The Week of 1/25/16 in a Glance

Hey everybody! As February break gets closer and closer, these are toughest weeks to be a middle school student, so keep it up! We have three great stories for you this week, in addition to a brand-new "letterbox" feature where we answer questions about past stories. Comment and enjoy!

-The 'Glance editors

Oregon

By Rose Gotlieb

A group of armed protestors have been occupying a wildlife refuge in Oregon for weeks. They started to support two ranchers convicted of arson, but the protest grew much bigger, and they started to argue about what they call government overreach when it comes to federal lands.

Earlier this week, seven of the protestors, including their leader, Ammon Bundy, were arrested during a traffic stop. During the whole deal, guns were fired and a protester - identified as LaVoy Finicum - was killed. Protest leaders had been going to a community meeting when the authorities attempted to pull them over. One vehicle stopped, but Finicum did not, and ended up getting shot.

In the beginning, the protesters who were still there were standing their ground.  but Bundy told them they should stand down, (through a statement from his attorney, as he is in jail).

The Zika Virus

By Maddy Art

We are now well into winter, and even though western Massachusetts has seen virtually no snow (see Owen’s entry for national snow news), many of us may have begun to dread and complain about the mildly cold temperatures. However, I can guarantee that nobody is missing the buggy-ness of summer. Right, our good old friends the mosquitos. Forget about them? Well, not for long - the pests are making international news. Recently, a mosquito-carried virus called Zika has been in the headlines quite a bit. Zika has affected mainly Central and South America, with cases also in the Caribbean and Africa. Specifically, Brazil has recently seen a jump in the number of cases reported. Several cases have been reported in the United States and in Europe, but these cases were all contracted in foreign countries. So what are the symptoms of this ominous virus? Well, in most people, the virus brings fever, vomiting, joint and muscle pain, red eyes, and rashes. Having said that, the symptoms worsen when seen in pregnant women. For instance, birth defects (such as abnormally small heads) are found in infants whose mothers passed the Zika virus along to them. Currently, there is neither a vaccine or a cure, but that is a top priority of health officials at the moment.

Let it Snow

By Owen Tucker-Smith

Remember that snowstorm you heard about last week that you got all excited about? You thought, “yes, finally! I can ski, I can sled, I can build a snowman in a winter wonderland!” Well, it was a lose lose for you, because you didn’t get to ski, and you probably had to watch and hear about destruction occurring all over the country.

What exactly happened? Blizzard Jonas happened. Jonas went over the east coast and caused death, floods, highway closures, flight cancellations, and more death. Among the most affected were Jersey Shore, (they seem to always be a target) New York City, Washington DC, Baltimore, West Virginia, and Philadelphia.

What was the effect? As I said, Jonas canceled flights, closed highways, and killed thirty people across America. The result was probably the worst on the Jersey shore, which received major flooding. Remember Hurricane Sandy? That hit Jersey shore like crazy. The mayor says that this was worse than Hurricane sandy. The effect wasn’t as horrible in NYC, Philly, Baltimore, and D.C., who received more than two feet of snow, but it certainly got in the way. In West Virginia, there was forty-two inches of snow! (That’s the record for this storm) In D.C. voting was put on hold by the House of Representatives. This snow didn’t stop the WVU swim team, who just swam in the snow!

Legacy?  So this was a pretty big snowstorm? Understatement. This could have been the worst in decades! Some spots on the coast got it worse than others, but overall it made a pretty big impact. Many cities are still cleaning up after it.

The Letterbox

Planned Parenthood Shooting Follow-up

By Maddy Art

So a few weeks ago I covered Robert Dear’s Planned Parenthood shooting. We have received a request to keep you updated on Dear’s sentence. On November 30th, Dear attended his hearing through video feed, during which he said four words. He replied that he understood his legal rights and the charge he was faced with (first degree murder). Later, he said that he had no questions. So, Dear was pretty much just ears at his first court appearance. He was sentenced to life imprisonment at the least, and the death penalty at the most. At the moment, it is still unclear as to which punishment he will receive. The police believe the cause for Dear’s actions is his hatred for Planned Parenthood and a desire to end abortions. Again, funny that he deals with being “pro-life” by committing murder.

Russian Plane Follow-Up

By Owen Tucker-Smith

After I talked about the Turkish downing of the Russian plane, we got a message with some questions, just as who were the known passengers, could a war with Turkey and Russia start, and whether people could make an investigation to see exactly where the plane landed. The passengers on the plane were two pilots and supposedly no more; this was a warplane, not your standard United Airlines plane. One is reported dead, and what happened to the other is unknown. We do know that a marine that tried to save the pilots was also killed. As for a war, it is unlikely. Turkey and Russia have always had a pretty tense relationship, this isn't the first time Turkey complained of Russia being in its airspace. This relationship will continue to get worse, but these countries aren't ready to go to war. Click here to learn more about that. As for the location, it was quite near the border. Nobody knows exactly where it crashed, but each side says something a little different, even if they are both using “reliable data.” And who are “people?”

Global Warming, The Kyoto Protocol, and the U.S.

By Rose Gotlieb

So what’s up with this “Kyoto Protocol”? To start this, I'm gonna give you the low down on the Kyoto Protocal. It's basically an international agreement that commits its parties to "internationally binding reduction targets". Because developed countries are mostly responsible for the current high levels of green house gasses (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere, the protocol places a bigger burden on developed nations. It was developed in Kyoto, Japan, and entered into force on February 16, 2005. It's first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 20012.

During the first commitment period, 37 industrial countries plus the European Community committed to reduce GHG emissions to 5% against 1990 levels. During the second, parties committed to reduce them by at least 18% below 1990 levels in the eight-year period from 2013-2020.

I don't know if that answers your first question, but the parties - so far - are keeping up with the Kyoto protocol.

An Update in the Polls

Because we haven’t been talking about the election, we thought we should at least distribute the current primary polls to you for the Republicans and the Democrats. Here they are: (source: HuffPost Pollster)

REPUBLICAN (top ten)

1.  Donald Trump 36.1%
2.  Ted Cruz 16.3%
3.  Marco Rubio 9.8%
4.  Ben Carson 8.3%
5.  Jeb Bush 5.5%
6.  Rand Paul 2.8%
7.  John Kasich 2.6%
8.  Chris Christie 2.5%
9.  Mike Huckabee 2.1%
10.  Carly Fiorina 2.0%

DEMOCRATIC

1.  Hillary Clinton 50.3%
2.  Bernie Sanders 35.8%
3.  Martin O'Malley 2.2%

The Week of 1/18/16 in a Glance

Hoping this week's news keeps you informed!

 

Never Let a Scientist Name Their Kid

by Rose Gotlieb

What’s new in the science world? Well, for all you pluto-lovers, sorry… Earth’s not only dumped Pluto, it’s found a whole new planet to replace it. You want to guess what this new planet is being called? Planet Nine. Yeah, there’s some real creative genius. Researchers realized there might be something there when they caught sight of a bunch of objects orbiting the same thing. According to those researchers, “Planet Nine” is ten times bigger than Earth and way past Neptune.

Flint Water Crisis

By Maddy Art

    Take a big gulp of delicious, clean, Massachusetts water as you read this - and feel lucky you aren’t being poisoned. Two years ago, Flint, Michigan was in a financial state of emergency. To spare water costs, Michigan decided to switch Flint’s water source from the Great Lakes (the largest collection of freshwater bodies in the world) to the Flint River. The process was scheduled to take a few years, but it would eventually cut down costs. However, the plan was not without (major) flaw. Citizens began to notice the peculiar taste and color of their tap water. The cause of the color? Iron. The Flint River has an unusually high iron content, and the water was not being treated correctly. If this isn’t bad enough, the lack of water treatment also allowed lead from service lines to intermingle with the water. In case you do not know, lead consumption or poisoning can be extremely dangerous, and lead to poor brain development. Lead poisoning is more of a risk for children, both because children are more susceptible, and because their brains are not finished developing. State officials have known since 2011 that the Flint River water would be unsafe unless treated, but did the people know this? No! Children’s blood tests show that lead levels have doubled since they made the switch. Now, people are suing the state government for keeping them in the dark, which led to the governour officially apologizing. Results and a solution to be determined, hopefully soon.

This Week in Immigration

By Owen Tucker-Smith

Most likely you already know about illegal immigration. And you probably know that in this day and age, it is happening a lot, way too much for many people’s taste. Undocumented immigrants have been spilling into America more than ever for the past few decades. To put it simply, Obama’s against deportation, along with many democrats, but many are for it. Obama wanted to throw away the current policy when he took the white house, but things didn’t all go as planned...

What is the current state of Illegal Immigration? As I said, illegal immigration is currently occurring a lot. In 2012, 11.4 million undocumented immigrants were living in this country. Of these 11.4 million, 52% were mexican, 15% Central American, 12% Asian, 6% South American, 5% from the Caribbean, and 5% from Canada and Europe. As more and more illegal immigrants came into the US, policies have been put in place to control these illegal immigration rates. Obama doesn’t like these policies.

What did he do?  More than one year ago, Obama realized that congress wouldn’t stand with him. He didn’t care. So he, alone, tried to use his own power to stop more than four million immigrants from being deported from the US. That’s where checks and balances come in. All those states that really wanted to deport those immigrants naturally got mad. They sued, and won. Since then, Obama’s really been wanting his actions to be saved. He doesn’t want these immigrants to be thrown out of the county, but to be able to work in the US legally.

Anything recent? Yes. Recently the supreme court decided to look back to last year and pick Obama’s case up. They will work to decide if Obama can or cannot carry out his plans in immigration, if lower courts made the wrong decisions a year ago. Most likely, the court will actually rule in June this year.

June? That’s pretty close to when we’re gonna elect another president! Very true. By the time the court rules, Obama will only have a couple of months to carry out his plans. His hopes are that a democratic president will rise into the White House and follow his footsteps. On the contrary, presidential candidates on the republican side naturally believe that even if the court rules in favor of Obama, a republican president will win and end these plans.

Reference 1: Liptak, Adam, and Michael. "Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Obama Immigration Actions." The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Jan. 2016. Web. 22 Jan. 2016.

The Week of 1/11/16 in a Glance

Hi everybody! We hope you all are surviving the cold and the end of the semester. This week we have three stories in store for you. Comment and enjoy!

Thanks for reading,

The Greylock Glance editors

Terrorism Around The World

By Maddy Art

This week, two major terrorist attacks have occurred in Europe and Asia. First, an explosion in Istanbul, Turkey killed ten people and injured fifteen more. The explosion was the result of a suicide bombing by an Islamic State (ISIS) operative. Because the bomber had come from Syria, and because German tourists were the main target of this attack, speculation is occurring as to whether the attack’s purpose was to decrease the amount of refugees that other countries will take. (Germany pledged to take A LOT of refugees). By having ISIS members appear to be refugees or other Syrians, ISIS makes countries less likely to take refugees. Just what they want. Then, Jakarta, Indonesia was hit with attacks similar to last year’s Paris attacks. Seven people were killed, some of whom were attackers. Because the Jakarta attacks mirrored the Paris attacks, and because ISIS threatened to attack Indonesia, fingers are once again pointing to ISIS. If you haven’t gotten the message, ISIS is nonstop and dangerous.

Golden Globes

By Maddy Art

What do Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Kate Winslet have in common? Obviously, they are all actors, but they also each won a Golden Globe on Sunday the 10th! The Globes this year consisted of J-Law and Amy Schumer’s adorable friendship, Jamie Foxx pulling a Steve Harvey whilst presenting an award, and, most importantly, Leonardo DiCaprio’s now-famous glance at Lady Gaga. For all of your award-show needs, here is a list of seven of the awards and winners.

Best Motion Picture, Drama

The Revenant

Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

The Martian

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama

Brie Larson, Room

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Jennifer Lawrence, Joy

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion PIcture, Musical or Comedy

Matt Damon, The Martian

Best Motion Picture, Animated

Inside Out

Obama Talks Progress

By Owen Tucker-Smith

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama gave his last State of the Union speech to congress, explaining that as a president he has improved the nation a lot. Obama elaborated on five important areas: the economy, the climate, foreign policy, healthcare, and social progress.

What is a State of the Union Address? Every year, the president gives an address to members of congress, the Vice President, the House Speaker, the cabinet, (except for one member that stays behind with important numbers such as nuclear codes) and the Supreme Court. This year the “lucky cabinet member” was Homeland Security Sec. Jeh Johnson. The address covers the state of the union in addition to his “game plan” for being president. This year was Obama’s last State of the Union Address, so it was much directed at how far we’ve come. So how did he explain how far we’ve come?

Economy: Obama explained that America’s economy had just risen up since he had entered the white house. When he took office, he saw the country in a state of horrible depression. Now, the unemployment rate is actually lower than it has been in all seven years and more. In addition, Obama explained that 14.1 million jobs were tacked to the the job market in the past seventy months.

Climate Change: Well, first Obama talked about that huge global warming meeting you’ve heard about. He said that now America is in the most ambitious agreement ever to combat climate change. So the country is at the head of this fight against Global Warming. Also he explained that a plan is in place that will lower the rate of carbon pollution (via power plants) 32% by 2030.

Foreign Policy: In addition to the global warming meeting we mentioned before, Obama claimed that America has done well with foreign policy in many ways. Obama said that he ended two wars, and he stopped Iran from owning a nuclear weapon. Every method of them being able to access a bomb is blocked. Also. the president talked about how things with Cuba are pretty good. (Diplomatic relations restored)

Health Care: You can guess what Obama talked about when it came time to mention health care. The Affordable Care Act. He explained that because of the act, 90% of Americans, for the first time ever, have coverage. In the act’s six years of existence, almost 18 million Americans have gotten coverage. And, up to 129 million with previously existing conditions can’t be denied or made to pay extra just because of their conditions.

Social Justice: Obama also talked about how far we have come in terms of the social element. For one, Bisexual , Lesbian, and Gay workers are now able to serve openly in the army. Also, Obama claimed that LGBT federal workers can be discriminated upon no longer.

What did he say needed improvement? For one, Obama wanted a larger focus on education, specifically affordable college costs and universal pre-k. Also, get a cure for cancer and lessen oil and coal in transportation systems.

The Week of 1/7/16 in a Glance

Hi everybody! Hope you all had a good holiday. Due to Wi-Fi issues, we only have two stories today, but they are good ones. This week we have covered protests in the Mideast, and news on the gun control issue. Remember to comment and check out our instagram! Thanks for reading.
-Your Editors

Protests in the Mideast

By Owen Tucker-Smith

Last weekend, an event occurred that caused many protests in Bahrain, Iran, and Pakistan. These protests included the burning of Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Iran and a revenge threat, as well as peaceful protests. What could have caused this mess in the Mideast? Well, to put it very simply, Saudi Arabia.

Background? Saudi Arabia and Iran have never been good friends. Saudi Arabia is a mainly Sunni nation, and Iran is a mainly Shiite nation. Sunni and Shiite are both different branches of Islam. Over the years, the two countries have argued about many things, taking different sides in middle-eastern events such as the war in Syria. So what started to happen this past weekend was not at all good for their relationship, but it was not all that shocking.

So what exactly happened? Nimr Al-Nimr was a Shiite cleric that represented the Shiite minority group in Saudi Arabia group. He was known for being an activist, actually standing up against Saudi Arabia’s royal family. While Saudi Arabia doesn’t really like Al-Nimr, he is extremely popular among other Middle-Eastern Shiites. The country attacked him first by giving him a terrorist charge. This charge was for the protests he did in 2011. And he was killed over the weekend. Al-Nimr was executed not alone but with 46 others. As you could guess, many Shiites were extremely upset by this.

What did they do? Protest. As we said earlier, some people burned down the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Iran. In addition, Iran stated that they would get some real revenge. But when Saudi Arabia heard this, they just sent another bullet flying right back by cutting all diplomatic ties, or any peaceful relations, sending all Iranian diplomats in Saudi Arabia out.

In a Glance? Last weekend two major countries in the Mideast decided to make their bad relationship worse. Saudi Arabia executed a popular man, and that never ends well. It certainly didn’t this time, with protests happening all over the place. The Mideast is already juggling with a lot of bad events right now, such as the Syrian civil war and ISIS, so adding one more thing to the plate doesn’t seem to be helpful.

Tightening Loopholes

By Maddy Art

On Tuesday, Obama decided to take matters into his own hands when he announced some executive action on gun control. Currently, the definition for a gun dealer is very loose and has blurred edges. This makes it easier for buyers to find someone selling guns (but not licensed as a gun dealer) and to purchase a gun without a background check. Under this new action, background checks are expanded and all gun dealers are required to perform them. In addition, more funding is going to improve mental health treatment. Republicans are acting like this is too strict. Democrats are acting like it’s not enough. But certainly it is a step forward in the fight to decrease gun violence.

The Week of 12/14 in a Glance

Hi everyone! This week we've got three good stories in store for you, including coverage of the recent Republican debate. Just a reminder that if you are getting this as an email click the link. Also don's forget to comment and to follow us on Instagram. We will not post over break. Happy Holidays to you all!
-Your editors

Wanna Be an Astronaut?

Well, you’re in luck... you might get to be the main character in “Gravity,” “Interstellar,” or especially “The Martian.” NASA might just be your next employer (sorry, middle schoolers, you need to be qualified... see below) NASA just announced that they are now accepting applications for an astronaut position, and specifically to go on a vacation to Mars. Sounds fun, right?

Is this important? It really is. The last time NASA started accepting applications was four years ago. So they don’t give out jobs 24/7. Last time NASA picked people, Eight people were chosen, four men and four women. Let's put this to scale. 6,300 people applied. It is not easy to get this kind of job, and NASA has an image of what they want.

What do you need? Not much, surprisingly. Applicants need to:

• Be a US citizen
• pass an intense physical
• have a bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science, or math
• 1000 hrs of pilot-in-command time in jet, or three years of relevant experience.
• You need qualities such as leadership, good teamwork, and good decision making.

Why does this matter? I’m in middle school! This is literally an irrelevant advertisement! No and no. This is actually a pretty big deal. These are future missions to Mars we’re talking about. We’re not trying to convince you to fill out an application; we’re trying to inform you that the next class of NASA astronauts, The NASA astronaut class of 2017, is being formed. These astronauts are our future, what they learn could be pretty important. What they find on Mars could be pretty important.

Purple Unicorns

On December 15th, the Republican candidates met for the last time this year to “debate.” Terrorism, National Security, and Donald Trump were of the main topics.

This was after Paris and San Bernardino, right? Yes it was. And those came up quite a bit. Remember how representatives met recently to discuss a solution to Global Warming? Well, Ohio Governor John Kasich thought that this meeting was a waste of time. He was wondering why people were talking about climate change when they could have been fighting ISIS. Kasich wasn’t the only one complaining about ISIS, though... Marco Rubio obviously doesn’t like supporters of ISIS, as he claimed that he did not think they should have the right to remain silent, or their Miranda Rights. Donald Trump’s ideas of protection from groups like ISIS was to literally to close down the internet in areas where “we are at war with somebody. Trump claimed that ISIS was getting into the minds of youth over the internet. “I do not want [ISIS] to use our internet to take our young impressionable youth,” he said at the Debate.

Earlier you said something about NSA, correct? The USA Freedom Act was passed last May. This took away the NSA’s right to own phone metadata. So the National Security Agency’s phone records were basically thrown out. Marco Rubio did not support this. He claimed that this phone data would have been useful in attacks such as San Bernardino. On the other hand, Ted Cruz thinks that after the act, the NSA actually ends up having more data than they had before. So why did these two get in a fight? Well, Cruz supported the act before it was passed, and so Rubio spit out accusations. Then Cruz played the “but now they have more data” card. Things got pretty tense.

Things got pretty tense...

What was Fiorina’s NSA story? Carly Fiorina really likes the NSA. She explained an incident she had with them after 9/11 on Tuesday Night. It was simple: the NSA asked Fiorina to stop a truckload of equipment and send it back to NSA headquarters. And she did it. Fiorina claimed that the NSA would help the government, if they just asked for it. Some people think that the story is different. Like these people

Purple Unicorns and our favorite neurosurgeon. At the debate, Ted Cruz started talking about purple unicorns. Really. He was talking about the rebels in the Mideast. These are the rebels that the US wants to arm. And Cruz called them purple unicorns, meaning, there are no moderate rebels in the Mideast. On the other hand, our favorite neurosurgeon Ben Carson didn’t talk a ton at the debate. But at one point he was asked an awkward question. Somebody asked him if if he was president he would be willing to kill many children and innocent citizens in a time of war. After making a children and tumor analogy, Carson said yes, he would be willing.

Donald Trump? He and Jeb bush aren’t really BFFs. On Tuesday, Trump called Bush’s campaign a massive fail. Bush retaliated, saying that Trump isn’t going to be able to “insult his way into the white house.” burn.

Rio 2016 Might Have a Problem

You might know that Rio is hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics. Are they completely ready? Absolutely Not.

The Main Problems:

Power   Aggreko, which was one of Rio’s top power suppliers, just kind of left. That’s right, power and energy is a vital part of the Olympics. Just think about all of the power-related things the Olympics needs:

• International Broadcasting! And FWI, this is South America, so that means US!
• The Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
• Back up electricity for Olympic venues.

Polluted Water   You might already know this, but the water in Rio is not great right now. In fact, it is extremely polluted! Do we want the Olympic athletes competing in polluted water? I don’t think so. For example, sailing events are being held in Guanabara Bay, which is, well...

Guanabara Bay

Recession   Rio’s economy isn’t great, either. Employment is lower than ever, many cannot find jobs. As you can see, Rio de Janeiro doesn’t seem to be in awesome shape to host the olympics this Summer.

Week of 12/7 in a Glance

Hello all! Hope you are having a great start to December, and getting in the holiday mood. Remember to click the link above if you are receiving this by email, and to comment your thoughts! Hope you enjoy!

San Bernardino

By Owen Tucker-Smith

Two seemingly normal people, an environmental inspector and a pharmacist, carried out the deadliest mass shooting since Sandy Hook. On December 2nd, in a city near Los Angeles called San Bernardino, fourteen people were murdered by gunmen at a holiday party located at a center for those with developmental disabilities. Obama’s reaction to the attack was crystal clear: we need to defeat ISIS, and we need to create stricter gun control laws, which was a debate that came big again after the Planned Parenthood shooting.

How did it happen?1    Suspects of the attack have been identified as Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik. After Farook attended and left the party, he came back with his wife to complete the attack. In addition to the shooting, the couple left explosive devices in the center as a bombing attempt. The cops did not find them immediately. A long manhunt occurred before the two suspects were killed.

The result? As you could guess, much of the city was frozen in shock. Schools, stores, and offices were put on a lockdown order or closed, and people were told to stay in their houses. And that shock carried out around the world even after the twenty police officers involved with the shootout killed the suspects.

Where is ISIS involved? Well, the wife, Malik, who many think was the brains behind the attack, had pledged allegiance to ISIS. Furthermore, Malik mentioned “we” in her social media post, suggesting that both suspects had been radicalized. And later after the attacks ISIS, on the radio, described the two as “supporters.” As you can see, ISIS doesn’t just terrorize. It inspires others to do so too. And that’s where Obama comes in...

Obama’s Speech   On December 6th, four days after the attack, President Obama gave a speech about his plans for ISIS. Which are to defeat it. Obama showed the nation his plans step by step (which don’t include putting his troops out there) Did he say anything else? Yes. He claimed that the Syrian Civil War needed to end, that more stricter gun control laws have to be passed to stop attacks like that in San Bernardino, and that ISIS does not represent Islam, so prejudice should not be given.

In a glance? The attack in San Bernardino was a deadly one and it was influenced by ISIS. It inspired Obama to be clear about his game plan of defeat, and to say some other things.

Reference 1: Nagourney, Adam, Ian Lovett, and Richard PÉrez-peÑa. "San Bernardino Shooting Kills at Least 14; Two Suspects Are Dead." The New York Times. The New York Times, 02 Dec. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.

No Child Left Behind Gets Upgraded

By Maddy Art

Sure, you may have heard of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, but have you heard of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015? On Wednesday, Congress voted 85-12 to replace the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), and President Obama signed the new law on Thursday. So what are these mysterious acts? Well, both have the same simplistic goals: to raise standards, to make sure students in grade K-12 are getting a good education, and to narrow or close the achievement gap between students. However, NCLB consisted of government (rather than state) control. Critics argue that too much time was spent testing, and that all schools and districts were given the same standards - a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach. On the other hand, ESSA gives more power to the states. States can now determine (to some extent) how they would like to tackle testing, including how to act upon the scores and how to evaluate teachers. States can now set their own goals for improvement, as opposed to the national goals set with NCLB. So how much will change around Mt. Greylock? Don’t expect any drastic changes. States are still required to test students, so MCAS is going anywhere. Apart from that, we will just have to wait to find out how Massachusetts handles this.

Beijing Smog

By Rose Gotlieb

Last week, we talked about good changes in the environment. This week, let's talk bad ones. China has always been notorious for its pollution. But now Beijing is having its worst air problems... Ever. This week, the smog got so bad, the government had to issue a red alert, shut down schools, construction sites, and limit the number of cars that could go on the road. Take a breath of fresh Massachussetts air as you look at these pictures:

The Week of 11/30 in a Glance

Hello and welcome back to The Glance! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. If you are receiving this by email, you should click the link above to access the actual entries. Don't forget to comment, subscribe, and follow us on Instagram - @thegreylockglance

Pro-Life?

By Maddy Art

 

    On Friday, November 27, Robert Lewis Dear murdered three people at a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Colorado Springs. Planned Parenthood and abortions are  generally not topics we will cover, but here we’ve made an exception. Planned Parenthood is a non-profit organization that, as explained by their website, “delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of women, men, and young people worldwide.” Planned Parenthood is especially known for providing safe, legal abortions. For those of you who don’t know, an abortion is when fetal tissue is destroyed in an unwanted pregnancy to avoid carrying to term. Those who are against abortion are often called “pro-life.” The procedure almost always occurs before the tissue is anything more than a clump of cells. Anyway, Robert Dear shot a police officer and two civilians on Friday because he was allegedly “motivated by opposition to safe and legal abortion” (Vicki Cowart, president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains). This act is considered a “crime against women receiving healthcare services” (U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch), as well as an act of domestic terrorism. Ironic that Dear killed three because he was “pro-life,” isn’t it?

 

Some Like it Hot

By Rose Gotlieb

 

This month, leaders from almost 200 countries are convening in Paris to attempt to slow global warming.

Back up. Did you just say Paris? Yes, I did. Despite the attacks in Paris on November 13, they are still going ahead with their initial plan… along with tons of extra security.

    Has this ever been tried before? Actually, it has. In the 1990’s, nearly 200 countries agreed to a climate deal called the Kyoto protocol. But the U.S. didn’t like that it didn’t include developing countries like China, and was worried about the economy, so ended up not agreeing. Because the U.S. is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, the whole plan sort of fell through.

    What changed? There’s been a debate for a while now: Is global warming real? And now, the U.S. seems to be saying “yes”. (Well, not everyone. *cough* Donald Trump *cough*). President Obama made climate change a big part of his campaign, and met with some of the leaders of the other biggest polluting countries in ‘09. They agreed to cut their pollution, but didn’t sign anything. So, that fell through the floor too.

    So what’s happening in Paris? Luckily, everyone seems to be agreeing: the climate deal needs to happen. Leaders from all over have gathered - including Obama, Indian PM Narendra Modi, and Chinese president Xi Jinping. The main problem? Money. Developing countries don’t think they should have to help pay for the deal, considering the already developed countries polluted as much as they wanted when they were getting started. Developed countries are going to give some cash, too, though.

    What are people saying? The Democratic presidential candidates are saying, “Yeah, I back that.” Some Republican candidates think that climate change is real; some don’t think humans are causing it; others, (*cough* Donald Trump *cough*) don’t believe in it at all. Pope Francis says “Amen”; he believes that humans are causing global warming.

 

A Stab in the Back

By Owen Tucker-Smith

 

On November 24th, Russian President Putin reported that Turkey had given Russia “a stab in the back.” Putin was referring to a Russian warplane that had been shot down by Turkey somewhere around the Syrian and Turkish border. With the Syrian Civil War going on and the recent Paris attacks, this was a continuation of some not-so-new tension between Russia and Turkey.

 

What happened? Why did Turkey shoot down the plane?1   Good question. Of the two pilots, one of them was killed, we don’t know what happened to the other, and a marine died trying to save the pilots. Why was the plane shot down? According to Turkey, the Russian plane was currently in their airspace. In addition, Turkey had given the plane ten warnings and the pilots had not listened. Seems pretty straightforward, right? Not so much. The problem is, Russia claims that the plane never actually crossed the border after all. Putin claimed that “[the plane] was flying 1 kilometer away from the Turkish border when it was attacked. In any case, neither our pilots nor our jet posed any threat to Turkey.” According to Putin, the airplane was heading to Northern Latakia to fight against ISIS. As you can see below, where the plane actually was flying is very complicated, but Turkey’s claimed path passes through Turkey and Russia’s claimed path does not.

 

What’s This Tension? What About Paris?   For the past four years, the Syrian Civil War has been happening. ISIS seems to enjoy war struck places, as they are doing very well in Syria. Where do Turkey and Russia come into all this? Well, they’re on opposite sides of the war. Turkey is on the side of the rebels, and Russia is on the side of President Assad. So Turkey and Russia aren't so friendly these days. And here’s where Paris comes in. After the attacks, many of these countries have been trying to unite and go against ISIS. A “stab on the back” like this doesn’t really help countries unite. And Turkey doesn’t actually think that the plane was headed for ISIS, but a rebel group that Turkey’s friends with. Seems tense, huh? It is.

 

In a glance?   After Turkey shot down the Russian plane, things got even worse between them than they were before. As for the US, President Obama claims that Turkey had the right to protect its airspace. This is also the first time a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) has shot down a Russian plane in half a century, Perfect timing.

 

Reference 1: Melvin, Don, Michael Martinez, and Zeynep Bilginsoy. "Putin Calls Jet's Downing 'Stab in the Back'" CNN. N.p., 24 Nov. 2015. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.

 

An Update in the Polls

We haven’t really talked a lot about the elections a lot lately, with all this international stuff going on... But here are the current polls: (Source: HuffPost Pollster)

 

REPUBLICAN (top ten)

 

•  Donald Trump 34.4%
•  Marco Rubio 14.6%
•  Ben Carson 13.9%
•  Ted Cruz 13.4%
•  Jeb Bush 5.5%
•  Carly Fiorina 3.0%
•  Chris Christie 2.9%
•  John Kasich 2.9%
•  Rand Paul 2.6%
•  Mike Huckabee 1.8

DEMOCRATIC

 

•  Hillary Clinton 58.3%
•  Bernie Sanders 31.3%
•  Martin O'Malley 3.6%
  

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