Hi everyone and welcome back to this week’s WSS Weekly News Wrap Up! I hope you had a great snow day yesterday! Today I’ll be bringing you an overview of what happened in the news this week at West, in Iowa, in the US, the world, and a bit of weird, fun news to top it all off.

West:

Monday, January 24, two weeks from now, we will be getting a new bell schedule. This change will mean we will have AFT four days a week, every day except Thursday, for 40 minutes. This will give students more time to make up tests and get a headstart on homework and assignments during the school day. Because of this, we will also have just two bell schedules a week, insead of three.

Iowa: 

The number of deaths from COVID-19 in Iowa has surpassed 8,000. Additionally, the COVID test positivity rate in the state has risen to 14.9% and the Iowa Department of Public Health posted 19,049 confirmed positive tests this past week. 

Another piece of news from the state, a person driving the wrong way on I-380 southbound in Cedar Rapids on Thursday morning shut down a portion of the road when they caused multiple accidents. The driver caused one semi truck to turn over and kept driving the wrong way until they hit another semi and another car. The driver then proceeded to exit their vehicle, remove their clothing and flee the scene on foot. Police apprehended the driver and transported them to a hospital for evaluation. 

US:

Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of the January 6 Capitol Insurrection that took place in protest of President Joe Biden winning the 2020 presidential election. President Biden and Kamala Harris both delivered statements about the anniversary along with other lawmakers who were in the capitol at the time. In his statement, President Biden called out former President Trump for trying to interrupt American Democracy. In a direct quote from President Biden he said, “For the first time in our history, a President had not just lost an election. He tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob reached the Capitol. But they failed. They failed. And on this day of remembrance, we must make sure that such an attack never, never happens again.”

George Floyd’s four-year-old niece, Arianna Delane, was shot at around 3 am on New Year’s Day. It is unknown who shot her, but she is currently in stable condition at a nearby hospital. Police have been criticized for their response to this attack as they did not arrive on the scene until 7 am. 

World:

There have been violent protests in Kazakhstan in the past few days. These protests began over raised fuel prices and have grown to encompass general discontent with the government. On January 5, protesters reportedly stormed the airport in Almaty, forcibly entered government buildings and set fire to the city’s main administrative office.

Weird:

In other news, a fireball was spotted flying over North Liberty earlier this week. It is assumed that this fireball was a part of the 2022 Quadrantid meteor shower. 

Outro:

Thank you for listening to this week’s WSS Weekly News Wrap-Up, see you next week!