The St. Patrick’s Day parade was held this past Thursday, March 17th. A few of our students were in the parade, along with Mrs. Thorton and Mrs. Gorman, representing both the Recycling Club and Key Club. They were asked to walk the parade with Midstate College and the Center for Prevention of Abuse. The parade was nine blocks long, with 104 different floats. It was a lot of fun to be able to be in the parade on such a beautiful day, while helping raise awareness for the center.
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On Tuesday, March 15, five states held their primary elections. These states included: North Carolina, Florida, Missouri, Ohio, and Illinois. For the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton won four out of the five states. She won all except Missouri. The race against Bernie Sanders in Missouri is too close to call. In order for Sanders to catch back up to Hillary, he needs to win some big states. For the Republican Party, Trump also won four out of the five states. He won North Carolina, Illinois, Missouri, and Florida. The only state he was not able to win was Ohio. John Kasich, the current governor of Ohio, won Ohio over Trump. After Trump won Ohio, Marco Rubio, who is originally from Ohio, announced his suspension in the presidential race. While Ted Cruz did not win any states last night, he is neck and neck with Trump.
In other news Barak Obama has announced his nominee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Obama has nominated Merrick Garland. He is a well-known figure in Washington who has served on appellate courts. He’s 63 and has received praises from both parties. Despite this, some Republican senators are refusing to consider Obama’s nomination, until the next President is nominated. Other Republicans are agreeing to meet with his nominee, after the two-week congressional recess had ended. It is still up in the air, rather they are going to take his nomination into consideration or ignore it entirely. Spring time is near, and this is a favorite for many students. It’s a time where flowers grow and everyone gets prepared for summer! Everyone will start to get there pools back up, trampolines back up, garden back to colorful. Along with spring starting, there is also spring break starting for students. March 25th is when spring break will start for Peoria Heights High School. The day prior to the 25th, we also have a half day for school improvement. So think of it as an early start to the spring break.
The last couple weeks of the “race to the White House” have seemed to never lack excitement. On Tuesday, March 1st, also known as Super Tuesday, delegates from nine states gathered in their respective primaries to vote for who they want to be the candidate representing their party. Four more states held caucuses, which are much like primaries, but with much less commitment to a candidate. The candidates remaining in the race are Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the Democrats. With Dr. Ben Carson dropping out of the race, the Republican candidates are now Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were the clear winners, but Ted Cruz-on the Republican side- and Bernie Sanders-on the Democratic side- trailed closely behind. In total, there are now 18 states that have held their primaries. For the Democrats, Hillary Clinton leads with 1,130 delegates, with Bernie Sanders in second with 499 delegates. Democrats need 2,383 delegates to win the nomination. The Republican side requires 1,237 delegates for its party’s nomination, and Donald Trump leads with 384. He is followed by Ted Cruz, who has 300 delegates. In the coming weeks, there will be many more primaries, including the Illinois primary on March 15th. So, by the end of March, we should have a clearer picture of who will be the nominees for President from both parties!
It is time once again for the Summer Olympic Games! The Rio Olympic Games will begin on August 5th, when the people of Brazil will find an interesting way to light the ceremonial torch. Many will remember the London and Sochi torch lightings. After the opening ceremonies, we will have 15 days of the best athletes in the world competing for the gold medal. Whether you like swimming, track and field, volleyball, or even archery, there is never a dull moment in the Summer Olympics.
In the 2012 Summer Games, the U.S. led the world in gold medals with 46, the next highest being China with 38. The U.S. also led in total medals, with 103, followed by China, with 88. The U.S. has long been atop or near the top of the leaderboard in the Olympics, especially the Summer Games. So, with a country supporting them and the world watching, the U.S. will try to keep its place at the top of the Olympic leaderboard A team of scientists announced that they had heard and recorded the sound of two black holes colliding a billion light-years away, a fleeting chirp that fulfilled the last prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
That faint rising tone, physicists say, is the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago. It completes his vision of a universe in which space and time are interwoven and dynamic, able to stretch, shrink and jiggle. And it is a ringing confirmation of the nature of black holes, the bottomless gravitational pits from which not even light can escape, which were the most foreboding part of his theory. More generally, it means that a century of innovation, testing, questioning and plain hard work after Einstein imagined it on paper, scientists have finally tapped into physical reality, where the weirdest and wildest implications of Einstein’s universe become manifest. Conveyed by these gravitational waves, power 50 times greater than the output of all the stars in the universe combined vibrated a pair of L-shaped antennas in Washington State and Louisiana known as LIGO on Sept. 14. If replicated by future experiments, that simple chirp, which rose to the note of middle C before abruptly stopping, seems destined to take its place among the great sound bites of science, ranking with Alexander Graham Bell’s “Mr. Watson — come here” and Sputnik’s first beeps from orbit. “Einstein would be very happy.” http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/science/ligo-gravitational-waves-black-holes-einstein.html?_r=0 On the Supreme Court, there are normally nine judged, but one has recently passes away. Judge Antonin Scalia recently passed away on February 13th. Scalia was 78 and died in his sleep during his trip to Texas. There was no autopsy performed, nor was there any investigation due to the fact that Scalia’s private physician revealed that he was had many health issues and was not feeling very well the night he passed. Doctors believe that he died of natural causes. Scalia was appointed to the court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan. Scalia is the longest serving justice on the Supreme Court. Once a Supreme Court justice dies, the President is normally the one who chooses the person who will fill the new position, but since Scalia died so close to the end of President Obamas second term, there is much debate over whether Obama should get to fill the position or the new President who will be elected in 2016. President Barak Obama plans to nominate a new court justice despite all the protest from Republicans to wait until next election. Once Obama decides who he wishes to nominate that person will have to go in front of the Senate and get the majority vote. Rarely is a Supreme Court nominee forced to withdraw or is rejected. Since becoming President, Obama has already appointed two Supreme Court judges during his two terms, and may be lucky enough to get a third. Supreme Court judges serve until they retire or pass away. This will give Obama a huge amount of lasting power in the court system.
It’s about that time of year; the time of year when we find out who is considered the best of the best in the world of music & acting. Drama always swirls around these incredibly popular events, but it’s always a surprise which controversy makes the headlines each year. Will it be whether Matt Damon’s comedic but on point acting in the The Martian or Leonardo DiCaprio’s serious wayward adventurer will take the win for best actor at the Oscars, will Kanye West’s outward display of annoyance with the Grammy’s because he did not receive a reward be the most talked about conflict, or will the only debate be who had the best performance at the Grammy’s (personally I believe this would be the best, because who could really come up with a concrete decision, they were all wild). 2015 was littered with great music, and great movies. The obvious frontrunners for most awards pertaining to flat out “best movie” categories are Mad Max: Fury Road & The Revenant, both of which broke records and captured hearts of audiences. The Grammy’s winner pool was full of young talent this year in Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, and Ed Sheeran. The “oldies” obviously received their recognition as well, and each individual(s) who received an award will be remembered and raved about until next year’s Grammy’s come rolling around.
It’s finally February, and that means it’s black history month. Until the 20th century, black history was mostly absent or misrepresented. In 1915, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the son of former slaves who had become a scholar and a historian, founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. This helped produce a journal of African American history. The journal was filled with achievements of black men and women that were untold. The journal is today called The Journal of African-American History.
Black History Month was first proposed by the leaders of the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969. Black History Month is a month set aside to learn, honor, and celebrate the achievements of black men and women throughout history. Men and women like Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou, and many more. It’s very important for teachers around the world to start educating their students more about black history month. With the Iowa caucus in the books, we are officially into the next step in the “Race for the White House.” On February 1st, 2016, delegates casted their votes in Iowa, making their voice be heard. On the Republican side, Ted Cruz led the caucus voting, followed by Donald Trump. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton beat Bernie Sanders by a fraction of a percent.
So, why is the Iowa caucus specifically so important? It doesn’t determine who is going to be the next President, and it has often been wrong in its votes for who is believed to win. For example, in 2008, the Iowa caucus predicted that Rick Santorum would be the next Republican nominee. It was instead Mitt Romney. The caucus, however, does serve a purpose. It helps give us a better look at where the candidates are in the standings right now. So, the Iowa caucus has shown us that, as of now, the frontrunners for President are Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Ted Cruz. |
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