The Week of 2/29 in a Glance

Hi all! Hope this news makes everybody's week more interesting! Middle schoolers - don't forget that you can email us with questions or suggestions.

Super Tuesday

By Rose Gotlieb

This Tuesday, not only did Williamstown vote on the new school, (which was approved), but Massachusetts and other states voted on something much bigger on the National scale. Here’s who won which states:

Republicans:
Donald Trump - Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia. He now has 319 delegates.

Ted Cruz - Alaska, Oklahoma, Texas. He now has 226 delegates.

Marco Rubio - Minnesota. He now has 110 delegates.

John Kasich - 0. He now has 25 delegates.

Ben Carson - 0. He now has 8 delegates.

Democrats:

Hillary Clinton - Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia. She now has 1052 delegates.

Bernie Sanders - Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Vermont. He now has 427 delegates.

To win their party’s nomination, Republicans must have a total of 1,237 delegates. Democrats need 2,382 delegates.

A Supremely Powerful Decision

By Maddy Art

             Do you remember two decades ago? Me neither, but America remembers it as the last major case that the Supreme Court heard on abortion. That is about to change. On Wednesday March 2, the Supreme Court heard a case about a controversial Texas law. This law requires all abortion clinics to be in hospital conditions. While this sounds like a good thing, opposers are saying that the laws do not actually provide aid to women's health in any way, shape, or form. On the contrary, the law only makes it much harder for women who are in need of an abortion to have access to one. The Supreme Court has ruled in the past that abortions are legal in all 50 states, so that is not up for debate. However, laws like these make abortion clinics much more scarce. Defenders of this law claim that they are in favor of it because it is beneficial to women's health, but speculation has occurred as to whether those opposed are really just opposed because they would like as few abortion clinics as possible. Another complication: the Supreme Court currently consists of only eight justices (as opposed to nine), due to the recent  death of the very conservative Justice Scalia. Having an even number of justices means that an even split is entirely possible, and in this case, probable. A decision will likely be made by June. Here is yet another instance of a primarily male panel making decisions about women's reproductive rights. Yay.

If you are unsure of what an abortion is, click here.

Go Leo!

By Owen Tucker-Smith

This past Sunday, the academy brought the best of the filming industry to Hollywood to see who was the best. Among the top issues in this year’s academy awards were diversity and Leonardo Di Caprio.

What about diversity? This year, no Black actors were nominated for an academy award. With events going on around the country, this timing isn’t so great. Many people decided that the academy was racist for their choices of nominees. But this isn’t the first year for this to happen. Last year, of the 4 actor categories and 20 nominees, none of them were black. Protesters on social media used the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, but that just turned into #OscarsStillSoWhite. And the emcee was Chris Rock, a Black comedian. And in his opening monologue, he really stepped out there. He spared no one, criticizing both sides. After talking about the “liberals” who “don’t hire black people,” he got right to the point, asking, “Is Hollywood racist? You’re damn right Hollywood is racist.” But it wasn’t that simple. He also criticised the protesters who had started boycotting the Oscars, like Jada Pinkett Smith. Rock was harsh, at a time that this harshness was appreciated.

Who won? Well the only person that really won was our Leonardo DiCaprio. He got a standing ovation, because people were thinking, finally! This was Leo’s sixth nomination, but first win at the Academy Awards! He won best actor for The Revenant. Best Picture went to Spotlight, a film about investigations of priests molesting young boys. Spotlight also got the award for Best Original Screenplay. Brie Larson one Best Actress for her role in Room. Other award winners were:

• Mark Rylance, Best Supporting Actor, Bridge of Spies
• Alicia Vikander, Best Supporting Actress, The Danish Girl
• Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Best Director, The Revenant
• Writing’s on the Wall, Best Original Song, Sam Smith
• Inside Out, Best Animated Feature Film
• Amy, Best Documentary Feature
• The Hateful Eight, Best Original Music Score

To get a full list of Oscar winners, click here