CURRENT EVENTS ACTIVITY 2.2

1.  The Bastrop fire's potential causes are a farm accident and an intentional burning, as there was a burn ban placed there a while ago. At 10;30 a.m, officials let residents who live in the burn area to return to their properties. The estimates for covering the cost of all the damage done by the fire is probably going to be hundreds of millions of dollars. The interviews that the reporter went out and did give the story more of a personal feel. Instead of just covering the topic and leaving it detached and just full of information, they go out and talk to the people affected and the things they say make it more relatable. Like they aren't just faceless people who don't exist to us, they have families and valuable things and they exist. 

2. Paper textbooks are being replaced by digital copies, while the old paper ones stay in the classroom at all times. These digital copies of the textbooks is a lot cheaper and help prepare students for their computer dependent adult lives. For the Robertson family, helping their daughter with her geometry homework was a struggle, and they said that it was hard to go from the examples and the instructional pages and the pages with the problems, so the father dropped 75$ for a geometry textbook and that solved that. Melinda Prepster, a teacher at Gorzycki Middle School, said that it's a lot more interactive and able to be understood easier. The Eanes district has tablets and computers for every student, and are one of the few who do. While Austin and Leander have underestimated the amount of textbook copies needed for the classes. My feelings about it are pretty positive. I think that considering different students learn different ways, textbooks that have just writing and examples might not be enough for some students to fully grasp the material. I think it also saves a lot of money for more important things like art and music programs, instead of spending money on tons of textbooks that some students won't even understand. In my science class we have digital and printed copies of textbooks. i think it would be a good topic for The Shield, if only because of the fact that this is a school newspaper, and this is school related

3. The newest elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is making huge changes. He is legalizing marijuana, dropping out of the U.S-led bombing campaign against the Islamic state, as well as deficit spending to pump up the economy and rebuild infrastructure. There will be a change in Canadian policies on a broad spectrum of issues. The relationship between the US and Canada will most likely get stronger, as Obama and Justin are philosophically similar. 

4. Alan Guckian, a High School band director, is up for a national award. The award is the 2016 Music Educator award, and inspirational musician SaulPaul volunteered him, as he was an obvious choice. Guckian has made it to the semifinals and said that if he wins he is throwing a pizza party for his students, but not to mr. Gatti's.

5. 

Lead Stuff

According to Lake Mary Police, George Zimmerman was let go without charges for shooting and killing Treyvon Martin- a 17 year old black child- for looking suspicious, on monday september 9th. 

Tryouts for the 20 available positions in color guard are open, and taking place in the main courtyard, on Wednesday september 18th at 3 pm. 

A baby macaw parrot was stolen by Jill O'Connor, 35, and faces fines up to 2,000 dollars for stealing the parrot. 

Current Events Assignment 4

1. Parks and Recreation people get two free VIP passes to ACL. Tom Donovan received the tickets this year, and the foundation defended it, saying that it was for work purposes. Parks board member Rick Cofer and Council member Don Zimmerman have decided to forgo the tickets, under the grounds of it being a conflict of interest. Sabine Romero expressed in an email that it's okay for the Mayor and council members to accept the tickets. Council member Ora Houston gave the passes to 3-1-1 operators as a thank you, and Ann Kitchen's staff used theirs, and suspects that they will use the passes next weekend as well. I personally think it's a bit strange, if only because we have to save up money and pay for our tickets, while they not only get tickets for free, they're VIP tickets.

2. There has been a stay in all death-penalties, because when they were trying to give someone the lethal injection, the prison was sent the wrong drug. Texas and Virginia have solved this by trading the drug. Midazolam is a short acting sedative, that has proved very unreliable, and because of it being unreliable, drugs for lethal injections and death penalties are becoming increasingly hard to get a hold of, and are causing all these mishaps to occur.

3. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel barred his ministers from visiting a contested old city holy site, and ordered the police to stop members of the Parliament from going there as well. He did this because he did not want to alter the status quo at the site. Arab members of the Parliament said that they did not agree with the decision and would defy it by ascending to worship at al-Aqsa on Sunday. Muhanad Halabi is a law student at Al Quds University who was shot and killed by Israeli security forces after stabbing two Orthodox men and wounding one of their Wives and toddler son.

4. Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarussian Journalist and prose writer won the Nobel Prize "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time." She is most famous for her deeply researched works on female Russian Soldiers in WW2 and the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. It is a rarity for her to have won the prize, because her works are mainly non-fiction. Sventlanas' works often blend literature and journalism. She looked to the future with determination and contentment.

5. Prof. Daniel S. Hamermesh was scared to teach at UT, because of the increased risk of the concealed carry law, and is refusing to teach his class next fall. The American-Statesman got this information by interviewing Daniel. He is the first teacher to actually follow through with the threat of quitting, which makes it a kind of "first" there. He had originally retired last year, but agreed to teach his large lecture course until 2017, so the law is not the only reason that he is quitting.

FREE-RESPONSE

  Column: PhoneSoap
The PhoneSoap thing cleans your phone in minutes because apparently our phones are 18 times dirtier than a public restroom toilets, which is disgusting. The contraption uses UV-C light to penetrate the cells and destroy the pathogens. I, personally, did not know that my phone is that nasty, and now I don't want to touch it at all. I think that it would probably be a good investment if you have problems with germs, but other than that, I don't think it's really something that I would buy.

The electronic edition of the paper obviously isn't the same as a normal paper made newspaper, because it's electronic, but other than that i think the layout of everything is the same because what would be the point of changing the layout of the newspaper just because it's electronic? What's nice is that you can look at the older editions of the newspaper, without really having to go somewhere and root around for it, and that goes for that days news as well. It's more accessible to people in general, really. For example, if you don't get the newspaper delivered to your door, and you want to read it, then you can just subscribe to the electronic edition. Plus, it might cut back the amount of paper that is used for the paper copies of the newspaper

Current Events Assignment 3

1. The Popes' central message was that we as a nation should not let money drive its decisions at the expense of humanity. The speech was delivered to Congress, and by giving this speech, he is now said to be the most humble and invigorating Pope in recent times. Tons of people were super excited about it, one woman saying that it changed her Faith. The Pope was invited to the event in which he gave his speech by Leland Butler, who has been a member of the Parish for many years. 

2. Regarding the two football players who attacked a game official, there is still speculation that racial slurs might or might not have actually caused the incident. The students will be allowed back at school on January 15th, but the Coach has been fired and banned him from coaching at UIL- sanctioned activity. Mike Motheral, the Chairman of the committee, said that he was frustrated that the center figures in the incident did not show up to the trial. 

3. more than five dozen parents and students protested outside of Maplewood Elementary school on Thursday morning, they had gathered there because they wanted the school to bring back a former sixth grade teacher. The district took this action because kindergarten classrooms can only have twenty two students per teacher, and they were short a teacher in kindergarten, but because of this, there is only one sixth grade teacher who is teaching both gifted kids and kids with learning disabilities, so some students aren't learning at the pace they're comfortable with, and it is causing lots of frustration within the community. The same thing happened at Bryker Woods Elementary, and the district let the teacher stay at the school.

4. Sen. John Whitmire wanted to know if the law will preclude school districts from banning openly carried firearms in parking lots, sidewalks, et cetera. The law takes place on Jan.1st. 

Observation 400 words

Senior picture day was hosted in the small gym on September 29^th. Most of the Seniors were lined up against the left wall, facing the remaining Seniors (which was a very small number of people) who were getting their pictures taken. Close to the right wall there was a rack of formal wear for the girls and boys that were still getting their pictures taken. In the large gym people were playing Volleyball, most of them looked as though they were female, but who knows. It smelled of dirty feet and wood polish, as most gyms often do. It was awfully quiet compared to when I got mine done. There was a line of backpacks on the wall closest to the door. They were small, mostly jansport, and looked very light; which is kind of surprising because my backpack is pretty bulky, and I would have expected seniors to have quite a bit of stuff. Most of the noise I heard was coming from the line of students that may have already taken their pictures. The only sound heard from the picture setups, were the photographers and the actual cameras taking the picture. The light in the gym was rather fluorescent, and cast a harsh yellow light on the polished wood. It also made the room very bright, so it took some getting used to. The walls were a sandy beige color, and were smoothed with a sort of polish just like the floor was. About halfway up the wall it changed to a white paint over brick scenario. On the wall the waiting seniors were sitting at, the wall transitioned into smooth, multi-toned brown brick. There were about 4 basketball hoops around the room, one to each wall, and the ceiling was very high, with beams running from one side to another, and was painted white as well; although it was looking a little shoddy paint job wise. The lights hung from the rafters, but instead of the rectangular lights that we have in classrooms, they were sort of bulb like in shape. The line for the pictures was relatively short compared to the line for the formal wear, and it seemed like most of the seniors were sitting by the wall. Right next to the students was a teacher on his laptop; and right next to him were about three or four tetherball poles without the actual tether balls on them.