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Events

Eid

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By: Ajmal Abdirahman

Muslims have two major holidays, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. The two holidays are determined by the Islamic calendar, which is a lunar calendar, meaning it depends on the cycles of the moon phases. There are 12 months in the calendar. A new month begins when a new moon is sighted.

Muslims are currently observing Ramadan, and Eid al-Fitr will be celebrated at the end. Eid al-Fitr commemorates the end of Ramadan. It’s a time for Muslims to gather with friends and family. Also, to show gratitude toward God following the previous month of reflection. It is a time when Muslims are reminded to be grateful for what they have, and to share what they have with others who are less fortunate. 

The day will start off with families attending an Eid prayer, early in the morning. Families will dress in beautiful cultural attire.

After prayers, families will go visit their friends and family. A lot of Muslims also exchange gifts. Eid al-Fitr is celebrated either for 1 or 3 days!

Eid al-Adha marks the end of hajj. Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca. Very similar to Eid al-Fitr there will be a prayer, with many people, visiting loved ones and gift exchanges!

Different from Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha can take place anytime of year, so not right after Ramadan. It comes typically around two months after Eid al-Fitr. During Eid al-Adha those that can afford to sacrifice an animal do so, they either sacrifice a sheep, goat, camel, or cow, and divide it among friends, family, and the poor. It’s less common here in America for many Muslims to sacrifice animals.

My experience with celebrating Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha has always been amazing. It’s the time I look forward to most every year. It’s a time of fun and happiness for me. I love seeing family and friends I haven’t seen in a long time. Me and my family will typically go out to eat after the Eid prayer and then spend the rest of the day going to different Eid parties or doing fun activities at home! I love Eid!

For more information please visit:

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Editorials/Student Voice, Science/Nature

The Willow Project

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By: Lauren Kottke & Ella Sutherland

Climate change seems to be the problem in the world that is growing bigger every year. Every couple of months and years a new problem emerges surrounding the topic of climate change. Water levels are rising, species of different animals are going extinct, the ozone layer is heating up, and the trash in the ocean is growing by the second. And it doesn’t seem like the problem is going to be fixed anytime soon. The new environment talk is about The Willow Project.

The Willow Project is an oil drilling venture which was just passed by the Biden administration. Oil drilling is a very wealthy business in the United States and across the world. Oil is necessary for everyday life like heating buildings and creating electricity, but the downside of oil drilling is that it severely damages our planet. It releases toxic gasses into the atmosphere and oftentimes chemicals are disposed of into water. Oil spills aren’t uncommon for oil drilling sites, and are very damaging. They hurt the environment and animals in that area.

The project had been an issue in the White House for months with much debate. The Biden administration did not necessarily want to pass the project, but had no choice. Conoco, the company leading The Willow Project, already had existing leases on the land. Also, the project was already approved by the Trump administration back in 2020 which made it harder for them to deny Conoco.

This whole project will take up to 30 years, with a total cost of $8 billion dollars. Originally, Conoco wanted to build five oil drilling sites, but the Biden administration negotiated for three sites. Even still, with two less sites, Conoco will be able to retrieve 90% of the oil.

Although the project was approved, it might not mean that they can start construction right away. There are many groups trying to stop the project from proceeding. One in particular is EarthJustice, who have filed a complaint against the company. The goal for them is to get an injunction which then will put the project on hold. This is very important because if they can stop the project for now, they can stop it for a year. The timing of building the oil sites is crucial because of the seasons in Alaska. Winter is expected to be done by mid April. And that is the perfect time for Conoco to start construction.

Another reason why the Willow Project is not a very positive thing is the environmental side effects. It can speed up global warming as well as severely alter many animal’s habitats and migration patterns. Just a few of the species that would be greatly affected by this project are the Teshekpuk caribou herd, polar bears, and migratory birds.

With all this being said there are a couple positives to this project. First off, this project would need many people working on it and would provide almost 2,500 jobs for people in construction, as well as around 300 long-term jobs.

Secondly, it would help Alaska’s economy and tax revenues. Willow could provide up to 10 billion dollars when all is finished.

Overall, the cons weigh out the pros by quite a bit and the Willow Project will do more harm than good. This project has many side effects and in our opinion this should never have been approved.

For more information, please visit:

Advice/How To

How dogs improve a person’s mental health

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By: Calla Fragassi

Being a pet owner comes with many benefits, including the fact that they can give their owners better mental and physical health. According to an article from AHA (American Heart Association), dogs can help improve someone’s mental and physical well-being. Dogs have been proven to help lower symptoms of anxiety, increase physical activity, and help with creating structures and routines in a person’s life.

Anxiety Decreases

In times of high stress, like the COVID-19 pandemic, people tend to get bad anxiety. The whole world was shut down, not knowing what was happening next. Millions of people were stuck in their homes for weeks at a time, with no one to go through it with. Many people adopted dogs or other pets during this time to try and get through the rough patches more easily.

“More than 23 million American households — nearly 1 in 5 nationwide — adopted a pet during the pandemic, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).”

Washington Post, January 7, 2022

Having a dog provided companionship for millions of people, which is just what was needed in times of uncertainty. Having someone/ something to ease anxiety is also beneficial for your heart. Having high stress and anxiety levels has been proven to increase risks of heart disease like high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

Staying Active

Another way dogs are beneficial to a person’s well-being is by keeping them active. For a dog to live a long, healthy life, they need to get regular physical activity. This will help increase their owner to become more active by going on daily walks, or just walking around a dog park.

Staying active is also proven to help decrease symptoms of depression. Being able to go outside and get fresh air can lower levels of anxiety and improve the amount of sleep you get. Walking your dog outside also makes it more likely that you would interact with others in your community. This will also help with social anxiety or symptoms of depression.

Structure and Routine

More than any other pet, dogs need a routine to thrive. This includes getting up around the same time every day, walks every day, food, medication, and anything else that suits your dog’s needs. Following a certain routine every day with your dog will make it easier for you to create a routine of your own. As they do with dogs, people thrive when they have a structure in their lives or a daily routine. Having a routine can help lower stress and anxiety levels by being organized, and not disordered.

Dogs are more than just cute pets for many people; they are caring animals that can improve a person’s life. This is also why you see service dogs because they can help their owner when they can’t help themselves. Dogs help improve a person’s mental and physical well-being by being good companions.

Editorials/Student Voice, National

Tennessee passes bill that limits marriage equality

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B:y Mya Olson – Williams

In early March, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed a new bill that allows a person to refuse to conduct a marriage based on their religious and personal beliefs. This bill was presented by Representative Monty Fritts (R – Kingston).

Many believe that this law will make things easier for officiants to discriminate against same-sex, interracial, LGBTQ+, and interfaith (people of different religions) couples.

According to theamm.org, these are the exact words written in House Bill 878:

“(m) A person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage if the person has an objection to solemnizing the marriage based on the person’s conscience or religious beliefs.”

There was already a law in place seeming pretty similar, but this one lets people refuse on any grounds.

Tennessee is not stopping here. They are moving to block online ordained ministers from conducting weddings. If that becomes the case, it would make it almost impossible for any interracial, same-sex, LGBTQ+, or interfaith couples to get married in the state of Tennessee.

Monty Fritts denied the fact that this bill would only allow refusal of solemnizing same-sex marriages. He believes that there’s a drive to attack “civil liberties and rights”.

There are other states going through very similar things as well. Currently there are laws in place in the states of Kansas, North Carolina, Mississippi, and there could be more coming in the near future.

Unfortunately, the Respect for Marriage Act, put in place in December of 2022, does not protect anyone in those few states. Same-sex couples (married or not) can still live in these places, but they can no longer get married there.

It’s commonly said that we are going backwards in time. There’s so much wrong with these laws, and many are convinced that this inequality will not stop here, but only get worse.

Travel/Food

The best chocolate chip cookie recipe

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By: Makenzie Malek

Chocolate chip cookies, my favorite, and it comes to no surprise that according to CBS news, it’s technically the U.S’s favorite cookie too.

There have become many variations of this one particular cookie, such as: adding oats and dried fruits, or filling the middle with brownie, and even adding fun candies like m&ms to the dough. Although those are fun and something different, today I’m going to share with you the best classic chocolate chip cookie recipe.

This recipe comes from: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/10813/best-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Total time: 30 mins

Servings: 48

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons hot water
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 3-cups all purpose flour
  • 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Step 1: preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Step 2: beat softened butter, white sugar and brown sugar in an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth.

Step 3: beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla and beat until combined.

Step 4: dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt.

Step 5: stir in flour and chocolate chips.

Step 6: drop spoonfuls of dough on ungreased baking sheets.

Step 7: bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the edges are nicely browned.

Step 8: cool for at least 2 mins and enjoy!

These are great to share with friends and family, and you can freeze the dough and the baked cookies for up to two months.

Like I said earlier, people often add different ingredients to the cookie, feel free to add a twist to this classic recipe to make it your own. Some mix-ins that I have added in my cookies that I recommend are m&m’s, white chocolate chips, and if you like your cookies more sweet, add dried cranberries. Some I haven’t tried but I have seen are things like mini marshmallows, and more uniquely, people have added bacon or crushed up potato chips.

This simple yet delicious recipe will have you wishing you made more than the serving size, and I hope you decide to try this if you haven’t already.

Baseball

MLB rankings and expectations going into the 2023 season

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By: Abby Altman

It has been 146 days since the last pitch of the 2022 MLB season was thrown. Nick Castellanos of the Phillies flew out to right fielder Kyle Tucker of the Astros to give Houston the 2022 World Series title.

A lot has happened in the off season since the last game was played, with teams gaining and losing star players left and right. The offseason was chaos for many teams and athletes, and that will most likely show in the start of the 2023 season.

One of the best examples for the chaos seen this offseason is through Carlos Correa.

After the 2022 season, Correa announced he would be opting out of his 3-year contract with the Minnesota Twins. On December 14th, Correa reached an agreement with the San Francisco Giants, for 13 years/$350 million.

This appeared to be a done deal, and Correa was going to be a Giant. On December 20th, however, San Francisco canceled Correas introductory press conference, mere hours before it was scheduled to begin. Fans were given no explanation.

On December 21st, while most fans were asleep, Correa reached an agreement with the New York Mets, for 12 years/ $315 million. Again, this seemed like a done deal, and Correa was going to become a Met.

On December 24th, Correa’s introductory press conference was postponed, due to reported concerns with his physical. Correa showed few issues physically last season.

When the Giants and the Mets both passed on Correa, Minnesota took this time to step up, and bring him back home.

On January 10th, Correa and the Minnesota Twins reached an agreement for 6 years/ $200 million.

If that timeline of a star shortstop essentially joining 3 different teams all to end up with the same team as last season doesn’t give you a good idea of what this season will look like, I’m not sure what will.

At the end of last years regular season, the top 10 teams in the power rankings were:

  1. Dodgers
  2. Astros
  3. Braves
  4. Yankees
  5. Mets
  6. Cardinals
  7. Blue Jays
  8. Guardians
  9. Mariners
  10. Padres

The Philadelphia Phillies were ranked 12th, and still managed to play in the World Series, beating the Cardinals, Padres, and Braves to get there.

Since then, more than 150 free agents have signed new contracts, nearly 70 trades have been made, and 5 teams have hired new managers.

Opening day for the 2023 season took place on March 30th, and was an excellent look into what the upcoming season has in store for fans.

Here are my predictions for the top 10 teams this season, and the World Series matchup to end the season:

  1. Toronto Blue Jays

2022 record: 92-70

2023 predicted record: 103-59

  1.  New York Yankees

2022 record: 99-63

2023 predicted record: 100-62

  1.  Houston Astros

2022 record: 106-56

2023 predicted record: 100-62

  1.  Los Angeles Dodgers

2022 record: 111-51

2023 predicted record: 98-64

  1.  New York Mets

2022 record: 101-61

2023 predicted record: 96-66

  1. Atlanta Braves

2022 record: 101-61

2023 predicted record: 95-67

  1.  San Diego Padres

2022 record: 89-73

2023 predicted record: 92-70

  1.   Philadelphia Phillies

2022 record: 87-75

2023 predicted record: 90-72

  1.  Cleveland Guardians

2022 record: 92-70

2023 predicted record: 90-72

  1.  Baltimore Orioles

2022 record: 83-79

2023 predicted record: 88-74

The Houston Astros will come very close to back-to-back World Series titles. Uncomfortably close for many fans, who have had a strong disliking for the team since 2019, when the cheating scandal was uncovered.

However, I believe the New York Mets will make it through the playoffs, and beat the Astros in 6 for the 2023 World Series title.

Movies/TV/Theaters

‘Cocaine Bear’ movie review

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By: Greta Johnson

The 2023 movie ‘Cocaine Bear’ is a 90 minute film based loosely on a true story. It’s about an American black bear in Georgia who ingested some cocaine that had been dropped from a plane into the Georgia wilderness. The bear then goes on a wild killing rampage and its only goal is to ingest more cocaine. Most of the characters in this movie are satire tropes who make bad decisions to move the plot along.

There’s a 13-year-old girl and her best friend (who go into the woods to see the falls), a park ranger, a group of teenage boys, 2 police officers, a mom and a man who works with animals. All these characters have encounters with the bear that are actually pretty funny.

Even though parts of the movie are honestly pretty gory and suspenseful, there’s a comedic feeling to the plot and dialect. I really liked this, I thought it made the movie worth watching and super enjoyable. I really like how all the actors portray their characters. Their reactions and how they handle all the situations feel real, not like some horror movies where they make the worst choice possible every time.

Overall, I really liked this movie. I thought it was comedic and did a great job making fun of a crazy situation. The whole storyline was honestly really crazy. There were many points in the movie that had me so surprised, I was laughing. I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants a good laugh but you should be ready for some really bloody and gory scenes that will probably gross you out a little too.

I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars.

You can see ‘Cocaine Bear’ in theaters.

Science/Nature

A planet that shouldn’t exist

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By: Jasmine Williams

There is a glowing crimson, red, and small planet called TOI-5205b. The planet is 285 light years away. The planet is named after TOI-5205 because it’s right next to it. These red planets are only half as hot as the sun. According to ‘CNET’, this is a dwarf planet located in the Milky Way. These dwarf planets are ordinary stars, and have a very long life span. The heat of TOI-5205 is measured to be around 3,227 degrees Celsius, and the sun, 5,526 degrees Celsius.

It is strange that TOI-5205b hosts gas giant planets because normally dwarf planets do not do that. In general, people had thought that sunlike stars host tinier planets that are not their size. “The host star, TOI-5205, is just about four times the size of Jupiter, yet it has somehow managed to form a Jupiter-sized planet, which is quite surprising!” Kanodia, an astronomer, had stated.

In order to create a gas giant planet, the original core had to have enough rocky material. Also, the disk cannot evaporate before a massive center is made, according to Kanodia. Afterwards, a rocky planetary core is made, and gas from the disk has a large amount of gas. Around the core a large amount of gas from the disk is collected, and it soon creates a luminous planet. For gas giants such as Jupiter and TOI-5205b, a known model of planet formation says that in order to create a rocky planetary core, it requires about 10 disk’s of material that Earth masses have. TOI-5205’s original disk had the ingredients to form a Jupiter-like planet, but it’s odd that TOI-5205’s disk had enough ingredients that gas giants used to make a big planet.

TOI-5205b had bypassed all the guardrails. To conclude, Kanodia had stated, “TOI-5205b — while definitely an outlier — isn’t the only one. If so, how frequently do these forbidden planets form?”

For more information, please visit:

● https://scitechdaily.com/astronomers-discover-bizarre-forbidden-planet-that-should-not-e xist/

Editorials/Student Voice

Religion isn’t an excuse

By: Julia Yang

Before I continue with this article, I would like to say that this article is written for my opinion on this matter, nothing is factual and you don’t have to agree. This article is not meant to offend anyone, I respect all religions and believe everyone has their own rights to believe in what they want to. But everyone has different opinions on this, and this article is mine.

This article is on how I don’t believe that religion should be an excuse for bad or rude behavior.

Let’s talk sexual orientation. There are a ton of religious people that heavily dislike people who aren’t straight. They believe that it’s wrong and isn’t humanly right. I think that’s dumb. Why should your religion be a good reason for you being homophobic? Things like sending children to institutions to try and convert them into being straight, is that religion too? You can’t convert someone’s sexual orientation. They love who they love, and no one can change that.

People that practice religions with God(s) might say they can hear the God(s) talking to them, I personally don’t mind that. You can believe what you want to believe, but you cross my line when you say God(s) told you to do something horrible. I’ve seen people kill their own children just because their God(s) told them to. That’s murder and there’s no excuse for that.

I have also seen that peoples’ excuse for racism is religion as well. Honestly, I can’t believe we live in a world where racism, homophobia, abilism, and murder is excused for religion. So basically, in someone’s world, that’s all okay. When is any of that ever or okay in any circumstance?

There are loads of religious people who aren’t like this, in fact, the majority aren’t like this. But the few people who are like this are giving religious people a bad rap.

Badminton, Baseball, Golf, Scoreboard/Schedule, Softball, Tennis, Track & Field

Sports schedule for: Apr 10-15

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  ATHLETIC EVENTS SCHEDULE: APRIL 10 – APRIL 15  
MONDAYAPRIL 10 
TIMEBUS TIMESEVENTLOCATION
    
TUESDAYAPRIL 11
TIMEBUS TIMESEVENTLOCATION
3:30pm Tennis vs. Cretin-Derham HallHOME
5:30pm Badminton vs. HumboldtHOME
WEDNESDAYAPRIL 12
TIMEBUS TIMESEVENTLOCATION
2:00pm Girls Golf Friendship TournamentCedarholm Golf Course
4:00pm Tennis vs. JohnsonHOME
4:00pm Badminton vs. Eden PrairieHOME
4:30pm Softball vs. RichfieldRichfield Middle School
THURSDAYAPRIL 13
TIMEBUS TIMESEVENTLOCATION
3:30pm Boys Golf Conference MeetHighland National Golf Course
4:00pm Track and Field Meet vs. Central / Como Park / HumboldtHOME
4:15pm / 4:15pm Varsity/JV Baseball vs. Minnehaha AcademyFort Snelling
5:30pm / 5:30pm4:45pm | 6:00pmBadminton vs. JohnsonJohnson High School
FRIDAYAPRIL 14
TIMEBUS TIMESEVENTLOCATION
4:00pm Softball vs. Two RiversTwo Rivers High School
4:00pm / 4:00pm Tennis vs. RosevilleVarsity: Roseville High School JV: HOME
SATURDAYAPRIL 15
TIMEBUS TIMESEVENTLOCATION