Category Archives: News

Science/Nature

A planet that shouldn’t exist

Leave a comment

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/

News, Travel/Food

The healthy cereal lawsuit

Leave a comment

By: Joseph Nelson

We all remember the sugar coated cereal we would eat before school started, or while watching our morning Saturday TV. But we all know that the “best way to start your morning” slogan that would appeal to kids and parents was completely fabricated right? Well, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) feel’s as though the marketing for these cereal should not have any saying of how it’s “healthy” or “good for you”. Now, I’ve loved cereal when I was a kid (when my mom would let me have them of course) but I feel like I knew this wasn’t healthy at all, so would this change much? The answer to that is yes!

With this new rule, the FDA will mandate that foods labeled as “healthy” must contain food groups like fruits, whole grain, dairy, and other added ingredients that must now fit a certain criteria in order to be approved as a “healthy” cereal. Now, what are the actual stats of this rule? Well, the rule will limit all cereal to no more than 2.5 grams of sugar per serving. This would restrict multiple food brands from being on the store shelf with what now would be false advertising.

To put it into perspective, Fruit Loops are 12 grams of sugar per serving, Lucky Charms are 10 grams, and Cocoa Puffs are also 10 grams. This means that these “healthy” foods are now 4x-5x over the maximum amount of sugar, per serving, that is allowed within these cereals.

Now, large cereal companies like General Mills and Kellogg’s, decried the proposed nutritional criteria and threatened legal action against what they say is a “violation of their first amendment rights”. The companies are going on to say that the healthy labeling requirements are an unconstitutional reach from the government power over the food industry. But the FDA says otherwise.

The FDA goes on to counter the claim of “lack of free speech” with a brief but thorough statement “cannot explain why consumers cannot make their own healthy decisions based on [nutrition labeling] data”. Rather, it seeks to limit the food companies’ ‘speech'” effectively saying that with this new proposal, the product’s ingredients will be completely transparent to the consumer and will give them a completely unbiased choice of whether or not they put that candy bar in their cart.

Now, how will this change for the consumer? Well, we know that the average day Fruit Loop consumer will probably still be filling the pockets of the big corporations. But the new single mom walking down the aisle, looking for a healthy cereal for her kid, will now see all these cereals around her and will be able to accurately choose the best healthy option for her and her kid.

That isn’t stopping me though, Cocoa Puffs will forever be my childhood favorite.

For more information, please visit:

World

Tensions rise in Georgia, Putin looks to China, and ICC puts arrest warrant on Putin

Leave a comment

By: Aeden Evenson-McDermott

The country of Georgia is finding itself caught up with its former Soviet Republic and the present state of the world. With an overwhelming majority of Georgians wanting to get EU membership, and become a more reformed democratic institution, there has been pushback by some on the far-right. There most recently has been a push by the right-wing and conservatives to change the constitution to allow the government to become more authoritarian in certain measures. Many are fed up with the measures being proposed by various officials and individuals that they see as wanting to lower the country. Corruption is still a prevalent issue, and with Russia’s influence growing in the former Soviet Republic this is allowing for the restrictive measures to gain traction in Georgia.

Russia has used its influence as it has turned its attention to disrupting Georgia’s politics as a distraction from their invasion of Ukraine. It remains to be seen what comes of this, as thousands march for their rights to a hopeful future of EU membership and to stand against Russia.

As Eastern Europe finds itself in a world intertwined with the two most powerful autocrats (Putin and Xi JinPing), the West is grappling with defending democracy while not going too far to provoke our adversaries.

With the current standstill in the war on Ukraine, Russia is playing their cards towards a war of attrition. Ukrainian resilience is allowing for the further pushback of Russian forces which is leading to significant casualties, especially on the Russian side. Russia’s loss of manpower constantly has their efforts diminished and has Putin angered. He has persistently requested support from his few remaining allies and has especially sent requests for various military hardware to be delivered to his country. He has received kamikaze drones from Iran and has secretly, while somewhat silently, asked president Xi of China for military support and assistance.

The two autocrats would reconvene for their most recent summit for 2 and a half days with president Xi holding private meetings with Russian president Putin. The free world has been keeping a close watch on the moves that these two men would be making through their discussions from the 20th-22nd of March.

It really wasn’t a surprise that President Xi would travel to Moscow, especially with the tighter bond between the two countries’ alliances. Since Xi’s election in 2012 the two men have built a strong relationship and have held 40 one on one meetings.

When the somewhat crippling sanctions came in full force to Russia, back in February of 2022, China was a mainstay ally who refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine and took a pretty neutral stance on the whole issue.

Through the buying of natural gas and oil, to the economic stability, and modern tech being provided to Russia, China is allowing for the state of Russia to be refurbished. The two leaders agree on the common consensus of being against the United States while treading water to remain intact with the world in terms of trading.

The ongoing war in Ukraine that continues to be further pushing Russia away has made Putin turn to hosting Xi for a variety of reasons. The main reason was that Putin strongly considered asking for lethal aid which China has remained silent on but has never given a definite no to.

The 12 point peace plan proposed by Xi has been deemed as a non starter by Ukraine, the U.S. and Western Allies. It mainly is because it would be keeping Crimea as Russian controlled territory even though it is Ukrainian land, calling for a cease fire between Russia and Ukraine (which would most likely allow for Russia to regroup and buildup manpower for a new offensive), and a plan that favors Russia in ending the war but doesn’t give all Ukrainian land back to the Ukrainians.

Most notably, in recent weeks, the ICC (International Criminal Court) has issued an arrest warrant for President Putin of Russia and for the Commissioner of Children’s Rights Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova. This comes at a time when Russia is continuing to lose and manpower is short. The arrest warrant is mainly for the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russian controlled territory as well as many Ukrainians who were forced to be taken to Russia. Lvova-Belova, who is the Commissioner of Children’s Rights in Russia, has been in control of the handling of displaced children since the war started. She herself has “adopted” at least one kid from Ukraine and has been an advocate of having Russian families take in Ukrainian children.

Putin and Lvova-Belova have both been pro Russian and have the mindset of making the Ukrainian children lose their identity and therefore become Russian citizens. With the forced deportation and the illegal adoptions which have taken place, the ICC has issued arrest warrants for both of them under the Rome Statute. Although, in the near future, most likely nothing will happen for them to be arrested, it further isolates Russia and its leaders from traveling to much of the world, and especially to the West.

Editorials/Student Voice, Events

Women’s History Month

Leave a comment

By: Lauren Kottke & Ella Sutherland

Women’s history month is the month of March that is dedicated to women. It’s to honor the women that have been mistreated, pushed down, and suffered throughout history. It’s well known about the struggles that women have faced for hundreds of years. Up until the women’s suffrage movement, they couldn’t even vote. And before that, it wasn’t normalized for women to have a job or to be unmarried. Though much has changed, the world is still unsafe for women.

Women’s history month started in 1978. At first it was only a week-long celebration and was called “Women’s History Week’. It started in Santa Rosa California by the Education Task Force of Sonoma County Commission and the Status of Women. Women’s History Week was led by a teacher named Molly Murphy McGregor. During that week, Santa Rosa had presentations on women’s contributions to history, society and culture. After the Santa Rosa Women’s Week, it spread across the country. More and more states started to follow and celebrate Women’s Week.

Someone who helped start celebrating women was Gerda Lerner. She organized and chaired a 15-day conference on women’s history. Her conference had many different sponsors for the event. Women’s Action Alliance and the Smithsonian Institution were two of the many sponsors. This conference made more people push towards Women’s Month.

“Women’s history is a women’s right—an essential, indispensable heritage from which we can draw pride, comfort, courage, and long-range vision.”— Gerda Lerner

It wasn’t until 1980 that Women’s Week became a national celebration. In February of 1980, president Jimmy Carter declared March 2-8 as National Women’s History Week. After it was declared by the president, more issues started to be passed by the president. On August 4, 1981, president Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation that Women’s History Week would be celebrated with ceremonies and activities. People wanted there to be speakers, presentations, and parades.

Then, in 1987, congress passed a petition which made Women’s Week, Women’s Month. The petition was made by the National Women’s History Project. And after 1987 it became an annual celebration.

Now Women’s History Month is celebrated by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Other countries celebrate but at different times. For example, Canada celebrates Women’s Month during October. There is also International Women’s Day on March 8th.

Since Women’s History Month started, there have been things that have improved and some things that haven’t.

One of the things that have improved for women is the amount of women working in the government. This may not seem like a huge deal but it is. Women now have a say in laws that get passed, and are more likely to recognize women’s struggles.

Another way that things have improved for women is now many more countries are instigating laws to support the fight for gender equality. In the last 10 years, 131 countries have passed over 274 legal reforms in order to create more equality between genders. This is important for the futures of young girls and women.

One more way that things have improved for women is the percentage of young women and girls, that are attending school, has gone up hugely. As of today there are over 79 million more girls that are in school learning than there were in 1998.

There are still many issues that women face today like pay gaps, job security, gender based violence, and reproductive rights being taken away. We still have a long way to go before women can feel fully comfortable in the world we live in today, but from what we can tell we are making slow progress.

For more information, please visit:

Events

Ramadan

Leave a comment

By: Yumna Abajebel

I’m sure we’re all wondering what the holiday Ramadan really is about. In the religion of Islam Muslim, Ramadan marks the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.

When the crescent moon is sighted in Saudi Arabia, it starts the long awaited month of fasting. Ramadan isn’t only about fasting, it’s a month about giving zakat (charity), making prayers, and forgiveness for the sake of Allah (God).

The real reason why we fast is to be grateful for what we have, and see what it’s like for people who are less fortunate. Usually, we don’t have food or drinks from sunrise to sunset. Before the sun rises we have to have a filling meal. Then towards sunset, you have to start preparing for dinner, which is called Iftar, and is at an exact time. You can eat anything you want, but have to stop right before sunrise.

Fasting is mandatory in Islam once you hit the age of puberty, exceptions being extend for people who are either ill, diabetic, traveling, pregnant, or women in their menstrual period.

Towards the end of the month, Laylat al-Qadr starts; it’s one of five odd-numbered nights which fall during the last 10 days. Those last days are the most spirited days of the month which is spent praying all you can and asking for forgiveness of all your past sins.

Then, on the 30th night, the new crescent moon has to be sighted for the completion of the thirty days of fasting. After the moon is sighted, it marks the beginning of Shawwal, the next lunar month.

Then sparks up the celebration of Eid al-Fitr. Eid is the celebration after Ramadan that lasts for 3 days. It’s spent wearing the best clothes you have, being with family, and eating all the food you can. Muslim people all around the world are the happiest during this time. They spend all year preparing and waiting for this holy month. We don’t have that many holidays in our religion, but Ramadan and Eid will forever make up for that.

Science/Nature

Venus and Jupiter conjuction in the sky

Leave a comment

By: Trump Vang

On March 1st and 2nd, the Venus and Jupiter conjunction happened. Within the clear night sky, onlookers could see both planets with only a pinky finger distance between them each. It was the closest that any of these two planets reached during their conjunction.

For those who don’t know, an astronomical conjunction is when two objects, either a moon, planet or star appear close together within the night sky. They don’t have any influence or scientific value, rather just being nice to look at and admire. These astronomical events happen rarely, but often more than once a year.

In this conjunction, both planets are relatively bright, in fact being the brightest in Earth’s night sky out of all the solar system’s planets. Although between Venus and Jupiter, Venus shines brighter. This allows for their conjunction to be easily viewed, even with some city skyline trying to outshine their brightness.

If you missed their conjunction this year, don’t worry! The conjunction event between the two planets often happens every year, being roughly 13 months. The next conjunction between the two planets shouldn’t be until May 23rd, 2024. Don’t miss out on seeing the two planets in the sky together next year!

Along with this, it’s not just Venus and Jupiter who are coming together in the night sky.

On March 28, onlookers will be able to see the smallest planet, Mercury and largest planet, Jupiter in the sky together.

Following that, Venus and Uranus will be seen together in the night sky on March 30th.

Many conjunctions follow this one between Venus and Jupiter.

Take some time to admire the night sky, and its many shining lights. Although snow is still throughout the landscapes outside, it’s nice to view the upcoming conjunctions, and enjoy what you see.

COVID-19

How COVID-19 still has an affect on us three years later

Leave a comment

By: Calla Fragrassi & Mackenzie Malek

After three years of constant change in our school system, we wanted to ask Highland Park students how they were affected personally, then and now, by COVID-19.

We asked the same questions to students in grades 9-12 on their experiences.

Academics- How did the pandemic affect you academically in school? Was the transition between virtual to in-person learning challenging for you? If so, explain.

Freshman: “I thought the transition was really hard because on top of having to adjust to a whole new lifestyle where I couldn’t see people and couldn’t do so many things, my workload was still similar and so it was harder to do than before because I had so much more going on.”

Sophomore: “I felt like I fell behind in my classes and that school felt optional. Yes, I would say it was challenging because everything was constantly changing and it felt like there was no routine.”

Junior: “I believed everything would be easier coming out but my ideas changed. Also, I mentally struggled after the pandemic which took a toll on school. The actual transition wasn’t the hard part.”

Senior: “It made things easier and I got all As. The transition wasn’t that hard but it was fun to see other people again.”

Activities- Did COVID stop you from participating in any sports or activities you were involved in at the time? If so, how did that affect you personally?

Freshman: “COVID restrained me from all my sports and from seeing people I loved and it was really challenging because I relied on those practices to be good at my sports, so I felt set back and also felt set back from social activities since I wasn’t allowed to see people.”

Sophomore: “I stopped playing volleyball during COVID and when I went back for the season it was harder getting back into it because of the long break off, so I ended up quitting because I didn’t enjoy it as much anymore.”

Junior: “It took away club gymnastics, which was hard for me since it was the last year, and made the sports I eventually joined challenging in the fact everyone knew it wasn’t normal.”

Senior: “It prevented our football season in 2021 from going its full length because we had a shorter season due to COVID.”

Socially- Do you think the way you interacted with others changed after COVID? If so, explain.

Freshman: “ I think it did because so many people relied on social media to interact during quarantine and social media was the base of a lot of people’s senses of humor and things like that, so it kind of became something that defined your personality which I hadn’t really noticed before quarantine.”

Sophomore: “It was weird seeing my teachers and classmates in person after so long, and it felt weird being able to interact with other people besides just my family.”

Junior: “Yes, how I interacted changed in the way I grew, how I wanted to be as a person when I was in lock down. So, I figured out who and how I’d interact.”

Senior: “No, because I still interacted with people during COVID.”

All in all, these responses show that no matter the age, all these students had somewhat similar experiences throughout the pandemic. As you can see, for academics and activities, everyone had similar answers such as falling behind in classes and having to take a break from sports.

For the social questions, the responses varied a bit because this depended on how everyone interacted with others before COVID-19 prevented them from socializing. Some students were still able to talk to their friends and classmates, but others not so much.

What happened during the pandemic still has an affect on everyone today in some way and will in the future.

Science/Nature

The affects of climate change

Leave a comment

By: Ellie Moore

Global warming is impacting our environment in many ways. Climate change is caused by an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because humans are burning fossil fuels and destroying the forest.

The effects of global warming are occurring throughout the whole world, and although climate change is bad everywhere, it is worst in Japan with the Climate Risk Index being 5.5 (you want a higher Climate Risk Index). The Philippines is the next worst with 11.17, and Germany is third with 13.83.

Rising temperatures have led to the melting of polar ice caps and glaciers, causing sea levels to rise and putting coastal cities at risk of flooding. Extreme weather events such as heatwaves, hurricanes, and droughts have become more frequent and intense, leading to loss of life and property damage.

The impacts of global warming affect our economy, health, and social well-being. It is estimated that by the end of the century, global warming could cause the loss of trillions of dollars in economic output and displace millions of people from their homes.

The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that the world is running out of time to limit global warming to safe levels.

By the year 2035 it is said that the effects of climate change will be irreversible. The main “tipping” point being sometime between 2026 and 2042. This means we only have a few years to change our habits.

Since we only have around 20 years to take action we need to drive less and carpool if we can. Some other ways to slow down climate change is to eat less meat or use less electricity in your house.

With the population growing, it is harder to get everyone to take action, but if everyone took one small action it could make the difference of 1 million more years of our planet’s existence.

However, despite these efforts, global warming continues to worsen.

Global warming is not just a problem for the future, but one that we are already facing today. We must act now to protect our planet and secure a sustainable future for ourselves and future generations.

For more information, please visit:

National

Winter storms across the U.S. cause deaths and power outages

Leave a comment

By: Jamine Williams

Around the start of March, the U.S. had faced extreme winter storms. Heavy winds, flooding, and snow began making its way to the United States. The weather advisories were being sent out to states across the country. According to ‘NPR’, several days have passed since the storm started. On Saturday evening, it left more than 850,000 people without power.

The storm moved to the South and Midwest, a minimum of 12 people died, due to heavy winds and possible tornadoes that destroyed buildings. The Northeast region was the snowstorm’s next destination, where there was another warning issued by the National Weather Service because of heavy snow and coastal flooding. On March 4th, hundreds of businesses were closed. Many canceled flights in New York, New Hampshire, and many counties of Maine; due to there being a full foot of snow. Falling trees or branches caused the death of six people in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

In Kentucky, there were five deaths related to weather, and a semi truck flew from the highway. Michigan was hit with the snowstorm on Friday, March 10th. In the afternoon it covered the state with snow. 800,000 homes and businesses lost power and the Detroit Metropolitan Airport was closed for a transitory period of time.

Over in the West, the Sierra Nevada Mountains are topped with a bunch of snow, and some snow on the Upper Great Lakes. But the West has not recovered from the storm and is still covered with snow.

In Southern California, there were people who were trapped in their homes for another week, with all highways that are near the mountains closed. More than a foot, 15 feet of snow, had landed in Yosemite National Park, and it is closed permanently. Half of the Eastern country of California will begin having warm temperatures prematurely.

For more information, please visit:

Editorials/Student Voice, National

Amazons underperformance on its drone program

Leave a comment

By: Joseph Nelson

It’s been almost ten years since Jeff Bezos announced Amazon’s drone delivery program, but we still haven’t seen any sign of commercial delivery to homes. In fact, Amazon has only made 10 successful deliveries between the two states of Texas and California. Now, why is that number so low and where are our drones?

Now, Amazon isn’t trying to at all hide their underperformance as Amazon spokesperson Maria Boschetti doesn’t deny any of the numbers brought to her in an email from The Verge. But those numbers aren’t completely Amazon’s fault as there is a bigger factor in play than just Amazon, it’s also the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) stating to Amazon that the pilots cannot fly over roads without a pilot or a third party present. That means that the unmanned drones need to be supervised if the drone were to go over any type of road which brings a bigger challenge to the future of drone delivery.

But, this all seems odd right? I mean, we are again almost ten years from the first announcement of the program and now we are still trying to cross the street? The very future of air delivery is being held up by the laws of the roads.

It feels as though the battle between the FAA and Amazon is going at a snail’s pace. In fact, Amazon just last November, got the green light to fly its drones outside of sparsely populated areas. The drones couldn’t fly within one-hundred feet of buildings, and the requirement of drone pilots being required to have a piloting license to fly a plane, just so they can fly a drone, has completely hindered Amazon’s pilot count. Which hurts a lot when you need more than six pilots to fly just one drone.

But these training wheels the FAA put on Amazon might not be completely a bad thing, as of February 1st, there have been five drone crashes on Amazon testing sites. One of these crashes caused a twenty-five acre forest fire on the site.

But Amazon isn’t backing down from the fight whatsoever, they are pushing the FAA every day to get their drones up in the sky and deliver packages to your doorstep. As of the start of February, the FAA had approved more flight areas in Texas and California.

So, as to answer the question on where are our drones? Well, they are being held up by air laws but I still believe that we should see them in the coming years.

For more information, please visit: