt with with humor—and sometimes dark, very dark humor.” Which is very common. In many situations people tend to make jokes or humor out of their trauma of problems. It is most common when people try to solve an awkward situation by cracking a joke. In a similar sense, it is what was happening to Mr. Depp.

Mr. Depp had gone through many things in his childhood, and abuse was one of them according to Mr. Depp’s manager, Christi Dembrowski, who is Depp’s older sister. She said that what she had seen in Mr. Depp while in his relationship with Ms. Heard was like a copy of their childhood.

More tapes and witnesses have let out information of what they had witnessed going on in their relationship. Some had said that they had seen the couple fight, but not engage in any physical abuse. While others said they had witnessed Ms. Heard telling Mr. Depp he was going to die an old, lonely, man.

Later on, Mr. Depp’s legal team hired Shannon Curry to make an evaluation of Ms .Heard. She had responded by diagnosing Ms. Heard with borderline personality disorder and histrionic disorder.

Borderline personality disorder is when a person's brain affects how they view others and themselves. They often face problems on handling or letting out their emotions and often find themselves in unstable relationships. They often find themselves incapable of leaving a person and go to extreme measures to keep them by their side. Histrionic disorder is when a patient has unstable emotions or has unhealthy self-body images. They also often have an overwhelming desire to be the center of attention. They react irrational and will do anything to attract the attention of others no matter the cost.

These claims were questioned as to why Ms. Curry had previously gone to Mr. Depp’s legal teams to get dinner and have a few drinks, This brought up the questions if Ms. Curry was bribed to lie. Though this case had thousands of evidence and witnesses, their is still more to come, with three weeks still remaining and Ms. Heard yet not testifying. This case is yet to be ended.

The Midterm Elections are the elections that happen halfway through a president’s term. This is when the citizens vote for one-third of the Senate and for every member of the House of Representatives. Today I will be talking about how the Midterm elections affect us, why they matter to us, and why it’s important for people to vote.

How The Midterm Elections Affect Us:

During midterm elections, one-third of the Senate and every member of the House of Representatives will affect you depending on if the person you voted for wins or not. For example, if you are voting for a Democrat as your state's governor, but republican wins, your life could truly be affected. One of the powers that the governors have states, “A governor's official duties can include signing bills into law.” according to howstuffworks.com. This means that they could approve bills that might say things like looser gun laws or give schools less funding or the opposite. Those are things that affect everyone.

Why The Midterms Matter:

It’s time to talk about why they matter. One of the biggest reasons that they matter is that after the Midterm elections, there aren't any large-scale elections in the U.S. till 2024 when the President's term is up. What this means is that whoever gets appointed in these elections will be there for at least another two years. Another reason they matter is because of the fact that “Whoever controls the House or the Senate controls the agenda,” according to usembassy.org. What this means is that if Republicans win, they could veto the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which is a bill making it so states cannot make voting laws that would make it harder for certain people to vote.

Why It’s Important To Vote:

Finally, you may or may not already know the answer to this one, but voting is something that everyone should do, especially with midterms because of the fact that the members will be in office for two-plus years. Take this as an example; If 60 families of 5 each don’t vote, then there might be 300 fewer votes for a certain candidate. If that number of families is even higher then a candidate might not win. To add to that, aactnow.org states the following “In the Rio Grande Valley 4 out of 10 people vote in a Presidential Election and only 2 out of 10 vote in a Gubernatorial Election.” This Number is super low and needs to be higher which is why you need to vote.

Although you may not be able to vote yet you will be able to vote in 2026, 2028, or the 2030 election depending on your grade. Now you know how they affect us, why the midterms matter, and why it’s important to vote.

On Monday, March 28th, Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, signed the bill HB 1557 titled the “Parental Rights in Education” bill, dubbed by opposers “Don’t Say Gay”. It has received much national opposition from many in the LBGTQ community, as well as other people and corporations such as Disney, and was subject to peaceful protests and boycotts outside of legislative buildings. The new law, to take effect on July 1st, will ban educational instruction and discussion in the classroom and part of school activities for students in kindergarten to the third grade. Specifically it states that "Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards." Critics have argued that this is vague, and forces teachers of all grades to watch how they teach. By not specifying exact guidelines for “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate”, teachers and faculty are left guessing as to what they can and cannot support their students on. This adds onto the already strict guidelines on sexual education in school. Teachers are having to question their personal actions as well, such as their pronouns and advertisement of such in the classroom.

Upon violation of these set curriculum requirements, parents are permitted to sue the school out of its own pocket based on personal dislikes towards taught material. This incentivises school districts who don’t have extra cash in their budget to sneakily remove books and other materials from student and faculty access. Without specifying what exactly parents might sue for, the education system isn’t taking any chances; leaving even one questionable book in the library - from topics like LGBTQ, race, and birth control - could be a deadly mistake.

It also requires - vaguely - that schools and teachers must notify parental guardians when students receive mental health and counseling services, which, according to Jaclyn Diaz’s article “Florida’s governor signs controversial law opponents dubbed ‘Don’t Say Gay’” in NPR, “The Trevor Project says these provisions, “appear to undermine LGBTQ support in schools and include vague parental notification requirements, which could effectively require teachers to 'out' LGBTQ students to their legal guardians without their consent, regardless of whether they are supportive.’”. Students who wish to talk to a trusted specialist in the student supportive services would essentially be writing a transcript for their parents to read later, without it coming from the student’s own mouth. Amber Phillips from The Washington Post states in her article “Florida’s law limiting LGBTQ discussion in schools, explained” that “proponents say it would ensure parents are informed if their child is experiencing confusion over their identity. One of the advocates for the bill is a Florida mother who says her child’s school recognized her child’s gender identity as different from the one they recognized at home”. This statement was supported during the signing of the bill, which took place at an elementary school with students, and signs that stated “Protect Children, Support Parents”.

Many critics have countered and insulted the bill and DeSantis, making data based claims for the continued support of students; as published in the CNN article “Critics of Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law say it will damage LGBTQ students, parents and teachers”, “It’s estimated that at least one LGBTQ youth between the ages of 13 and 24 attempts suicide every 45 seconds in the United States, according to The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention group for LGBTQ youth”. Voices of students and teachers have also been heard in school protests and signs, and will be a part of a new lawsuit against the state as witnesses. People across the country have raised their voices against the legal suppression of the LGBTQ community.

Ron DeSantis has remained adamant, stating that “‘I don't care what Hollywood says. I don't care what big corporations say. Here I stand. I am not backing down.””. The Florida Senate voted 22 to 17 to pass the bill.

Most people think that the war in Ukraine is just affecting Russia and Ukraine but that is not the case. Although in Ukraine horrible things such as death and injury, the only way it is affecting the U.S is the gas prices. That's one of the few things that has changed in the daily lives of Americans because of the war.

Gas prices have gone up so much it's unbelievable. In 2021, the gas prices were $3.01 at highest and the average gallons in a tank is about 15 gallons. With a little math, we can find out that it's about $45.15 for a full tank. This year, the highest it's been is $5.85. With a 15 gallon tank, it is $87.75, which is almost double the amount for gas. The reason for this is that Russia is very rich in natural resources, including oil reserves. Because of the war, the U.S doesn't want to help Russia economy wise, so, they chose to just completely cut off oil trades.

Oils are in really high demand, yet they don't have enough supplies, resulting in oil’s current high prices. When supply increases, the price will go down. When the supply goes down, the demand goes up as well as the price. Russia was one of the top five countries that the U.S trades oils with so when they split paths with Russia it is greatly impacting our oil.

In conclusion the gas prices are unpredictable they could continue going up but most likely it will either stay the same or go down when the U.S starts trading with Russia again or if the U.S finds someplace new to buy oil. There are options the US is considering for increasing oil imports--Canada, Mexico, Columbia, and Europe--that may ease the reliance on Russia in the future.

Early Sunday morning on March 27th, four people were left dead in a car incident and two others were injured in Salem, Oregon.

Two people died at the scene while the other two died at the hospital. Two other people involved in the incident were badly injured with life-threatening injuries.

It appears that the driver in the incident was Enrique Rodriguez Jr. He is 24 years old and was driving 35 mph above the speed limit at 70mph with a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit. They say his blood-alcohol level was 0.26% when the legal limit is .08%. Since 2014, Enrique has been found in violation of traffic laws, one of them was driving without a valid license.

He is being held without bail on multiple manslaughter charges, as well as a charge of driving under the influence of intoxicants.

According to Marion County, Deputy District Attorney Katie Suver said that Enrique lost control of his car and veered off the street pinning two of the victims underneath his car around 2:00 am.

After the accident, Officers helped people who were not injured to collect their belongings. Three people were taken to a motel.

Chris Rock is a very famous comedian that was performing at the Oscars Academy Awards. Chris Rock was performing when he made an unsettling joke about Will Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith. “Jada I love you G.I.Jane part two can't wait to see it,” he said. Will Smith got up from his chair smiling, walked up on stage and slapped him, and then walked off. In 2018, Jada revealed she was diagnosed with Alopecia. Alopecia is a condition that causes hair loss. In the movie G.I.Jane, the main character has a buzz cut, so Chris was making fun of her for being bald.

Three days after the incident. Chris Rock went on another show. He said to the crowd,

"I don't have a bunch of s*** about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I had like a whole show I wrote before this weekend," Rock said. "And I'm still kind of processing what happened, so at some point, I'll talk about that s***. And it'll be serious and it'll be funny, but right now I'm going to tell some jokes." later during his performance, a member of the audience yelled F*** Will Smith, and they were kicked out because Chris Rock says it would be “distracting.”

Although some friends and fans don't support what Smith did, his close friends and relatives are all on his side helping him get through this. Jim Carrey, who is also a comedian and American actor, says if Chris Rock sued him it would be a 200 million lawsuit, but Chris Rock said that he is going to focus on his tour.

G. I. Jane's movie was released on August 22, 1997. The movie was about the first woman who got special opportunities in the U.S Navy seals.

Jada Pinkett Smith is an American actor who is very well known supporting role in A Different World. In 2010, she was also nominated for best musical as a producer for the Broadway musical Fela. She has also been in a lot of movies with her husband Will Smith.

In over 24 U.S. states, COVID-19 has been confirmed in wildlife. Scientists have tested different species of wildlife animals such as bears, moose, deer, and wolves. Like other researchers around the world, they’re trying to figure out just how much and where wildlife is spreading the virus. Often, animals and humans can be affected by many of the same diseases. Animals can spread more than half of all infections people can get. Humans having close contact with wildlife has allowed the virus to overcome barriers that help the virus not spread between the two species.

Scientists have discovered COVID-19 antibodies in a third of deer tested in Illinois, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania. COVID-19 was found in New York City sewage, which researchers believe came from animals, perhaps from rodents drinking the waste water.

COVID-19 could evolve within animal populations, which could potentially spawn dangerous viral mutants that can jump back to people. To infect any living thing, the virus must get into its cells. When the virus enters the animal's cells, it makes copies of itself, and during that process, it can randomly mutate. Scientists believe that allows it to leap back to humans through close contact with live animals. Although it is possible to catch COVID-19 from wildlife in the U.S., the actual risk itself is low.

Experts believe extending this pandemic, or sparking up a new one, could possibly stop contamination from continuing to spread. They also recommend keeping distance from wildlife animals, including wildlife droppings. Do not feed wildlife animals and most definitely make sure to wash your hands and take the right procedures if you come in contact with them.

“ To fight the threat, the three international organizations – the United Nations Food And Agriculture Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, and the World Health Organization, are urging countries to make COVID-19 surveillance in animals a priority.”

We can only hope that this disease does not spread to any other species of animals or continue to spread among wildlife, both to keep them safe and to keep us safe.

Daily Life is Changing in Ukraine

On Thursday, February 24th a lot of things changed for people living in Ukraine. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, there have been more than 14,000 deaths. Last week a children’s hospital was bombed along with a maternity hospital. Women and children are allowed to leave but men are ordered to stay. Some people want to stay in their country even though it is being destroyed. So what are Ukrainian people experiencing and how are people in Ukraine dealing with this?

How is life for people in Ukraine

People that have not evacuated Ukraine are in shelters. Half of the country’s people have fled Ukraine. Romania, Moldova, Hungary, and Slovakia are welcoming refugees from Ukraine people from Ukraine. Ukraine is worried about losing power or communication in the city of Chernobyl because their main power plant was bombed by Russia.

Life in a bomb shelter

In most bomb shelters, there is little room with a lot of people in them. Sometimes they can fit up to 150 people. People are being forced out of their homes into bomb shelters or out of the country. With 4,500 bomb shelters spread across Ukraine. In bomb shelters, there is water and food supply, but sometimes you have to stay there for days on end without seeing the outdoors. It is uncomfortable but a way to stay safe for now.

Will things ever be the same?

Things in Ukraine will unfortunately never be the same. Ukraine has lost over 1.7k buildings and over 119 billion in property damage and 14,000 people have lost their lives since the war. Ukraine’s economy is going down at catastrophic rates. People are losing jobs, some people's entire life savings are gone, and others don't even have access to necessities like food and water. We can only hope that this war will end between Ukraine and Russia.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

At this point, we can not determine how things will go for Ukraine and the people of Ukraine. War might not end, but people have access to leave and they are safe in bomb shelters. However, we do not know when things will change. We can hope that Ukraine will see the light once again.

Imagine you are 11 years old again and you’re going through one of your most stressful days; the first day of 6th grade. Remember how scared and intimidated you were being in a new and bigger school. For most kids, this is one of the most stressful times of their life. On the other side of the world, Hassen Pisetskaya (puh-sis-gi), a Ukrainian refugee, woke up just a few days ago to one of the most terrifying situations anyone could imagine. Hassen was about to travel hundreds of miles alone to Slovakia, with only a plastic bag, a passport, and a telephone number scrawled on his hand.

Hassen Pisetskaya is from the Ukrainian city, Zaporizhzhia (zap-er-asia), a city that narrowly avoided a nuclear catastrophe after a projectile set a massive power plant on fire. After the explosion hit Zaporizhzhia, Hassen’s mother sent her son to Slovakia alone where some of their realities lived. According to The Washington Post, “In a tearful video post released by Slovakian authorities, his mother, Yulia Pisetskaya, said she was a widow and was unable to leave Zaporizhzhia because she was caring for her mother, who could not move on her own.”

Once Hassen left his home, he hopped on a train and rode a total of 621 miles, all the way to Slovakia, where customs officials and volunteers used the telephone number written on his hand to contact his relatives in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, where they were reunited.

When Slovakian authorities contacted Yulia, she said, “I am very grateful that they saved the life of my child. In your small country, there are people with big hearts.” Many other important Slovakian figures have noticed Hassen’s journey. One was Roman Mikulec, Slovakia’s Interior Minister, who said, “[Hassen] won everybody’s hearts with his smile, fearlessness, and determination, worthy of a real hero.”

Hassen Pisetskaya’s story is just one example of the horrors Russia is putting people through. Refugees not only are fleeing their country, but many are being separated from their families. In a grim time, Hassen has shown us the courage of the Ukrainians. In the words of Slovakia’s Interior Minister, “Little Hassan is only 11 years old, but in his way, he has shown huge determination, courage, and fearlessness that sometimes adults don’t have.”

You may have heard of the new war going on right now between Russia and Ukraine. If not, you might want to hear about it. At this moment right now, Russia has decided to invade Ukraine and Ukraine has to fight back. But since Ukraine does not have ¨allies¨, they are in trouble. Many countries like the US have been helping Ukraine fight Russia but they are not going to fight in the war with Ukraine.

By Mar 2, 2022, there have been reported over 4,000 Russian militants killed in action, giving Russia an effect on haunting Vladimir Putin back home. There have been not just many Russians killed, but many Ukrainians killed too. There have been more than 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers killed on the battlefield against Russia.

The reason why the deaths against Ukraine are affecting Putin back home is that Putin was trying to invade Ukraine, not just to kill Ukrainians, but to take over Ukraine. However, over the past two weeks, there have been recorded twice as many deaths for Russia than Ukraine has had. This is making Putin have to change up his attacking strategies against Ukraine because they can not beat Ukraine.

Ukraine has been following up on a site that was created by the Ukraine army to figure out how many deaths or how many troops have been captured by the Ukraine army or killed. This site is called www.300rf.com. The site has also been used for Ukraine to figure out how many soldiers Russia had before they invaded Ukraine.

Russia has had a very slow start and they need to think fast on their new strategy against Ukraine. Since their first attack strategy did not go as planned, they need to learn from it. All in all, Russia has made some bad decisions, and to defeat Ukraine they need to change their plan because they are losing a lot more troops than Ukraine has, and that is not a good start.

Anonymous is the hacker activist collective that is some of the best hackers in the world. The group decided to declare Cyberwar on Russia and the regime of Vladimir Putin after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Now, if you are wondering how this will affect the war in Ukraine, then I have got an answer. The way this will impact the war is mostly information since in this day and age information can be spread so easily on many platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and mainly Russian news channels. The thing is, since Anonymous are hackers, they can take down social media platforms or news channels or override their broadcasts with their own. Therefore, if Russian TV channels are spreading pro-Ukraine invasion propaganda, then Anonymous can take down that news broadcast, which they have done already. According to Anonymous’ Twitter account, “all Russian-state TV channels have been hacked.” said fortune.com on the matter.

Now, declaring Cyberwar on Russia is a lot like what they did to ISIS a few years ago in 2015. This means that they can do a lot of the same things to Russia as they did to ISIS, which would be things like damaging the flow of money that funds the invasion. Although that might not apply to Russia as much since they are a very established country. Another thing they can do is take down people spreading propaganda accounts, as I talked about in the last paragraph.

Something that really stuck out to me and kinda proved that Anonymous was wanting to help was this quote. “We, as activists, will not sit idle as Russian forces kill and murder innocent people trying to defend their homeland,” the group said on Twitter.

So as you can see, Anonymous, a collective of many, many hackers worldwide, have declared a Cyberwar on Russia which, although maybe not visible they can do so much to sway the minds of the Russian people. This can be done by broadcasting their things over other TV channels, or they can take funds from Russia. So even if all they do is defend Ukraine from cyberattacks or go on the Offensive against Russia, I’m sure we will hear some news about it in the next few months.

Sources:

msnbc.com, the guardian, fortune.com, CBS news, fortune.com

Women’s History Month is a great way to celebrate women that have changed the world. In this article I will be talking about why we celebrate it, what women's international day is, and the history of women’s month. There are so many different women in this world that have made a good difference in the United States. The reason we celebrate women's history month is to acknowledge women who have changed the world: we need to recognize what they have done. Some people that have made a positive change in the world are Mary Seacole, Ada Lovelace, and many more. According to Women's History Month, “Since 1995, presidents have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.” Celebrate this day by making a positive difference in the world.

Women’s International Day is celebrated annually on March 8th. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter created the week of March 8th as International Women's week. According to Women's History Month, “Women’s History Month began as a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California.” A good way to celebrate achievements of women that have changed the world in many ways is to explore the history of women’s rights and to support a women’s nonprofit. A good place to donate to is The National Women’s History Alliance.

This day also represents that each gender is represented equally. There is a theme every year for this day, and 2022’s theme was #BrakeTheBias. According to Women's International Day “Whether deliberate or unconscious, bias makes it difficult for women to move ahead. Knowing that bias exists isn't enough. Action is needed to level the playing field.” Bias is a vendetta against someone or something. For example when someone comes up to you and says “you like pink”? Just because you're a girl. Make sure to make this day your day and do what you can do to make a positive difference. Some things you can do to acknowledge women’s international day is watching movies directed by women and female leads and listening to some music by female artists.

Women deserve to be celebrated because of how hard working they are, how strong they are, and how they’re empowering. Women’s history month creates a time to celebrate women’s achievements in history. In all, women’s history month is an important month to recognize the women that have made a positive difference in the world.

The Ghost of Kyiv, a fighter pilot, rumored to have shot down six Russian planes in a single day, may not be real. There have been numerous pictures of people that are to be the infamous Ghost of Kyiv that have been proven fake, along with a video of the ghost supposedly shooting down a plane that turned out to be from a video game.

The Ghost of Kyiv is a pilot of a MiG-29 that has shot down two Su-35s, two Su-25s, a Su-27, and a MiG-29. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claims that the Ghost of Kyiv could be one of many experienced pilots in reserve that urgently returned to the armed forces of Ukraine after Russia invaded.

There have been photos that have been put out by the former president of Ukraine that claim Vladimir Abdonov is the ghost of Kyiv. However, these photos are doctored. There was also a picture assumed to be released by Canada that shows the “Ghost of Kyiv” kneeling in front of a fighter jet. However, what was overlooked in the photoshop, was the Canadian military crest on the fighter jet. A reverse image search revealed the head of the pilot, the Ukrainian patch on his arm, and the Ukrainian flag in the background were all doctored.

There was also a video released by a Youtube channel named Comrade_Corb. It was reposted by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on their social media accounts that showed the “Ghost of Kyiv” shooting down a Russian plane. The video was later revealed to have come from Digital Combat Simulator, a simulation game that was first released in 2008.

Even though there have been many fake reveals of the Ghost of Kyiv, there is still a possibility that he is real. It could be that Ukraine is just protecting the identity of their pilots, or they could be using him as propaganda to raise morale. What do you think? Is the Ghost of Kyiv real?

Sources:

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-ukraines-ghost-of-kyiv-fighter-pilot/a-60951825

https://www.flyingmag.com/the-ghost-of-kyiv-a-legend-born-of-social-media-but-is-he-real/

https://www.indy100.com/news/ghost-kyiv-video-fact-check

As everyone is aware of the situation that is occurring in Ukraine, Russia is beginning to bomb Ukraine, forcing everyone to leave their homes and flee the country or to stay in subway stations. Which is a big problem like imagining having to leave your home because your country is under attack? One question still stands, how can we support Ukraine to overcome this big problem? There are many organizations formed to help Ukraine get the support they need. Let's start with the medical organizations. UNICEF, UNICEF is a health group made to help families with illnesses, nutrition, protection, education, and sanitation.

Please check their website out and donate to them to help Ukraine. Now we have the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) which works with volunteers, organizations, doctors, and police to assist others to travel for medical facilities, and to get medicines for their families. Check their website out, it’s very helpful and tells you where all the money you donate goes to. Now we have Sunflowers of Peace, as of now they are raising money to get first aid backpacks for paramedics and doctors to use at this time. Their backpacks can be used for a total of five to ten people and they contain basic supplies like bandaids and medicine.

A side note that they also have a Facebook page but the district blocked it, thanks I guess, but you can find it here. Now turning to the more basic side of organizations. Here is the organization based in Switzerland called the International Committee Of The Red Cross or ICRC for short. They have been working and helping in Ukraine since 2014 and they have over 600 members helping them. They also post updates to their website and post analytics on what they did last year so check them out.

Now that we have looked at some of these groups that work hard to make sure the people of Ukraine are safe and sound there are still many more organizations that are working hard to achieve their goals but I want some of them to check out these groups and donate and you don’t really need to donate just giving these groups the spotlight they deserve.

On March 5th, a soccer game with Mexican teams (Queretaro and Atlas) took place. In that game, Atlas was the reigning champion of the Liga MX. As the 62 minutes rolled by, many fans were mad because Atlas was holding the crown in that match, for the score was 1-0. Queretaro was very confident that they had already won that game. That's when a fight broke out in the upper seats of the stadium; witnesses say the security guard opened the gate between both teams which will be later talked about.

The Fight

The fight spread from the upper stadium, all the way to the end of the stadium. The crowd later spread onto the field, where players were escorted into the locker rooms and safe rooms of the stadium. People used weapons such as knives and chairs to harm other fans. People took their shirts off so that the attackers wouldn’t distinguish them by their team preference.

An estimated 26 people were harmed, while some say there are no deaths due to the secrecy of the hospital where the injured are being helped. Other people who were let out of the stadium say that they saw 17 people dead. The referees tried to help calm the fight, but fans wouldn’t budge. They wouldn’t stand for the fact that their team was losing. Full families were destroyed because of this incident.

After the Game

After these incidents, Queretaro and Atlas have also been penalized because of their cooperation which we will talk about in the next paragraph. They have to play their home games in a lonely stadium for one year with no fans, they are not allowed to have away fans at their games for three years. Liga MX fined Queretaro for $70,000 and has been told to sell the club back to the former owners or to find a new owner by December 31 of this year. According to the president of Mexico’s top-flight, Mikel Arriola, issued the following statement on the violent scenes:

“Inadmissible and unfortunate violence in the Corregidora stadium in Queretaro. Those responsible for the lack of security in the stadium will be punished in an exemplary manner. The safety of our players and fans is a priority. We will keep reporting.”

The Rumors

Many theories have been that the Queretaro Cartel has been involved in this fight. The security guard who opened the gate was bribed by the cartel to eliminate an enemy within the crowd. Others say FIFA meant for this to happen because Atlas was champion for too long. While we don’t know if this is true or not, this event was truly catastrophic.

Introduction

As many of you may know, there is currently a war taking place in Ukraine. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, and the war has escalated a lot since then, so it’s important that we understand the conflict and how it affects the entire world.

A Brief History of the Russia/Ukraine War

1922 -

In 1922 Russia and Ukraine became the first two founding members of the Soviet Union.

1932 and 1933 -

From 1932 to 1933 Stalin created a famine because of his policy of collectivization. This famine kills millions of people, mostly ethnic Ukrainians, in a country that is known as the “breadbasket” of the Soviet Union. This event known as the “Holodomor” is also known as the “Terror-Famine” or the “Great Famine”.

1941 – 1944 -

Nazi Germany and Axis (Italy and Japan) powers occupy Ukraine during the second world war.

1949 -

NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) is created.

1991 -

The Soviet Union is self-dissolved by a treaty.

1994 -

Ukraine gives up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for Russia to respect its independence, sovereignty, and existing borders.

February 2014 -

Protests in Ukraine overthrow Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s pro-Russian president. During the revolution, over a hundred people died in the protests that took place in the main square of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. This event was named the “Maidan Revolution” or the “Revolution of Dignity”.

The emergency government that was created after the revolution eventually signs a trade agreement with the European Union (EU).

April 2014 -

Russia invades the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, secures, and annexes it, which creates outrage all over the world. Then two secessionist regions, the Donetsk People’s Republic and the neighbouring Luhansk People’s Republic break off from Ukraine.

2014 and 2015 -

Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany sign a series of cease-fire agreements. These are known as the Minsk Accords, but many view these accords as vague.

April 2019 -

Volodymyr Zelensky, a former comedian, is elected by a large majority as the president of Ukraine on a promise to restore Donbas to Ukraine.

2021-2022 -

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia looks to prevent Ukraine’s drift toward the United States and its allies. Mr Putin demanded that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the alliance pull back troops stationed in countries that joined after 1997. Many Russians view the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as the birthplace of their nation and note the ties between the two countries.

On February 24th, 2022 after massing troops on Ukraine’s border since late 2021 Putin declared that Russia could not feel “safe, develop and exist” because of what he claimed was a constant threat from modern Ukraine. So at 5:00 AM EET (7:00 PM Pacific Time) on February 24th, 2022 Putin announced a “special military operation” to “demilitarise and denazify” Ukraine. A few minutes later missiles struck airports and military headquarters, then tanks and troops rolled in from Russia, Russia-annexed Crimea and its ally Belarus. Currently, Russian fighter jets have bombed major cities, and Russian forces have seized control of the key southern port city, Kherson.

Although it seems obvious, Russia continues to deny that its “special military operation” isn’t an invasion. He claimed his goal was to protect people subjected to bullying and genocide and aim for the “demilitarisation and de-Nazification” of Ukraine, although there hasn’t been any genocide in Ukraine: it is a spirited democracy, led by a Jewish president. “How could I be a Nazi?” said Zelensky, who compared Russia's invasion to Nazi Germany's invasion in World War Two.

President Putin has frequently accused Ukraine of being taken over by extremists since its pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, was ejected in 2014 after months of protests against his rule. Russia then retaliated by capturing and annexing Ukraine’s southern region of Crimea, causing a rebellion in the east, and supported separatists who have fought Ukrainian forces in a war that has claimed 14,000 lives.

Russia has resisted Ukraine's move towards the European Union and the West's defensive military alliance, NATO, for a while now. Announcing Russia's invasion, he accused NATO of threatening “our historic future as a nation”.

It is now clear that Russia wants to seize the big cities and overthrow Ukraine's democratically elected government. President Zelensky said he was warned, “the enemy has designated me as target number one; my family is target number two”. Putin’s long-term ambitions for Ukraine are still unknown. He denies seeking to occupy Ukraine and rejected a UK accusation in January that he was plotting to install a pro-Kremlin puppet. One unconfirmed intelligence report says he aims to split the country in two.

Opinions on the War

• Ukraine

  • The Ukrainian government is deeply concerned about the buildup of Russian military forces on the border of Ukraine. It believes its security is threatened by the Russian military, as it has been since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. They might even rethink NATO membership

• United States

  • Before the invasion, the United States believed that Russia was already going to invade, and if they did, then they would only provide supplies and training to the Ukrainian soldiers. The US supports Ukraine’s NATO membership.

• Russia

  • The Russian government denies that it is going to invade Ukraine. During negotiations and from statements from President Vladimir Putin, Russia has insisted that NATO not expand to former Soviet countries and the United States not place offensive weapons near Russia. Putin also wants the United States to decrease its military forces in Eastern Europe. NATO membership in Ukraine is an issue of key concern.

• European Union

  • The European Union and its twenty-seven member states have expressed strong support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty in the face of Russia’s military build-up on its borders.

Updates

Russian troops invaded Ukraine from the north, east and south, shelling more than a dozen cities and destroying military targets. Russian forces quickly moved towards Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, with “every intention of decapitating the government,” the Pentagon said. Vladimir Putin of Russia warned other countries of interfering with the invasion, and they remain one of the most powerful nuclear states in the world, so the threat was very real.

President Biden announced sanctions on Russian banks and the country’s elites. “Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war,” he said. “And now he and his country will bear the consequences.” Russian stocks plummeted and the Russian ruble fell to a record low against the U.S. dollar.

Even in Russia people didn’t agree with Putin’s decision on the war. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest Putin’s decision, only to be met with a heavy police presence. A few hundred people gathered near Moscow’s Pushkin Square, which police blocked off. Some chanted “No to war!” and unfurled the Ukrainian flag.

As Russian forces pressed into Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Ukraine’s defence forces and civilian volunteers battled to hold off Russia’s invasion for a fourth day as President Zelensky said his country’s fighters had “successfully repelled enemy attacks.” A Ukrainian lawmaker stated that Ukraine “has agreed to meet Russia with no conditions”. The government of Belarus said the two sides would hold talks at the Belarus-Ukraine border. Mr Zelensky had rejected the Kremlin’s offer to hold talks in Belarus, saying the country was not neutral territory because Russia had carried out part of its invasion from there. Fighting drew closer to the centre of Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, according to videos and photographs analysed by The New York Times. The footage showed Ukrainians firing rockets toward Russian troops, as well as some Russian military vehicles burning and others being ransacked by Ukrainian troops. In response to the invasion, many European countries said they would ban Russian aircraft from their airspace, and Germany’s chancellor announced a significant increase in military spending, reversing a longstanding policy.

The leader of Belarus, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko held the first face-to-face talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials since the Russian invasion began, but President Zelensky of Ukraine said before the meeting that he was not hopeful that it would end the hostilities. The Treasury Department announced that it would freeze assets of the Russian Central Bank held in the United States and inflict sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund. The value of the Russian ruble also plunged by more than 25% as the effects of Western sanctions shook Russia’s economy. Ukrainian officials also accused Russian forces of launching a barrage of rockets on a residential neighbourhood in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, killing dozens of civilians.

A large explosion hit central Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, directly in front of the city’s administrative building, creating a huge fireball that appeared in a video to engulf several cars driving through an area called Freedom Square. The cause of the blast and number of casualties was not immediately clear, though the city’s mayor said there were dead and wounded. CCTV footage of the attack captured what appeared to be a rocket striking directly in front of the building. Video of the aftermath showed a large crater in the middle of the city’s cobblestoned central square.

Russian troops were steadily moving to surround key cities in Ukraine’s south and east, with attacks reported on hospitals, schools and critical infrastructure. They continued to lay siege to central Kharkiv, where a government building was hit by an apparent rocket strike, and where supplies of food and water were running low in the city of 1.5 million.

President Biden predicted that the invasion of Ukraine would “leave Russia weaker and the world stronger” during a State of the Union address. He said the United States planned to ban Russian planes from American airspace. The Justice Department would try to capture the assets of oligarchs and government officials allied with Mr Putin, part of a global push to isolate Russia.

One day after Russian forces seized the first major city in their onslaught in Ukraine — potentially clearing the way for a bid to seize the entire Black Sea coast and cut off the country from world shipping — Russian forces on Thursday continued to lay siege to major cities, creating a threatening humanitarian crisis. According to the United Nations over one million people have fled Ukraine by this date

The Russian invasion appeared to be making its biggest gains in the south, with the capture of the port of Kherson, though it was unclear how they planned to hold the city and govern a population that has always resisted them. Russia continued its attacks on Kyiv, and Russian forces surrounded the port city Mariupol, whose fall would enable two flanks of Russian and Russian-backed fighters to trap Ukraine’s forces in the southeast. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine claimed in a broadcast that the Ukrainians had hindered the Russian invasion plans. He acknowledged that Russian forces had taken control in some cities, but said they would be driven out: “I am sure of this: If they entered somewhere, it is only temporarily. We’ll drive them out. With shame.”

On March third, a big battle took place in Enerhodar, outside the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. A column of armoured Russian vehicles had passed through the town, opening fire on their way to the power plant. At the plant, the Russian troops met Ukrainian resistance, the first tank was shot by a missile shot from Ukrainian soldiers and was disabled. Right after the tank was hit, the Russians opened fire back at them and appeared to hit a transmission line that is connected to the plant’s main electrical system. According to the IAEA, two of four high-voltage lines were damaged in the attack; these lines are essential for safe operations at the plant. Afterwards, the Russian forces pushed into the car park near the front gate of the nuclear plant and began firing toward the training centre and the plant's main administrative building. But at various points in the battle, the Russian forces shot deep into the nuclear complex in the direction of the reactor buildings. After the battle, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine reported that the reactor chamber of reactor unit 1, which lay in the direction of some Russian fire, had sustained damage. It also reported that two shells had landed in an area used to hold old nuclear waste that lay to the north of the battle. Later statements by the regulator and the IAEA reported further damage to the power transformer for the Unit 6 reactor. The fighting was so fierce that the mayor of the nearest town said that they had been unable to move wounded people to the nearest hospital. Even worse, on the morning of Friday, March 4th a fire broke out at the plant, concerning many governments. Firefighting vehicles arrived at the plant early the next day., most likely from the nearby town of Enerhodar. But even as the fire continued to burn in the training building, Russian forces forced the firefighters to turn around.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine accused the Russian military of deliberately attacking the Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex and said an explosion there would be “the end for everybody, the end of Europe.” President Biden joined President Zelensky in urging Russia to “cease its military activities in the area and allow firefighters and emergency responders to access the site,”. And soon later, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain joined in the plea to stop fighting around the nuclear complex.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that the U.S., in addition to giving $54 million for humanitarian aid to Ukraine, has deployed experts to support the global humanitarian response. She said that the U.S. planned to help other countries near the Russian-Ukrainian border help accept Ukrainian refugees.

Street battles erupted in a Kyiv suburb, in some of the closest fighting to the capital. Russia warned that arms shipments were “legitimate targets.” The Russians stepped up their assault on communities all across Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine accused Moscow of terrorizing the country in an attempt to break the will of the people. “A war of annihilation,” he called it. President Zelensky said an estimated 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the war, the first time the Ukrainian government had offered the number of its soldiers killed. Russian forces detained the mayor of a captured city, an act that prompted hundreds of outraged residents to pour into the streets in protest. President Zelensky condemned what he called the kidnapping of the mayor — who had refused to cooperate with Russian troops after they captured his city — as “a new stage of terror when they are trying to physically eliminate representatives of the legitimate local Ukrainian authorities.” The Russians haven’t secured a military victory since the first days of the war, and the assaults reinforced Moscow’s strategic turn toward increasingly indiscriminate shelling of civilian targets. Unable to mount a quick takeover of the country by air, land and sea, Russian troops have launched missiles, rockets and bombs to destroy apartments, schools, factories and hospitals, increasing civilian massacre and suffering, and causing more than 2.5 million people to flee the country.

On March 14th diplomatic activity quickened on multiple fronts as Russia’s war on Ukraine entered an uncertain new phase, with President Vladimir V. Putin’s forces are widening their bombardment of Kyiv and other cities, hundreds of civilians escaping the devastated port of Mariupol, and the United States warned China over its deepening alignment with an isolated Russia.

Ukrainian and Russian officials held another round of direct negotiations, adjourning without signs of progress, though they agreed to meet again on Tuesday. The negotiations unfolded against a backdrop of thunderous Russian artillery strikes that led the secretary-general of the United Nations, António Guterres, to declare Ukraine was “being decimated before the eyes of the world.”

Mr Guterres accused Russia of attacking 24 health facilities and leaving hundreds of thousands of people without water or power. Having once predicted there would be no war in Ukraine, he now warned there could be a catastrophic cascade of world hunger and food inflation because Ukraine is one of the world’s major grain producers.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine plans to address the U.S. Congress on Wednesday in a virtual speech that could increase pressure on the Biden administration to send fighter jets to Kyiv.

On Monday, Mr Putin spoke again with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of Israel, continuing Israel’s efforts to mediate. The 90-minute call focused on the possibility of a cease-fire, a senior Israeli official said and followed a call between Mr Bennett and President Zelensky of Ukraine on Saturday evening.

The prospect of China’s involvement in support of Russia, however, raises the risks of a conflict that has already threatened to pull in the West. It would blunt the impact of a trans-Atlantic campaign to isolate Russia, relieving some of the economic pressure on Mr Putin and giving him a potential supplier of weapons to counteract those flowing into Ukrainian troops from the United States and other NATO countries.

Conclusion

I hope you found this educating because it’s important to know about major events occurring worldwide. After all, even if it may seem far away, wars have negative effects on all countries around the world. If you want to know how you can help Ukraine take a look at these links down below.

• https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/ways-to-help-ukraine-conflict/

• https://www.npr.org/2022/02/25/1082992947/ukraine-support-help

At Oxford High School in Oakland County, Michigan, Ethan Crumbley exhibited multiple signs of his violent intentions. His parents were later called into the school after finding Ethan searching for ammunition on his school Chromebook alongside a note. The note depicted a person who had been shot by a gun with a laughing emoji, and scrawled on the note was the message, "Blood everywhere," and, "The thoughts won't stop. Help me." The school did not dive any further and simply urged his parents to seek counseling. Ethan went back to class without his bag being searched for weapons; the school later stated, "At no time did counselors believe the student might harm others based on his behavior, responses and demeanor, which appeared calm." After the meeting, Ethan received a text from his mom saying, "LOL, I'm not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught." At this time, Ethan did indeed have a loaded gun in his backpack, which had been "gifted" to him by his parents only a few days earlier. On November 30th, 2021, Ethan Crumbley killed four students (Hana St. Juliana, Tate Myre, Justin Shilling, Madisyn Baldwin) and injured another six, along with one teacher at Oxford High school, all within 5 minutes.

While it is common for children to acquire guns from their parents, the parents rarely encourage the child after seeing sure signs of the child using the weapon to harm others or themselves. When questioned about it in court, the parents, Jeniffer and James Crumbley said it was a "Christmas present." After the investigation, two videos were found on Ethan's phone of him talking about his plan to "shoot up the school." There were also multiple instances where Ethan had texted his mother saying something like, "there was a demon or a ghost or someone else inside the home," despite this his parents never tried to get Ethan diagnosed with Schizophrenia, Depression, or another mental illness or at least seek counseling, and knowingly let him go to school with a dangerous weapon. Despite showing causes of worry his parents constantly undermined Ethan and did little to support their son.

Ethan Crumbley was charged with one count of terrorism and four counts of first-degree murder with no bond, while both his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are charged with manslaughter and a $500,000 bond each. All three family members have pleaded not guilty and will face multiple trials. His parents had to be tracked down as they coincidentally were going on a vacation mere days after the shooting, and their son was being detained. James and Jennifer Crumbley continued to seemingly avoid the topic as they mouthed "I love you," to each other while blowing kissing and other signals during their preliminary trials. Many thought these actions were disrespectful and irresponsible in the court setting and voiced these opinions.

More recently, Ethan Crumbley stood trial on February 28th. It was stated that he was being held in the Oakland County Jail instead of Juvenile detention. After seeing his journal filled with violent events and suicidal thoughts, Ethan was provided with a psychiatrist who visits him daily; otherwise, he is almost entirely isolated from the outside world—considering Ethan's charges, previous actions, mental health, and possibly suicidal thoughts it was deemed unsafe for him to stay in a Children's Village. With Ethan Crumbley facing up to 24 felony charges, he could face life imprisonment.

While Ethan Crumbley killed 4 people and hurt many more, so many factors in this situation could've prevented this situation from escalating to this point. His parents didn't support their son despite him asking for it. Also, the counsellor who met with James and Jennifer Crumbley has the right and responsibility to call a professional therapist when students have shown suicidal intentions. While it was not known at the time, Ethan's journal contained countless entries saying, "I will cause the biggest school shooting in Michigan's history. I WILL KILL EVERYONE I F*****G SEE. I have fully mentally lost it after years of fighting with my dark side. My parents won't listen to me about help or a therapist," and other similar entries were found. After the meeting, the counsellor tried following up with Ethan and was unsuccessful as the shooting was the day after the meeting. While there was lacking evidence, the counsellor didn't think it was a large enough issue to report to the principal. In the end, Ethan had very little support whether that be from friends, family, or administrators but he probably wouldn’t be facing a lifetime in jail at the age of 15.

On Friday, February 11, 2022, in Phoenix Arizona, a police officer responded to a call at a local home. A man inside the home ambushed the officer, shooting him several times. Then rained more gunfire on other officers who tried to rescue a baby that was placed outside the door. Five officers were shot including four who were wounded while trying to take the baby to safety.

"I hate to speculate, but it sounds like I'd be pretty safe to say nine is going to be the highest number we've ever had injured in one day, in one incident," Andy Williams said.

The baby was unharmed and all officers involved are expected to survive. Out of everyone, the officer that arrived first at the scene was the most severely injured. Following a report of a woman shot, he was invited inside, Williams said.

"As he approached the doorway, the suspect ambushed him with a gun and shot him several times," he said. "That officer was able to get back and get away to safety."

A video that was shot at the home shows an unknown man coming outside carrying a baby and some kind of a side bag. The man put the bag down and laid the infant wrapped in a blanket on the ground and backed away from the house with his hands in the air. More officers approached the door, and the suspect fired more shots. The police returned the shots, leading the suspect to barricade himself inside. Eight officers were wounded by bullets or shrapnel during the shoot-off.

A SWAT team took over the case after the police got the baby to safety.

Several hours passed and the suspect was still barricaded inside. When police finally decided to try and find the suspect they were met with his lifeless body. A critically injured woman was also found in the home. The woman was the suspect's past girlfriend and the baby was believed to be their child. The man who came outside with the baby suffered non-life-threatening injuries and is expected to survive. No identities have been released so far because police say they are still trying to figure out the circumstances.

On December 14th, 2012 a shooting took place in Newton, Connecticut at an elementary school. Twenty-six total lives were lost, twenty of those lives were students from ages six to seven years old, the other six lives were staff members. Adam Lanza was the one responsible for the murder of these lives as well as the murder of his own mother. Before making his way to Sandy Hook Elementary, he shot and killed his own mother in the home that they shared. She was shot four times with a rifle. She had purchased multiple guns that Adam would be using later that day. Adam had gathered the guns that his mother had purchased and made his way to the school in his mother’s car. Adam made his way to the front of the school and shot his way through the window. He made his rounds to multiple different classrooms. The first emergency call from the school was received at 9:35 am. The first officers who arrived found Adam on the ground where he killed his last victim. He had a self-inflicted wound to the head.

Recently the families that were involved in this tragic shooting have decided to sue Remington. Remington is a gun manufacturer. Last year Remington had proposed a $33 million settlement but the families refused to accept.

Back in 2014 the families had sued Remington and stated they should be held partially responsible for the shooting because of its marketing strategy. Remington has argued and said that it was protected from the lawsuit because of a 2005 federal statute that protects gun makers, distributors, and vendors from civil liability in cases in which their weapons are used in crimes committed by third parties. In order for the families to make their case, the legal team instead argued that Remington’s marketing strategy was illegal under Connecticut law, this meant that the federal statute did not apply and the case was moved forward. Another thing that was argued was that the company marketed its weapons to high-risk and potentially unstable individuals like Adam Lanza. According to court documents from Tuesday, Remington has agreed to pay the families the $73 million.

Mikaela Pauline Shiffrin is an American two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, and World Cup alpine skier. This year she competed in the 2022 by world winter Olympics in Beijing. She competed in alpine skiing this year when she competed.

Mikaela only hit 5 of the gates instead of 6 gates that she should have hit on her way down. Because of this, Shiffrin went to the side of the ski route she was on and started to cry about her mistake. This resulted in people on Twitter commenting and re-tweeting about that she failed, and giving her all these hate comments. Even other contenders have been re-tweeting these comments, and most people are saying it's the same thing that Simone Biles did when she last competed. Biles said she didn't feel good and did not compete for that portion of the competition and people said she let the American team down and lost gold.

With this, the media was shocked to see that Simone biles commented saying that “you can't judge someone's mental health through a platform,” and what Simone means by this is that just because she failed, doesn't mean the media can just criticize her by one mistake that she made. When those people probably can't do the sport that she loves like Mikaela can.

One thing that Mikaela wanted to make known is that even if you end up making a mistake, you just need to brush it off and continue with your life. Because even when you mess up, it's not the end of the world.

During this year's Winter Olympics, Erin Jackson became the first black woman to win a medal in speed skating. She won gold for the US team in long track, which was their first individual speed skating medal since 2010.

Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating where competitors race around an oval track. There are three different types of speed skating; short track, long track and marathon. At the Olympics, two skaters compete at a time in different heats to qualify for the next round.

Erin Jackson was born in 1992 in Ocala, Florida. Before the start of her speed skating career Jackson was an inline skater. She started inline skating when she was 10 years old, but, in 2017, she transitioned to ice. She trained in speed skating for three months before qualifying for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, where she finished 24th in the 500 meter.

In 2020, she became a dominant skater placing first in three races and second in the other race at the World Cup. She almost missed out on going to the 2022 Olympics by placing third in the qualifying rounds, but her teammate gave up her spot for Jackson. In the end though, it wasn't necessary because the US was given three entries for the Olympics.

Even after her slip up in the qualifying rounds, Jackson was still a heavily favored contender for gold in the 500 meters, and she did not disappoint. She finished in 37.04 seconds, which was the third fastest finish ever at a low altitude oval. She won the gold with Miho Takagi of Japan winning silver, and Angelina Golikova of Russia winning bronze.

This moment was not only historical for the US team, but it was much more than that. This was the first medal ever won by a black woman in speed skating. After her race Jackson said, “Hopefully we can see, you know, more minorities, especially in the U.S.A., getting out and trying some of these winter sports. And I just always hope to be a good example.” Jackson’s win will surely encourage more people of color to try these generally white dominated sports, and hopefully we will see Erin Jackson race more in the future.

On July 1, 2019, Tyler Skaggs, a left-handed starting pitcher for the LA Angels, was found dead in his hotel after ingesting fentanyl, oxycodone, and alcohol and choking on his vomit. On Feb 8, 2022, the trial of Eric Kay, a former employee in the Angels organization, began.

At first, the defense alleged that former teammate Matt Harvey supplied the pills that Skaggs took. Harvey, who was given immunity after being subpoenaed, admitted to giving Skaggs six or seven Percocet during the season and doing cocaine, but said Kay was Skaggs’ regular dealer.

On Feb 14, Christopher Leanos, another drug source of Skaggs’, testified that he had supplied Skaggs with cocaine, mushrooms, MDMA, and marijuana for years during a friendship that lasted a decade. But, when asked by Skaggs for oxycodone, Leanos refused and told Skaggs to stay away from opioids due to the danger.

Almost as an aside, defense attorney Michael Molfetta asked a former DEA agent if he knew that Tyler Skaggs asked Matt Harvey to put drugs in his locker because he wanted to pitch "loosey-goosey". This suggests that Skaggs pitched at least one game while high.

On the 15th, Matt Harvey, C.J. Cron, Michael Morin, and Cam Bedrosian all testified that Eric Kay provided them with oxycodone pills. Matt Harvey said he received what appeared to be a blue, 30-milligram oxycodone pill from Kay on June 30, 2019, and he planned to take the pill later to relax. He placed the pill in his locker and took a bath. When he was done, he decided not to take the pill and, the next day when he learned about his teammate's death, drove to the stadium and threw out the pill. Harvey said that at times he wished he had advised Skaggs against using pain medication recreationally, but viewed himself as being a good teammate and helping him deal with pain.

On Feb 17th, the jury found Eric Kay guilty of providing counterfeit drugs laced with fentanyl that led to the death of Tyler Skaggs on July 1, 2019, and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute. Eric Kay is facing a minimum of 20 years in federal prison and his sentencing is scheduled for June 28.

Tyler Skaggs was a beloved member of the Angels organization and is survived by his mother, Debbie Hetman, and his widow, Carli, who both wept and embraced each other as the verdict was announced.

All in all, there are no winners in this case. Eric Kay is going to prison, Tyler Skaggs is no longer with us, and Tyler Skaggs' family is devastated.

Sources:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33313355/jury-finds-eric-kay-guilty-distributing-fentanyl-causing-death-former-pitcher-tyler-skaggs

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33296708/matt-harvey-cj-cron-4-mlb-players-testify-got-drugs-former-los-angeles-angels-staffer-eric-kay

https://nypost.com/2022/02/15/matt-harvey-admits-cocaine-use-in-explosive-tyler-skaggs-trial/

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/former-angels-employee-eric-kay-found-guilty-in-trial-over-drug-related-death-of-tyler-skaggs/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/angels/2022/02/17/tyler-skaggs-eric-kay-verdict-guilty/6832964001/

https://theathletic.com/live-blogs/eric-kay-trial-updates-former-angels-employee-found-guilty-of-playing-a-role-in-tyler-skaggs-death/7b8f3x78pR2i/

https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/drug-dealer-tyler-skaggs-testifies-stage-set-matt/story?id=82890149

Yum! Avocados are a delicious fruit grown on trees from south-central Mexico to Guatemala. Interestingly, avocados are considered a large berry with a single large seed inside. Craved by many people, their health benefits span many parts of the human body. First of all, they are loaded with potassium; 100 grams of avocado has 485 milligrams of the nerve function and blood pressure regulating mineral. Additionally, avocados contain more than 10 kinds of vitamins, including folate, a B vitamin important to brain function. People also seek them for their high fiber content, which helps them feel fuller between meals. And, though about 20% of an avocado is made up of fat, a large portion of this fat is monounsaturated. Monounsaturated fats are a form of unsaturated fat which lowers the body's LDL cholesterol, a bad cholesterol that can cause blood clots among other complications. Because of the health benefits from eating this tasty fruit (a bonus for many people), there has been a very large boom in the production, transportation, and consumption of avocados, bringing in more than $9.2 billion and giving them the title of “Green Gold” by their farmers. However, this boom is posing risks to both the environment and to the people who are producing.

The amount of water it takes to grow avocados is large - four times more water than a kilogram of oranges - and is contributing to water shortages in many dry places such as Chile. Using up this resource, water shortages for other uses occur especially during droughts, and together can cause the shifting of groundwater, triggering small earthquakes and further devastating the land and infrastructure. Aside from the depletion of accessible water, the contribution to climate change is severe. The amount of CO2 generated by the production and transportation of two avocados is equal to that of two kilograms of bananas. The deforestation of land such as the Amazon Rainforest as plantations expands both releases stored carbon from the trees into the atmosphere and destroys habitat, adding to the endangerment and extinction of wildlife.

Finally, the safety of workers involved is compromised. Due to the high value of the crop, gangs have threatened plantation workers and inspection agents, as well as commandeering deliveries of avocados and plantations. This increase in criminal activity has caused an increase in refugees crossing the border to the US. This February on Saturday the 13th, the day before the Super Bowl, the US suspended importations of avocados from Mexico until further investigation was conducted into threats from drug dealers and gang members against a US Health and Safety Department official, who was in the area conducting inspections on exports of avocados. These inspections were originally initiated to keep unwanted insects from entering the US through exported goods. Avocado sales were at a peak before the ban, though the ban will only affect future exports. For now, the government has stated that the ban will be in place until further notice.

And though avocados are good, healthy, and readily available, its production interferes with many people's lives along the way. So the next time you sit down to eat a healthy and delicious avocado, think about where it is coming from and the damages caused by its trip from the plantation to your stomach.

Check out the google form below!

With the recent rise of Apple’s new AirTags in April of 2021, there has been concern over the tags saying that they can be used for stalking others. These cases are all based around this little coin sized Apple product that cost as little as $29. According to this article by Fox 10, the AirTags original purpose was to find lost Apple items by putting it on your phone or even your key, but now they are being misused. Tons of victims have gone on record and have spoken out on being stalked by AirTags and their phones sending them notifications that a device has near them.

Cyndi Miles, a 19-year-old was one of the many victims in Glendale Arizona said that she was stalked by an AirTag late at night going to stores, then to a relatives home. Cyndi claims that a man and a woman were watching her as she went to stores. “While I'm in the store, he’s still looking at me, so I just kind of went to the whole opposite side of the store, and the lady got out, but she never came in the store, so I kind of figured it was them,” said Miles. Hours later, she was alerted that she had an unknown device near her and this experience left her uneasy for a few days.

Apple's official response to the Airtag stalking cases they say that if you ever feel like your safety is ever at risk is to call the police, who can work with someone from Apple to find who placed it. As for Android users, Apple says there is an app called “Tracker Detect” that is also an available option in the Play Store. Apple also says that an AirTag will sound an alert to a person at a random time, eight to 24 hours the alert will sound off. As for now, it's safe to say Apple’s new Airtags are fairly safe, but with this world, things can still be misused to hurt others.

VR, or virtual reality, is a concept widely talked about in this day and age by everyone when talking about advances in technology. VR is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.”

In summary, VR allows an immersive experience in a simulated environment. Many educators have talked about how VR can be used as an engaging tool in the classroom. VR can provide simulations of real-life situations that students may experience in their field.

In a 2019 survey by Gallup, where they questioned teachers about digital technology in the classroom, 65% of U.S. public school teachers said that they use digital tools in their classrooms every day. In addition, 85% of teachers said they thought that technology would have great value in the future.

It’s a sure fact that the amount of technology used in the classroom has increased since 2019. Immersive learning using VR has grown from a little bit of experimentation to a multi-million dollar market that is continuing to gain use. Researchers have been experimenting with immersive learning for around 30 years, starting in the 1990s and still continuing to this day.

Classrooms across the US have used VR for virtual field trips, science experiments, immersive simulations, fully viewable 3D models, and more. For example, medical students who aspire to perform surgeries can benefit from an environment where there is no pressure, being less intense than real surgery.

The main restriction for many classrooms to use immersive learning is the price of the headsets, but as the headsets increase in quality and become more affordable, there will be more opportunities for students to experience this new way of learning.

AR, or Augmented Reality, is a cheaper, but less immersive, substitute for VR that makes virtual objects in the real world that you can see through a screen. AR has been popular for a while, many people remember in 2016 when Pokemon GO was released and everyone was obsessed with the app. The game incorporated AR into its gameplay and people loved it, Pokemon GO may have died out after a year or two but AR is still very popular.

In conclusion, VR is increasingly being used in classrooms every day as an immersive tool to provide the next level of learning. How would you feel if VR was integrated into some or all of your classes? Do you think you would learn better if you were using VR? Those are questions the world’s students have to figure out for themselves because we are on the verge of a big change in the education system.

https://itif.org/publications/2021/08/30/promise-immersive-learning-augmented-and-virtual-reality-potential

Coronavirus is a virus that has been around for about 3 years. The name Coronavirus was the originally announced name but most people call it Covid-19 or Covid since both of those names are way shorter than Corona-virus. A less known name for Covid is SARS-CoV-2 which is the more scientific name for it but no one uses it because it's way too long and complicated.

Covid-19 was first discovered in Wuhan China in late 2019, which is exactly why there's a 19 in Covid-19. A theory is that the virus was created by three people in Wuhan that had pneumonia (An infection that inflames your lungs.) There was also a connected cluster of acute respiratory illness at the time (Critically Ill) and when the both of them mixed it eventually caused Covid-19. It’s kind of complicated how it was first created, another theory is that it came from bats. Although these theories exist, we still don’t actually know how it began.

Different viruses can spread differently. Some spread slower or for a short distance while other viruses spread across the faster for further distances. Covid-19 spreads mostly from person to person, mainly from droplets from when you cough or sneeze. Covid affects either the upper respiratory tract (Sinuses, Throat, Nose) or your lower respiratory tract (Throat, Windpipe.) When you catch Covid, some of the symptoms you may experience are a fever, cough, difficulty breathing, headache, and sore throat.

(These aren’t all the symptoms so there’ll be a link to all of them below.)

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html

Coronavirus can already spread quickly and can get you very sick but what would happen if there was a variant that could spread a lot quicker? On December 1st, 2021 a new variant of the original Covid-19 was found. It first appeared in South Africa in a lab where they were studying Covid-19. A Gene (Made up of DNA) went missing and when they ran a PCR (Detects small amounts of Covid-19) they didn’t see what they normally were expecting which was a signal that the virus was changing. The omicron variant came out of nowhere but it was quickly recognized by the faster spread.

Omicron itself has the same symptoms as Covid but unlike Covid, Omicron is very contagious and can spread a lot faster than the original Covid. This is not the first time there was a variant of Covid. A variant called Delta was the second found variant of Covid but it spreads a lot slower than Omicron but faster than the original Coronavirus. If someone had the Omicron variant and you were around them and ended up getting it, you would get the symptoms in a shorter amount of time than usual (5 to 6 days and up to 14 days) compared to the 3-5 days for Omicron.

If you were to see whether Omicron or Covid-19 was more dangerous the answer would be they both are. They both have one thing that gives them an advantage over the other. Covid-19 spreads slower than Omicron but gets you sicker and Omicron spreads faster and still gets you sick but not as bad as Covid-19.

There are vaccines that you can take to make sure you don’t get Covid, or have a less chance of getting it. This is also true with the Omicron variant. The first vaccine was made on December 11th, 2020 for people 16 or older but now the age limit to get the vaccine has been going down. Another way to lower the spread of Covid is to wear a mask that helps catch and cover you from droplets that come out when you sneeze, cough, or talk.

Coronavirus is still around to this day making it about 3 years since it was first discovered.

Hopefully, Covid will go away soon but for now, we just have to find ways to reduce the spread.

Elephants are the largest land mammals on the earth. They’re majestic animals, and yet are still being hunted and killed for their tusks to trade for ivory. This can lead to the extinction of elephants in the future or the better alternative; the evolution of elephants to be born and not grow tusks so that hunting them would no longer be for ivory.

These ivory tusks have been smuggled by poachers into different states and countries. Anywhere from 20 to 24 tons have been seized, smuggling experts suggest the haul to be much larger than what was seized. The Ivory Trade has been around since 14 BCE. Poachers have been hunting African elephants for their ivory tusks for a long time now, and 55 African elephants are killed illegally every day for their tusks.

Poaching is leading many different species to extinction and will cause their extinction in the near future if it is not resolved. For instance, every 22 hours, a rhinoceros is poached, and just over 1,000 gorillas are still alive. In the year 1930, as many as ten million wild elephants roamed huge swaths of the African continent however, decades of poaching have utterly demolished the African elephant populations. Elephants are a keystone species, which means they create and maintain the ecosystems in which they live and make it possible for a myriad of plant and animal species to live in those environments as well. Elephants are running out of space and time, before we know it they’ll be gone.

We can save elephants by implementing stronger protection policies for wild elephants at both local and international levels of government; stronger enforcement and legislative measures against the poaching and illegal trade of ivory. Between 2010, and 2014, the price of ivory in China has tripled driving illicit poaching through the roof. If the elephants are to survive, the ivory demand must be stopped. The elephant population is slowly declining due to the fact that more elephants are being poached than are being born each year.

There was a conflict between 1977-1992 during that time about 90% of the elephants in that region were killed. An interesting characteristic of the survivors is that half the females were naturally tusk-less; before the war, very few had this trait, less than a fifth of their population. How can you better the environment and help save the lives of countless species being endangered due to poaching?

Omicron is a highly mutated variant of Covid-19. It is named after the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. It is unclear how it should be pronounced, some calling it OH-muh-kraan while others call it AH-muh-kraan. The economy is not as heavily affected by this variant because people are less worried about it, as they have already been through similar situations. Compared to the delta variant, it is much less severe. However, it is twice as transmissible.

This new variant originated in South Africa on November 11, 2021. Before Omicron, South Africa had an average of 300 cases per day. With Omicron, South Africa had a peak of over 16,000 cases per day. It currently makes up 95.4% of Covid-19 cases in the U.S., which is the same as about 950,000 cases a day.

Two new medicines act as cures to Covid-19. These are not substitutes for the vaccine but can be used to get rid of the virus in one person. One of these medicines is produced by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics called Molnupiravir, while the other is made by Pfizer. If they are taken within the first five days of symptoms, Molnupiravir reduces the risk of serious illness by 30%, and Pfizer medicine reduces this risk by 89%. Both of these seem to be effective against Omicron.

Omicron is the most transmissible variant so far. This has a tremendous effect on the world. Because of how infectious the variant is, it is much easier to get reinfected if you have already had Covid-19. This may not seem like a big problem at first, but the Covid-19 antibodies are in the vaccine. With this, we can conclude that the vaccine is less effective against Omicron. The Pfizer vaccine is 33% effective with two shots. With the booster, it is about 70% effective against Omicron. This is awful for the state of the world because it either means it is easier to get Covid-19 or there are going to be more boosters required.

Omicron is a new concerning variant of Covid-19, and so far is the dominant variant. We must stay safe, as Omicron is very contagious.

On Jan 15th the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano erupted with an explosion equivalent to somewhere between 4 to 18 megatons of TNT. The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano was likely the biggest volcanic event recorded since the eruption of the Philippines' Mount Pinatubo, in 1991. NASA has commented saying the eruption was more powerful than an atomic bomb. The interaction between hot magma and seawater causes violent blasts of steam which is why the cloud from the blast was so damaging and powerful. To calculate the power of the event, scientists used a combination of satellite images and on-the-ground surveys. The researchers took a range of evidence into account, including the amount of rock that was removed during the explosion, and the height and size of the cloud.

The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano sent a dramatic plume of ash and water vapor 25 miles into the atmosphere and generated nearly 50-foot tsunami waves that hit parts of Tonga’s main island and sent swells across the Pacific. The thick layer of ash covering entire island communities poses a health risk to Tonga’s 100,000 residents, as breathing smoke and ash can inflame and damage heart and lung tissue, as well as irritate eyes and skin.

At least three people died in Tonga after tsunami waves crashed onto the shore, flooding residential communities and causing power outages. The tsunami is known to have killed one person on Mango and another on Nomuka, as well as a British woman who was swept away while trying to save her dogs. At least two people died in Peru due to "atypical waves." Tsunami waves were felt thousands of miles away in Hawaii, Japan, and on the West Coast of the United States.

On Tonga's main island trees and homes were completely blanketed by volcanic debris. Some buildings appear to have collapsed and aid workers are now concerned about water contamination and food security in the district.

Last weekend an underwater volcano erupted. The volcanic eruption happened in Tonga, an island nation in the south pacific made up of more than 170 islands. The eruption caused tsunamis in many different places, including the entire west coast of the United States and Hawaii.

Here in Oregon, there was a tsunami advisory issued around 7:30 in the morning on January 15th. The waves were expected to begin at 8:45 am on the north coast at places like Cannon Beach, Seaside, and Astoria. The tsunami advisory said that the waves were going to be one to three feet. This can be very misleading because what that actually means is that the waves are going to be one to three feet above the normal wave size. The average wave size is five feet, therefore the waves were actually going to be six to eight feet tall.

The good news is that the system we have for the warnings worked. But in this case, the warning was just telling people to stay off and away from the beach and not to go towards it. But some people didn't listen to that warning and actually drove to the beach and went on it. Most people that went to the beach went hoping that they would see the tsunami happen. The alerts just need to be taken more seriously just in case one of these times the tsunami is actually very serious.

In conclusion, everyone should be listening to the warnings no matter how small the waves are predicted to be. This time things weren't as bad as they could've been. People just have to be more cautious.

On January 9th at least 19 people were killed in an apartment fire. The victims were killed on Sunday when an apartment fire started by a malfunctioning space heater sent smoke billowing through a Bronx high-rise. This is one of the deadliest fires in New York that has been recorded in more than three decades.

An additional 44 people were injured, thirteen of them critically, after the third-floor occupants evacuated without closing the door behind them.“Smoke spread throughout the building, thus the tremendous loss of life and other people fighting for their lives,” Daniel A. Nigro said. Smoke started to fill the hallways of the building as residents were shocked by the sudden event. They had heard the alarms but not reacted as they had grown used to the frequent alarms.

This fire has had the biggest toll on the city since the nightclub fire in 1990 which killed 87 people.“The numbers are horrific,” Mayor Eric Adams said. “We’re all feeling this, and we’re going to be here for this community to help them navigate through this,” he stated. Adams also said that the city would provide support for the victims, many of whom are Muslim immigrants from the West African nation of Gambia.

Thirty people remained in the hospital on Sunday evening. Mr. Adams urged any victims that were injured to seek help and assured those who may be undocumented that their information would not be passed along to federal immigration authorities. “Tonight is a night of tragedy and pain, and tomorrow we begin to rebuild,” Kathy Hochul said. She would include funding to assist victims with the cost of housing and burials in her budget proposal next week.

City officials believe that the heater was running for days uninterrupted which could have led to the incident. Apartment doors left open during fires have featured in some of the city’s worst blazes, including a Bronx fire in 2017 that left 13 people dead. The apartments were built in 1972 with no fire escapes leaving residents in the Fordham Heights building to rely on stairs in case of emergency.

Ms. Campbell lives on the third floor of the building, she said that the fire alarms go off 5 or 6 times a day and when they do, she said, “I roll my eyes.”

A spokeswoman for the building’s owners says that the alarms were often triggered by people smoking in the hallways and staircases. But she claims they were not aware of any problems regarding the appliances and devices.

Kendall Munson’s son, Elyjah, and some of his friends went walking to their local gas station after school for some snacks. The boys were arguing over something when all of a sudden Elyjah’s 12-year-old best friend pulled out a gun from his backpack and shot Elyjah in the head. This wasn't the first time that this family has felt such terrible pain. Two weeks before Elyjah was shot, his 5-year-old cousin was shot after a 3-year-old cousin found a loaded gun underneath the couch. “It's easy to get a gun. It’s easy for our kids to get one” said Ms. Munson, from outside Atlanta, who thinks Elyjah’s December 2021 death was unintentional.

The number of children and teenagers dying by gunfire has risen sharply since this pandemic began. It's been a lot easier for kids to get their hands on guns and not know the consequences of them. The toll has grown much worse since last year. More than 1,500 children and teenagers were killed in homicides and accidental shootings. Middle school students are now starting to carry guns for protection.

Young children are starting to discover hidden places in their homes. Toddlers have been playing and have found loaded guns hidden under the couch, in between pillows, and even under piles of clothes. If they start messing with the gun it could lead to a serious injury. Teenagers have also found a way to get access to guns online without being caught. These are called Ghost guns. Ghost guns are homemade firearms without serial numbers, these guns are increasingly becoming new easy access for people to get their hands on. The shocking number of guns being purchased without background checks is terrifying to a lot of parents and children.

The rise of young lives cut short has sparked an interest in police officers and families across the US who are concerned for the safety of not only their children but other young ones as well.

“When the pandemic began, we just had this big influx of people getting gun permits. People are buying these weapons without the right type of education” said Keith Meadows, the police chief in South Fulton, where two children have sadly died due to an accidental shooting.

In the previous weeks of December, kids all around Portland woke up from their beds and ran to their windows, hoping that it had snowed overnight. We continuously would be disappointed, day in and day out. Just a couple of hours away from Portland though people were wishing for the opposite thing.

In only three days, Hood River, Oregon witnessed three feet of snow. This is such a change for Hood Rivers' weather, causing residents all over Hood River to be caught off guard and spending the last days shoveling out their walkways, driveways, and even shoveling out their cars. Some of the stores and restaurants in Hood River have been forced to close because truckers can't deliver the food and resources they need.

Down the road on I-84, snow has covered the highway preventing many people from getting home and blocking many truckers and cars. According to an OPB staff, "On Monday morning in Eastern Oregon, many snowplow drivers could not see the roads well enough to plow them." The snowfall was not only causing cars to redirect their routes but was also causing cars to pull over and wait out the storm.

Imagine waking up from your bed and looking out your window, but your window is pitch white. As you open your front door snow comes crashing in. In the city of Lake Tahoe, many may have experienced something like this, this past week. Lake Tahoe has just surpassed its 51-year-old record of 114 inches of snow, with a snowfall of 238 inches, which is equivalent to 16.8 feet of snow. That is like stepping off a 2-story building onto snow!

Snow is a symbol of winter and a time of fun, where people sled, ski, snowboard, and drink warm beverages. The next time you wish for snow though, think twice about how much you want it.

There are new strains of Covid-19 right now and there are one million cases of spreading faster and faster as schools might be shutting down. Cities and countries are now closing down, and businesses are going out. But, how did this all happen?

The first case was in Wuhan, China on December 12, 2019. It has gotten worse and worse, killing over 838,000 people all around the world. It cooled down for about 2-3 weeks, but then the new strain, which is faster and easier to spread to families, came along.

Around the world, countries are becoming more strict, but not as strict as China who is making people feel like prison in their own home. They are currently in a serious lockdown with very strict rules, and if you break the rules, the consequences are bad. They will put you in an all white suit and a picture of you on your chest and make you walk around the city to embarrass you so people look at you in shame making a parade for the rule breakers. China appears to have the most strict rules. Hopefully Covid-19 will come to an end soon.

Technology is constantly advancing to make our lives easier by performing tasks we wouldn’t be able to do normally, but recent developments show that technology is getting closer to supporting us both physically and mentally to accomplish things otherwise unheard of by humans.

There are many forms of Human Augmentation modifying what we were born with, such as tattoos, an augmentation that has been around for up to 12,000 years. Also, the more recent Plastic Surgery, invented almost 100 years ago to fix the damaged faces of injured World War I soldiers. Today, these things are still around but a new type of Human Augmentation has formed using technology to improve the human performance of our bodies and our brains.

Many companies and products such as Naked Prosthetics, eSight, and Cochlear make augmentations to help the disabled. In particular, Naked Prosthetics can replicate amputated fingers with extremely high dexterity. eSight is a wearable device with cameras that allows legally blind individuals to see their environment by displaying images on a screen very close to the eye, while Cochlear implants work similarly to recreate hearing. All these products and companies fix problems that were said to be unfixable even 10 years ago, allowing people with sensory disabilities to experience the world.

However, many new technologies exist to not just supplement but enhance our abilities. Exoskeletons are wearable machines that increase your strength and physical abilities. For example, The Sarcos Guardian is an Exoskeleton and provides an average human worker to lift up to 200 pounds. Many intermediate bench pressers can lift that much, but for an average person with a max bench press weight of 135 pounds, that’s a massive 65-pound difference.

However, some technology focuses on dexterity rather than strength. Researchers at University College London have even been developing a robotic extra thumb that people can control with their toes, testing how the brain adapts to bodily extensions.

One famous example of Human Augmentation comes from Elon Musk and his Neurolink, a project that implants tiny electrodes into the brain to almost literally turn humans into living computers. Neurolink is capable of allowing almost instantaneous computing, making increasing intelligence greatly.

It is theorized that the future holds even greater potential than what we have now, with a possibility that we could actively edit people with genetic engineering. Many of these methods are illegal in most places due to them being required to perform in either the embryo or infant state, meaning the methods that are theorized to only work on newborn or unborn babies.

However controversial this may be, we could select features to keep in a baby before it is even born. It’s possible to choose features like eye color, height, hair color, and even things that aren’t physical features like intelligence.

The real question is: Will people want these augmentations for themselves or their children? There’s no doubt that it will become more commonplace as technology advances. Elon Musk has stated that people will need to become cyborgs to keep humans above technology. It may seem like a sci-fi movie now, but humans are known to quickly adapt and advance, a phone 20 years ago could never compare to a phone today. Think to yourself, if you had the chance to improve your body and mind artificially, would you?

Human augmentation: where it’s at and where it’s headed

November 30th: A 15-year-old opened fire killing four students and injuring seven others at a High School in Michigan. Here’s what happened.

The Weekend Before the Shooting

Friday, November 26th: James Crumbley purchased a gun at an Oxford store with his son, Ethan Crumbley, authorities believe this was the gun used in the shooting.

• Around that same day, Ethan posted a video using the gun on social media with the caption “Just got my new beauty today. SIG SAUER 9mm” with heart-eye emoji.

• Jennifer Crumbley also posted about the gun on social media over the weekend, saying, “mom and son testing out his new Christmas present”.

• During that weekend Jennifer Crumbley took Ethan to a shooting range.

Warning Signs Before the Shooting

Monday, November 29: A teacher noticed Ethan searching the web for ammunition for his new gun. The teacher notified school officials, who contacted the parents through phone and email, but they did not respond.

• Later on that day, Jennifer Crumbley messaged her son saying “LOL I’m not mad at you, You have to learn not to get caught”

• Two videos on Ethan’s phone show him talking about wanting to shoot and kill students at his High School.

• Another piece of evidence is a Journal that was found in Ethan’s backpack stating how he wanted to shoot up the school and murder students.

Tuesday, November 30: A couple of hours before the shooting, another teacher found a drawing on Ethan’s desk. The illustration was disturbing so the teacher took a photo of the drawing using her phone.

• The illustration showed a “gun pointing at the words ‘the thoughts won’t stop help me,” and it included a drawing of a bullet with the words ‘blood everywhere” written above it.

• The words “my life is useless” and “the world is dead” were also written in the illustration.

• Another thing that was in the illustration was a person between the drawing of the gun and bullet showing a person being just twice and bleeding, below that was a laughing face.

• The disturbing picture led school officials to hold a meeting with Ethan and his parents. The Crumbley’s were asked to put Ethan into counseling within 48 hours. They said no to the idea of taking their son out of school, he then returned to class after that meeting.

Video Footage Shows How the Shooting Started

Before 12:51 pm: Ethan was shown with a backpack heading inside a bathroom. A minute or two later he was seen with a gun in his hand.

• Ethan began to walk the halls and aim the gun at students and start shooting. When students began to run away, he continued to walk through the halls and shoot at classrooms and at students who hadn’t escaped yet.

• This continued for another four or five minutes before he went into another bathroom. When police arrived he was arrested within two or three minutes.

• Dozens of other students were also calling 911. The call center received more than 100 calls as police raced to the school at 12:52 pm.

1:22 pm: Jennifer Crumbley texted her son saying “Ethan don’t do it”

1:37 pm: James Crumbley called 911 about a missing gun from his house, saying how his son may be the shooter.

Students Perspective of Shooting

Aiden Page, a Senior at Oxford High School described what it was like being in a school shooting.

• “We heard two gunshots. And after that, my teacher ran into the room, locked it, we barricaded then covered the windows and hid”

• Aiden described how the shooter was so close that a bullet pierced one of the desks that were used to block the door.

Cumbey, a Junior who heard gunshots.

• Cumbey stated that the shooter was so close to his classroom that when he called 911 he could only whisper “Oxford High School Shooter” to avoid being heard.

Animals have died from eating plastic because people are just leaving everything on the ground instead of putting it in the plastic/trash cans. There's been about one million marine animals in total that have died from plastic and about 100,000 animals that are dying each year. The plastic doesn't just kill them, but they also trap the animals and make them injured. Even if they get out, predators can sense their weakness or they could get infected. Predators often think the plastic is some kind of food, which is why people should stop throwing it in the ground and start throwing it where it's supposed to go. About 56% of mammals have consumed plastic.

Scientists have estimated that close to 15 million tons of plastic wind up in the ocean each year. This is like if two garbage trucks full of plastic were dumped into the ocean every minute. It has been estimated that it will get worse before it starts to get better. This would only stop if people actually threw away the plastic where it's supposed to be.

These animals encounter plastic pollution throughout all life stages. The affected animals were found in areas of the nation's water where they spend most of their time. It has been said that turtle groups have consumed plastic up to three times more often than average for their species. Some marine mammals consumed plastic up to 50 times more often than average for eared seals.

88% of animals are threatened with extinction and were listed in the U.S. endangered species list. The extent of the effect from plastic pollution was hard to conceive. Many of the animals that the U.S. water is projecting are actually suffering from plastic pollution entanglements and deaths. In the U.S. waters, they found 861 sea turtles, including all the six species. Sea turtles are the ones people have mostly seen being affected.

Animals have mostly been entangled with plastic packing straps, bags, balloons with strings etc. People are being very ignorant about this topic and are not caring about how much animals have died due to plastic. People need to stop being this ignorant and start caring or else we are going to lose even more animals and be left with none. Two things that can be done is that companies should reduce the production of plastic and especially unnecessary single-use plastic and Congress should defend and fully fund implementation of the endangered species.

A line of severe weather moved through the Central and Southern US late Friday, December 10th into Saturday, December 11th. A small town called Dawson Springs, located in Western Kentucky, had about 75% of their community wiped out and replaced with some of the worse destruction and chaos they’ve ever seen. Some have compared it to something you would see in a war zone, with residence properties literally stripped clean from the Earth. At least 100 people are feared dead; the town's death toll rose to 13 on Sunday up from the previous day’s number of 10. Hundreds and hundreds in the town of nearly 3,000 no longer have a place to live.

The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center reported these storms of 50 tornadoes across eight states. The violent and unforgiving storms have left people to deal with a new reality of seeking basic needs like food and shelter. In Kentucky, teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are on the ground, with more than 300 National Guard troops on duty across nine counties.

While rescue efforts have continued, survivors have yet to be pulled from the rubble. The list of missing persons in Dawson Springs contains more than 100 names, but many are hopeful most of those are just people who have left town but haven't checked in yet. Those whose homes are still standing are likely to be without power and could be in the dark for up to a month.

The American Red Cross has eight shelters set up in Kentucky and is providing relief to nearly 200 people. These tornadoes have hit many people very hard and we can only hope they can all find a way to recover soon.

Xbox is a multi-billion dollar gaming company that is owned by Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft founded Xbox in 2001 when they first released The Xbox. Now there are more recent and brand-new models of the Xbox like the Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox X, and Xbox Series X/S. The latest Xbox (Xbox Series X), costs $500 dollars which is exactly what the Xbox X cost when it came out. So, I guess they liked the price range and found it reasonable enough for an Xbox if they kept it the same.

Gucci is a multi-billion dollar luxury fashion brand. On a chart of other luxury brands like Chanel, Hermès, and Dior, Gucci ranked number one on ‘most luxury brand’ with the rest ranking below. Gucci is a popular luxury brand that ranks number one and Xbox is a major gaming company alongside PlayStation and Nintendo, but some people may say Xbox is better than both of them. These two companies, Gucci and Xbox, are both different companies that are really popular and on November 17th they decided to work together.

The Collaboration dropped on November 17th on the Gucci website. This was a surprising Collaboration but it was also kind of hinted at by a photo of the Gucci logo and the Xbox logo that came out a couple of days before. The original Xbox Series X cost $500 dollars but with Gucci, the price was raised to $10,000 dollars with only 100 available. The new Xbox Series X now has a Gucci original Rhombi design added to only the front of the Xbox. The controllers are also customized and have a red and blue stripe on the side. The Gucci Xbox Series X itself does not have any higher performance than the regular $500 dollar Xbox Series X.

The new Xbox Series X comes in a gray Gucci briefcase that can be used to carry the Xbox and controllers and comes with an Xbox Game Pass Subscription inside. This isn’t the first fashion and gaming collab but it is one of the most expensive ones that have happened. Overall the Xbox and Gucci collaboration does not seem like something that most people would be excited about since the Xbox itself is very expensive and there's only 100 of them out, but it was a collaboration that some people decided to participate in and now there are only a couple Gucci Xboxes left!

A.I., or Artificial Intelligence, is the theory and development of computer systems able to do tasks that normally require human intelligence; in short, it’s robots doing tasks that humans can also do, and doing it just as well.

When you think of Artificial Intelligence you might think of movies like the Terminator, a movie where Artificial Intelligence has taken over the world, or things like your Alexa listening to you. But in the real world, Artificial Intelligence is very helpful to humanity as a whole.

The community around Artificial Intelligence is making advancements every day and some of the things they are making will change the world dramatically in the future in many ways.

For example, ever since the Coronaviris pandemic started, doctors were on the clock to make a vaccine. It’s incredible how they were able to put something together in around three months, and according to the MIT Technology Review, they did it with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence that was programmed to sort through all the data looking for things that would give a better understanding. It ended up being several times faster than a human doing the same thing since computers are so efficient.

More practical everyday things that Artificial Intelligence helps with are transportation and communication. Self-driving cars are becoming more of a common sight compared to a year ago when they were barely in the question. These “robotaxis” will end up helping disabled people who can’t get around well or people who can’t drive for whatever reason.

Also, Artificial Intelligence will help the entire human race become more connected as certain devices can translate speech and write in other languages. Easily being able to understand each other on the simple level of speech will make the world more connected and will allow people to experience cultures more than ever before, travel will become easier and people will start to work together on the problems facing our world.

Artificial Intelligence isn’t just evil robots you see in movies and in reality will help the world in more ways you could count.

Credit:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/01/14/1016122/these-five-ai-developments-will-shape-2021-and-beyond/

Something wild happened in the small town of Fitzgerald Georgia recently. Jim Puckett, mayor of the town, built a giant topiary chicken to welcome its guests. And inside the chicken, a bed and breakfast. Why did he build this strange thing? He believed that the chicken was a good and friendly way to welcome the guests, and to add something special to the town, as this would have won a world record.

Now, where did he get this idea? Well, all over the town there are Burmese Chickens that roam all over the place. He thought the chicken would represent a common animal to the town. He wanted “to get the word out and let people say, ‘Oh, there might be an interesting place to go visit.’” He still has high hopes for the chicken and doubts it will go unfinished forever.

However, the chicken did come with issues. $291,000 was spent trying to build this chicken. Hundreds of thousands of US government tax dollars were spent building this chicken, and this lost him many voters in the next election. He was easily replaced, and the chicken remained unfinished.

Given that in this town, a mayor that built a topiary chicken lost to a “funeral guy,” this is one heck of a place. Even so, he has no regrets over this chicken. He wished for it to promote the town, and it sure did. Even given that he lost the election, and wasted tons of US government money, he felt his job was complete.

He still believes that the chicken will thrive. In February, the chicken is said to bloom with greenery all over it.

On Friday, November 5th tragedy struck at the Astroworld concert in Houston, Texas. 9 people were killed including Axel Acosta, 21, Danish Baig, 27, John Hilgert, 14, Jacob Jurinke, 20, Franco Patiño, 21, Rodolfo Peña, 23, Brianna Rodriguez, 16, Bharti Shahani, 22 and hundreds more injured.

During the performance, people surged to the stage crushing each other resulting in the mass tragedy which the police declared a medical casualty event. Many reports indicate that people tried to get Travis Scott to stop the concert, and even after police insisted the concert be shut down, the set continued for another 37 minutes.

In The New York Times, it states that people in the audience saw people drop and instantly get trampled. People were so close together that if you put your arms up it was impossible to get them down for the rest of the night.

There have been over 50 lawsuits filed against Travis Scott. In response, he has offered to cover all funeral expenses for the deceased victims.

There have also been multiple other discussions of other things contributing to deaths. There is talk about needles being injected into people causing them to die. No evidence has proven that has happened.

Many people have stated that they are not super surprised that something like this tragedy happened at a Travis Scott concert. Travis Scott has a reputation of his concerts being ``big ragers¨ meaning a crazy experience with crowd surfing and dangerous activities.

Unfortunately, we can not go back and change the past but we can take actions to help prevent anything like this in the future. If you are going to a concert, please stay as safe as you can.

It's almost that amazing Thanksgiving time! The time to celebrate things you're grateful for. One thing many of us feel grateful for this time of year is FOOD. Here are my two favorite foods on my Thanksgiving table. Try out these simple, delicious, amazing recipes to share with your family for the holidays!

Mashed Potatoes

Let's start with the best mashed potatoes recipe. First off, here are some tips for perfect mashed potatoes:

1. You can use any variety of potatoes. I recommend choosing higher starch potatoes like Russets or Yukon Golds for the fluffiest, smoothest, and most flavor-packed mash.

2. Cut your potatoes before boiling. (it helps cook the potatoes perfectly)

3. Now it's time to mash the potatoes. Don’t overmix! In general, you want to stir the liquids into your mashed potatoes until they are just combined. Otherwise, if you overmix, they can crossover into the gummy territory, which is no good.

4. Season with salt along the way. We will use sea salt to season the potatoes both in the water while they are boiling as well as after cooking when adding in the butter and milk. As always, when seasoning, keep tasting it along the way while you are preparing the recipe and add more salt to your liking.

Time for the ingredients for the perfect mashed potatoes:

- 5 pounds potatoes (look at tips above to see the best potatoes to use!)

- 2 large cloves Garlic:

-6 teaspoons of butter: We don’t add as much butter here as many recipes do, because the other ingredients help to make them nice and creamy, but you are of course welcome to add in more butter if you would like. If you are eating dairy-free and/or vegan, feel free to use vegan butter.

-1 cup of milk: You are welcome to amp things up with half and a half or heavy cream if you prefer. Alternatively, you can use lighter milk or plain plant-based milk.

- Sprinkles of sea salt: Which we will use to season the potatoes at different points while cooking.

-Toppings (Optional) sprinkle on chopped chives or green onions for extra color and freshness. Plus lots and lots of black pepper. But feel free to add on what you’d like!

Pumpkin Pie

Tips

Ingredients:

-1 (15 ounces) can of pumpkin

-1 (14 ounce) can “EAGLE BRAND” sweetened condensed milk

-2 large eggs

-1 teaspoon of cinnamon

-½ teaspoon ground ginger

-½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

-½ teaspoon salt

-1 (9) inch uncooked crust

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and whisk together the pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices, and salt, and smooth together in a medium-sized bowl. Pour into the crust and bake for 15 mins.

Step 2: Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired.

That's it! Have a great thanksgiving, I hope you enjoy the best recipes!

On September 30th, coach Paul Riley was fired after multiple soccer players accused him of sexual coercion. He was head coach of the Portland Thorns in 2014-15. A former player from the Portland Thorns, Sinead Farrelly, said that she was coerced into having sex with Riley multiple times during the 2014-15 season. He also told her and Meleana Shim, another Thorns player, to kiss him after a night of heavy drinking. He supposedly said if they kissed him they wouldn't have to suffer through a grueling conditioning exercise.

On the following Thursday, the Portland Thorns wrote on Twitter apologizing to Sinead Farrelly and Meleana Shim, "We want to thank Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly for bravely speaking out and fully apologizing to them for our role in the abuse they detailed."

Riley, currently the head coach of North Carolina Courage, was fired following the report of the many accusations against him. He fought back by saying, “ I never had sex with or made sexual advances toward these players.”

Due to all the allegations against him, the league has made a confidential and anonymous system for players to report misconduct, harassment, and discrimination. The Portland Thorns made several changes including conducting an independent investigation into what happened in 2015 and how it was investigated. The investigation is to be made public.

Other players accused Riley of luring players into his bed, coercing them into sex, and forcing them to kiss each other for his pleasure. The US soccer federation revoked the 57-year old’s coaching license due to the allegations against him.

Have you ever heard of the Oregon Food Bank or one in particular known as Sunshine Pantry? Well these simple places are food banks and food pantries . The contributions they provide are incredibly important to some folks in your community, however, as of late they are facing problems with donations. Due to food prices going up, not many food banks and pantries can afford getting more food with the amount of donations that they're getting.

The problem is that if people are not donating food and/or money, families in need have to find other ways to get food, which can be really hard depending on your job and or the amount of people in your family. The amount of people that go hungry every year in the US alone is more than 38 million each year.

If you think back to March 2020, about 9.6 million U.S citizens lost their jobs due to the pandemic. During the pandemic when many people lost their job they ended up not getting their income due to them losing their job so most of these people would go hungry. Now, more than ever, food banks serve a critical role in our communities. In 2019 the Oregon Food Bank served 856,000 people and in 2020 they served 1.7 million people--that’s double the amount in 2019! So now what? Well, we have always had this problem it's not a new thing but more people need this food because were going through a worldwide pandemic which meant more people needed help but less people could help if they wanted to.

Especially during this holiday season, we need to contribute to these organizations. Donating your time is a great way to help because once you see the people receiving the help, you realize that not many people are getting enough food to feed themselves or sometimes their family.

If you ever want to help food banks out here's what you can do, if you're a high schooler you can get your volunteer hours in by volunteering at a food bank, or if you don't ever have time to volunteer you can always donate money or food. But just remember you can always donate to food banks and you will make a change by helping.

https://www.oregonfoodbank.org/

https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank

The world has been changing ever since the beginning of time. Chunks of land have broken off of each other, islands have formed. Unfortunately, our world is still changing but for the worse. As we humans create more and more things that hurt the earth, we have ultimately changed our climate (the weather conditions in a current general area or over a long period of time).

Have you ever melted an ice cube before? Did you watch the water slowly spread across your table as it melted? Well, ice sheets have been melting for quite some time in Antarctica, which may be one of the most drastic effects of climate change. For example, remember how your ice cube melted and water spread over your table? The ice sheets and glaciers are doing the same thing as the ice cube did, except that instead of a small pool of water on your table, these ice sheets will cause rising sea levels throughout the world. This reaction could sink entire cities or even states! Ice sheets melting would also relate to shorter winters and longer summers. It would also cause temperatures to rise, which would result in as many as 650 heat-related deaths each year by 2050, and about 2,300 deaths by 2090. Floods will also start to become more common throughout the world, as well as wildfires.

One of the biggest factors causing climate change to progress is air pollution. Air pollution refers to chemicals in the Earth's atmosphere that hurt people or the environment. Most air pollution is caused by humans using fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels are a type of greenhouse gas (GHGs), which release large amounts of carbon dioxide. These GHGs trap heat in our atmosphere, causing many things like climate change. Before humans used fossil fuels, the atmosphere was just 0.027 percent carbon dioxide. Now, the atmosphere is made up of 0.04 percent of carbon dioxide. That is an increase of 0.013 percent! An increase of even 0.001 in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can completely transform weather patterns in a single state, but an increase of 0.013 can change weather patterns over time all over the world!

So, how can we help slow down climate change? Many of the ways can start with you. According to a staff writer for the Columbia Climate School, “meat and dairy—is responsible for 14.5 percent of man-made global greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from feed production and processing and methane.” So eating more things like fruits, veggies, grains, and beans is one way we can help climate change. Also, if everyone only did two loads of laundry in cold water weekly, instead of hot or warm water, this alone can save up to 500 pounds of carbon dioxide each year. Climate change is approaching fast, but all is not hopeless. If we humans can all work together we can save this planet.

https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2018/12/27/35-ways-reduce-carbon-footprint/

https://www.cnn.com/

Which countries have emitted the most CO2?

On Friday, October 29, 2021, Trader Joe’s opened a new store in Garden Home. It replaced the Thriftway that had been there for many years. Lamb’s Thriftway was opened by Forrest Lamb in 1957. It was the first Thriftway and the main grocery store in Garden Home. After Lambs closed, they needed a new grocery store for the neighborhood. The small and friendly feeling of Trader Joe's was perfect for the area.

Trader Joe’s has a unique setup that brings in many people. They hone in on your shopping experience by making it easy and quick. For example, while many other grocery stores have freezer doors in their frozen food aisle, at Trader Joe's, they use cold cases instead so there is no barrier between you and the food. They want shoppers to experience a smaller and homier environment than chain big-box grocery stores.

Trader Joe’s is also unique by having employees constantly stocking and restocking shelves to keep food fresh. Since there are many employees out in the store, there is always someone to ask for help. Employees are also hired based on personality and whether they will contribute to the positive environment of the store.

Another compelling aspect of Trader Joe’s is its marketing and product labels. Their items are primarily Trader Joe’s branded. This gives them room to design their labels differently than other brands and make items less expensive. Their designs give off a handmade feeling that makes consumers more attracted to the items.

After going to the opening of the new Trader Joe’s, I can say that even though it is a different location, it still has all of those aspects that make Trader Joe’s unique. If you like Trader Joe’s, I would definitely recommend checking out the new one. And if you have never been to Trader Joe’s, here are a few items that we especially recommend.

Modeled by Claire Regali

Source: Forbes Magazine

Breast cancer means a lot to me because my grandma is a breast cancer survivor. My family has participated in many breast cancer fundraisers including the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

Other than skin cancer, breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women. Men can get breast cancer but it is extremely rare, 1 in 100 diagnosed with the disease is a man. Over 255,000 people are diagnosed each year and “about” 42,000 people die from it. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Every October there are pink ribbons, people wearing pink, and multiple fundraisers to help with finding cures.

History of the ribbon

In 1979, a 69-year-old woman named Penney Laingen put up yellow ribbons after her husband was captured and held prisoner in Iran. Then, in 1990 and 1991, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation gave out pink ribbons and pink visors to the people running in Race for the Cure.

Why is it pink?

The color pink is considered feminine. A pink ribbon represents ¨fear of breast cancer, hope for the future, and the charitable goodness of people and businesses who publicly support the breast cancer movement¨. The pink ribbon has become a symbol of supporting women overall.

If you want to help in any way to find a breast cancer cure, you should look into Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation because they have a lot of ways to get involved. Hopefully, we will find a cure soon!

We live in the age of technology; the internet, online communities, and businesses, and it is no surprise that people have found a way to exploit others using this medium.

Cyberattacks are growing more and more common, and the basic definition is according to the Oxford Dictionary, “An attempt by hackers to damage or destroy a computer network or system.” However, you could add to this definition by saying the hackers could be attempting to steal information or use other computers to launch more attacks on more computers, making what we call a “Computer Virus.”

These problems only seem like they would matter online, but a number of attacks seriously affect people in the real world. Cyberattacks on places like hospitals can cause loss of data and possibly loss of life with over 400 hospitals and health facilities in the United States. In the United Kingdom, hospitals lost access to their patient's medical records, resulting in ambulances being rerouted and delayed patient care at the event known as the 2020 United Health service attack. In other cases, a hospital in Germany was a victim of a cyberattack and was forced to turn away patients coming into the emergency room.

Cyberattacks affect hospitals and their staff’s ability to do their jobs. However, attacks aren’t limited to hospitals, and necessary supplies such as clean water and gas have been hit with these attacks and are predicted to happen again. In 2021 alone, two attacks have been carried out that either stopped these resources from coming in or limiting them severely.

In the 2021 Oldsmar attack, hackers remotely accessed the water treatment plant in Oldsmar, Florida, a city of 15,000 people in the Tampa area, and briefly changed the levels of lye in the drinking water. In addition, the 2021 attack on the Colonial Pipeline, which provides about 45% of the U.S. East Coast's fuel, disrupted gas supplies for days.

What can companies do to improve their Cyber Security in the age of technology? One strategy used is called “Two-Step Verification,” which requires users of the website to both put in some sort of password and complete a verification process afterward. A common verification is a Captcha, most people who use the internet have seen a Captcha at some point browsing the web.

Not only are Cyberattacks dangerous to companies, but they're also dangerous to anyone who uses a computer. A common way to prevent your information from getting stolen is to install a VPN; standing for Virtual Private Network. These services protect your data by the means of connecting you to a safer server that is far more protected than your average server. A server is a computer that provides data to other computers.

However, some VPNs can be expensive, but if you have a lot of important files on your computer that you don’t want any hackers looking through, consider getting a VPN.

The threat of Cyberattacks isn’t going away anytime soon, so what can we do to be smarter and more secure than the hackers trying to steal you and your family’s information?

The real-world impacts of cyberattacks

We all can envision pride flags that represent a part of the LGBTQ+ community: bright, colorful symbols of equality and visibility for an underrepresented group. However, one month ago, some school boards discussed banning the flag this year. The flags are being called too ‘’political '’ and some students are outraged due to schools banning them. Even teachers who support the community by putting up said flags are resigning and students are being suspended due to voicing their opinions on the matter. Some schools say it’s to stay neutral while others say the flags are controversial to some students.

According to an article on NBC.com, a school board member named Brian Shannon in Newberg, Oregon said, “ We don’t pay our teachers to push their political views on our students. That’s not their place”. Even little stickers with the rainbow support were ordered to be scraped off classroom doors in August near Dallas, Texas. However, some other students and parents are saying that the new rule is harming kids in regards to feeling safe and loved at school. ‘’Feeling safe should not be political,’’ says Victor Frausto, a 16-year-old student in Texas. To him, the flag feels like you're loved and accepted but removing them ‘’the decision to ban the pride flag stickers sent a very difficult message, by seeing how those stickers were removed you get the message that ‘I do not belong, I should not be here.’’ In response to the sticker removal, hundreds of students walked out of their classes in an action against the school boards.

The students in Newberg staged a walkout to protest in a video saying, ‘’Bring our stickers back!’’. Now that this problem has surfaced in the public, Zachary Goff of Newberg has launched a petition that has over 1,000 signatures to drop the ban on pride flags. Newberg board members are continuing to defend their policy over the pride flags and the black lives matter flags saying that “[t]heir place is to teach the approved curriculum, and that’s all this policy does, is ensure that’s happening in our schools.’’

What do you think? Answer form down below.

Facebook, along with Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Oculus are some of the biggest social media platforms out there today (Excluding Oculus.) Even though Facebook seems to be getting into trouble recently, it still is one of the most used apps with 540 million downloads alone in 2020.

Even with the success Facebook has been having, along with its other connected applications (Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Oculus) the main app itself still has major problems and will continue to always have them. However, on Friday, October 3rd, at 12:00pm, Facebook dealt with yet another major problem that could completely mess up the company.

On Friday October 3rd Facebook’s employee, Antigone Davis was currently on a live interview at CNBC defending Facebook over a whistle-blower (Someone who reports waste, fraud, corruption, or abuse to the public) who stated with evidence that Instagram was purposely made to be addicting to teens. During the interview, Facebook’s services all of a sudden went offline pretty much everywhere.

This was noted to be one of the worst outages since 2019 where Facebook was taken down for nearly 24 hours. This time though, it was only off for 6 hours. During this time, people couldn’t get any service from Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, or Oculus. Oculus users could still load games they already installed and browsers still worked but social features and installing new games didn’t. Instagram was flashing a 5xx Server Error message that prevented users to access Instagram. Messenger, and WhatsApp were both non-functional for the rest of the 6 hours, which sparked confusion by the users.

Later on, the confusion was answered when Facebook issued an explanation on Monday morning explaining that the issue was due to configuration issues. And, even though it might seem that only the users of Facebook were affected by this, it turned out that even the Facebook workers were having a hard time fixing the issue. The outage broke nearly all the internal systems forcing them to communicate through their Outlook email accounts.

Even though Facebook ended up going offline, which caused a chain of events, taking down Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Oculus, Facebook ended up fixing the problem by sending people to the US data center. Surprisingly enough Facebook still goes offline or ‘down’ in different locations. Next time Messenger, WhatsApp, Or Oculus goes offline, Facebook is most likely having another outage.

Droughts threaten Afghanistan

Although many of us have heard about the ongoing military conflict in Afghanistan, according to the Wall Street Journal, Afghanistan is currently experiencing one of its worst droughts in decades. They're in the grips of its second drought in four years. The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) claims this is the worst drought they've had in 35-36 years.

These droughts affect millions of people in Afghanistan, around 80% rely on their crops and farming goods for survival. Afghanistan is heavily reliant on livelihoods sensitive to fluctuations in weather, such as rain-fed agriculture and cattle farming.

Tough conditions have already put 14 million- more than one-third of the Afghanistan population, in a food security crisis. According to the U.N Food and Agriculture Organization, Afghanistan’s current harvest is expected to be 15% below average due to the droughts. The United States estimates the droughts are threatening the livelihoods of up to nine million Afghans and also affecting 25 of the country’s 34 provinces.

This year’s drought is compounding the economic crisis that deepened when the Taliban overthrew the previous Afghan government. After the Taliban takeover, farmers sadly have very little to fall back on. Afghanistan began experiencing unusual droughts beginning in 1995, right after the Taliban emerged. The new Taliban government has so far hasn't presented a plan for how to create jobs or provide support for the population that is sinking deeper into poverty.

Because of the ongoing pandemic, masks have become a part of everyday life for almost everyone. However, some people are still not wearing their masks correctly. A mask is a tool- its purpose is to absorb harmful germs or particles that may be in the air or coming out of your mouth -to protect people from contacting covid.

When air being blown out is enclosed in a mask, it has no choice but to go through the mask filter, which catches the bigger germs. However, when your mask is not on correctly and there are open gaps, this allows air to escape out those holes without getting filtered. Your mask should form a tight seal around your nose and mouth; you shouldn’t be able to feel air blowing out of the sides.

Many people believe that since they have a mask on, they’re safe. But it doesn’t work that easily. A mask that doesn’t fit is not only extremely uncomfortable, but is also not as protective.

To test if your mask fits, get some glasses- they don’t have to be real glasses, just sunglasses or plastic ones with fake lenses -put them on over your mask, and wait for about 10-15 seconds. If the glasses fog up, the mask doesn’t fit.

Overall, the CDC states that N95 masks offer the best protection. Surgical masks, while better than cloth face coverings, are not the best option. N95s most common appearance is a white or teal rounded mask, with straps that circle your head. These masks are, for the most part, cheap and easily accessible, so you should consider getting one.

Masks really do work if you wear them correctly, along with social distancing and getting vaccinated if you can. The delta variant wave that swept through the U.S. has been devastating to everyone, and if we want things to go back to the way they were before, it’s important to keep up safety precautions to protect yourself and others around you.

YouTube is a popular website for viewing videos made by other people and is a great way to see people's unique talents and share your talents with people like you. And it’s no surprise that a website with the number of creators on YouTube that they have a system in place for keeping the things that shouldn't be on the platform, where many younger kids watch videos, off of YouTube.

However, the demonetization system is widely known throughout YouTube to be unpredictable, random, and unreliable in a lot of cases. For those who don’t know, demonetization can either simply prevent the creator from making money off the video, can age restrict the video to only be available for people who set their age over a certain number, ban it in different countries, or simply take down a video. Any one of these happening to someone's video would be bad but, just don’t make seriously inappropriate videos and it won’t happen to you, right? Wrong.

False demonetization is no stranger to anyone who's been posting regularly on the platform for a significant amount of time. A report by Business Insider told the story of 18-year-old Jake Sandt who had monetized, meaning he turned ads on and was making money, his YouTube channel with quite a few subscribers. But one day all his videos were suddenly demonetized with no warning, stopping his revenue completely.

Sandt was using that money to save for college and he reported that it was “near-catastrophic for his finances”, unlike YouTube’s copyright strike system, which gives a few options for appealing the copyright claim, demonetization has one option, the “Appeal” feature. Sure you can try to send an email to YouTube but if you’re a small creator they won’t even tell you what you did wrong.

I own a YouTube channel myself with a little over 9k subscribers, and I have experienced one of my videos being demonetized and age-restricted for something completely inappropriate. Of course, the video didn't have anything inappropriate in it and YouTube gave me no explanation of what or where in the video even mentioned what they were talking about, so I appealed the video thinking it was a mistake but I was rejected and I learned I could only submit ONE appeal per video.

Other creators such as Alex Beckham and even David Hoffman have had their entire channels demonetized and lost the money they used, in Alex Buckham's case, to pay their employees that help make the videos, and David Hoffman, who posted videos about his long acting career was demonetized for “Duplication” and lost his channels revenue which was a third of his total income at the time.

Everything would be fine if the demonetization stopped people who were doing bad things but at this point, it seems as if the system is choosing people at random to take away money from. In summary, the question is, what would you do if suddenly your job stopped paying you but you still had to work?

⬇Take the poll down below!⬇

Citations:

Goggin, Benjamin, and Kat Tenbarge. "'Like you've been fired from your job': YouTubers have lost thousands of dollars after their channels were mistakenly demonetized for months." Insider, Insider Inc., 24 Aug. 2019, www.businessinsider.com/youtubers-entire-channels-can-get-mistakenly-demonetized-for-months-2019-8.