November 14

By Gabby F

On October 1, 2025, at 12:01 a.m. EDT, the United States government shut down. This shutdown lasted 43 days, making it the longest in U.S. history. A shutdown occurs when the legislation that funds the U.S. government is not enacted before the next fiscal (financial) year begins. 

The shutdown greatly affected federal employees, including active duty service members, who were furloughed or forced to work without pay, and it also had a significant impact on the Stuttgart High School community. 

Sports were put on pause, school events including Homecoming were postponed or canceled, and teachers had to work without pay. This not only created a tense environment between teachers and students, but also severely lowered morale. The shutdown also significantly impacted many student-athletes' seasons. With football already playing on Patch Barracks this season because our home field was deemed unsafe for play, the team was forced to play out the season in quite an unconventional way. However, this did not stop the team as they ended the season as undefeated champions.

Another event greatly impacted by the shutdown was the Homecoming dance. Initially scheduled for October 4, 2025, the dance was postponed due to the shutdown until October 18. All Homecoming events, including spirit week, which ran through Wednesday of the original homecoming week, and the pep rally, were rescheduled. The dance being moved at the last minute caused an outcry from students and parents.

With the shutdown officially ending on November 12, things in the community are slowly returning to normal. However, the effects of the almost 7-week shutdown and period without pay for teachers and parents of students will continue to last. The effects of a government shutdown on the DODEA community worldwide are largely unknown to most U.S. citizens; however, awareness is growing and could educate Americans on just how harmful government shutdowns can be, especially for overseas military communities. 

By Julia H

Located in northeastern Alaska, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or the ANWR, is the largest wildlife refuge in the US, spanning roughly 19.6 million acres of land. It is home to over 200 species of wildlife and 400 species of plants. As of October 23, 2025, the Trump Administration announced plans to open 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain of the land for oil and gas development.

The ANWR has been a topic of political dispute for decades. The land was first established for wildlife conservation in 1960 by President Eisenhower through Public Land Order 2214, which withdrew the area from public-land use. The first major policy battle over drilling emerged in the 1970s and 80s, This resulted in the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which left a portion for potential exploration. 

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act required the Department of the Interior to open the coastal plain of the ANWR to two oil and gas lease sales, marking the start of the Trump administration’s efforts to open the ANWR. In 2021, the Department of the Interior completed environmental assessments and began to offer leases. 

The recently finalized plans to open the ANWR have received mixed reactions. Many supporters believe the development could boost Alaska’s economy and create jobs. Nathan Gordon Jr., the mayor of Kaktovik, a secluded Alaskan town, asserts that "Developing ANWR’s Coastal Plain is vital for Kaktovik’s future.”

On the other hand, critics argue that the plan poses a risk to wildlife and indigenous lands. The Gwich’in Nation has strongly opposed the opening of the ANWR, emphasizing the cultural and ecological importance of the land. Chief Pauline Frost, chief of the Vuntut Gwich’in in Old Crow, states that “This is the one last sacred area we have and we want to protect it, but we can’t protect it, because it’s in another country.”

The future of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge remains uncertain, as legal challenges and shifting federal policies continue to shape the project’s outcome. The decades-long debate over the ANWR raises the question: How can the U.S. balance economic growth while also protecting its ecosystems?

By Tadek N

On September 30th, the fiscal year ended and the government failed to pass an operable budget. 43 days later, the government opened once again with a temporary budget lasting until January 30th. This makes it the longest shutdown in American history, the second-longest lasting 35 days during President Trump's first term.

Why did the shutdown occur in the first place? The government budget must be passed by both the House and the Senate, and signed by the President,  by September 30th to plan out the next year's spending. Usually Congress is able to pass the budget or create a temporary funding bill to avoid a shutdown. This year, however, a temporary funding bill was able to pass through the House but not the Senate. This forced the government to shutdown. Democratic senators, wanting an extension for expiring health insurance subsidies which help make healthcare affordable for 24 million Americans, initially refused to sign the bill.

When the government is in shutdown, federal workers are not paid, either being furloughed (suspended without pay until the government has passed a budget), or required to work without pay. Due to a lack of employees, most federal agencies stop working during the shutdown, including agencies like the IRS. One of the only sections of government that still receives pay during a shutdown is Congress. Additionally, SNAP food aid benefits, also known as food stamps, were withheld for this shutdown, cutting off access to food for approximately 42 million Americans.

Now, with the shutdown over, federal agencies should begin running again, federal workers who continue to work over the shutdown should receive backpay, and SNAP benefits should return to normal. However, the lasting affects of the shutdown are yet to be determined.

By Emily W

In elections held on November 5 nationwide, Democrats won gubernatorial, mayoral, and other elections in states like Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, described as a “blue wave” before the country enters its second year of President Trump’s term.

New York City Mayor - Zohran Mamdani

Perhaps one of the most closely followed races at the national and international level despite being for a mayoral position, the New York City election got noticeable coverage. Zohran Mamdani, the 34 year old Democratic candidate and self-described Democratic Socialist, won with 50.4% of the vote (1,036,051 votes).

Mamdani, a New York State assemblymember, was born in Uganda and identifies as South Asian. He is a naturalized US citizen, and raised in New York City. During his campaign, throughout which he took to social media, held rallies, participated in debates and spoke to journalists, Mamdani focused heavily on affordability for all New Yorkers. Major platform promises include freezing rents, opening city-owned grocery stores, and making buses free. Many of his proposals will be paid for by increased revenue from imposing a 2% tax on the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers.

Mamdani won the Democratic primary against potential candidates such as Brad Lander, who he cross-endorsed, and former governor Andrew Cuomo in July with 469,642 votes, 43.8% of the vote. Cuomo then ran as an independent candidate. Incumbent mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the election in September, making the final November race come down to Mamdani, Cuomo, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa as the frontrunners.

Though controversial to members of both parties, Mamdani was popular with a younger demographic. As he prepares to take office in January, time will tell how successful his policies will be.

Virginia and New Jersey Governors - Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill

Democrat women Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill won in the gubernatorial elections of Virginia and New Jersey. 

Spanberger, a former CIA case officer and representative in the US House, will be Virginia's first female governor. Like Mamdani and candidates throughout the country, her campaign's primary focus was affordability. Leading up to the election, she advocated for pushback to Trump's economic policies, abortion rights, and support of federal employees (320,000 of which live in Virginia). Spanberger won 57.5% of the vote (1,965,841 votes), defeated the current Republican governor's lieutenant governor, Winsome Earle-Sears. By defeating the Republican candidate, she flipped the governor's seat blue, declaring that "We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025 Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship."

Sherrill will succeed New Jersey's current governor, Democrat Phil Murphy. Sherrill is a "US Naval Academy graduate, helicopter pilot and ex-federal prosecutor" and currently a congresswoman in the US House. Unsurprisingly, she emphasized working to make the state affordable, while also focusing on supporting families and cutting healthcare costs as major policy focuses. Sherrill told Gov. Phil Murphy, "The reason I was so focused on affordability issues is because my communities are focused on affordability issues and how they’re going to be successful." Sherrill initially ran for the House in response to President Trump being elected in 2016, and she continued to denounce actions made by the president and Elon Musk. 

Key Takeaways

The election wins described above, as well as elsewhere, show a pattern of not only people shifting left towards the Democratic party in some of the first major elections since President Trump was elected, but that affordability was a key concern for candidates to appeal to. The trend may continue into the 2026 Midterm elections, especially if these elected officials are successful in making life for everyday Americans affordable.

By Jada G

Humanity has propelled itself into the information age, with the coveted cure to boredom sitting right in our pockets. You can find just about anything on platforms tailor-made for your satisfaction, from blockbusters films to indie music

And it can be exhausting.

In a recent survey conducted by UserTesting of 2,000 U.S. participants, over half were jaded by the sheer volume of options offered by streaming services. This surely isn’t helped by growing fees and choices made against the best interests of consumers.

Others, generally, are wondering just how much they own in our modern media landscape. When you purchase a subscription on Netflix, Disney+, or Spotify, you’re actually only receiving a license to view the content—allowing streaming services the rights to remove your favorite shows, movies, music, and even books (such as through Kindle) with little to no warning.

And many people are simply nostalgic. I know that, in my own experience, I was given a ratty portable DVD player when I was a preschooler—and boy, did I love that thing. On it were a few educational TV shows, but I still recall to this day how curious the technology seemed to me at the time. How could a disc so small play so many episodes of Sesame Street?

All of this has led to more people putting down their phones and returning back to the classics. Not only has Gen Z started to reembrace CDs and DVDs—the focus of this article—but games, books, vinyl records, and the like.

Since half a year ago, I’ve begun a similar journey, straying away from my phone and other streaming devices in favor of physical media, which has allowed me to broaden my tastes, especially in movies, and grow closer to my community along the way. 

While it’s easy to balk at how expensive physical media is— especially as streaming services tout the illusion of subscriptions providing everything you’d possibly need— by no means is it inaccessible. Amazon may sell CDs, DVDs, and no-name players at steep prices, but you can easily find this technology for cheap on Ebay, or chance it at your local flohmarkt, or fleamarket, off-base. The trick is to remember that this will be a gradual acquisition, and to not expect every song or movie at your fingertips. Besides, taking the time to really enjoy each piece of media you purchase will help you to curate your own tastes better than any algorithm could.

Many towns here in Germany also have mom-and-pop record stores, though I unfortunately don’t live within walking distance of one. I do, however, frequent my local Mueller, which sells an array of CDs and DVDs, albeit for inflated prices. The best luck I’ve found is by frequenting weekly flohmarkts, with many sellers offering used media for very little. Last Saturday, I was able to buy a copy of Amadeus, along with every installment of the Lord of the Rings films, for only eight euros!

Or, if you don’t have the funds, the base libraries have an appreciable amount of physical media in their circulation. Patch Library hosts a massive collection of movies, music, and audiobooks that can be borrowed for weeks at a time. Not only are there popular selections, like A Minecraft Movie and Taylor Swift CDs, but more niche titles too. Just the other day, I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of Santigold’s debut album, and in the summer, I had gone down an entire Criterion Collection rabbit hole (the Criterion Collection puts out collectible DVDs of high quality films).

I don’t foresee myself fully returning to Youtube, Spotify, or Soundcloud for music anytime soon. I’ve found that, along with the disappearance of not-so-sorely missed ads, the optimized audio quality on CD players far exceeds that of my phone. Moreover, it’s nice to have a story behind each of the albums in my possession—like how I squealed in the middle of MediaMarkt upon finding Ado’s Zanmu CD. And don’t even get me started on DVDs. It’s their navigational menus that are the most endearing. Doctor Who, for instance, made theirs a rotating, 3d render displaying the inside of the Tardis.

It’s the thought put into physical media by artists, directors, and creators that has impacted me the most—but with streaming services, sometimes that care is forgotten. Which is why I would encourage you to put down your phone and begin your physical media collection.