Weekly news wrap-up
Online Co-News Editor Audrey Parish discusses local school board elections, updates about boosters, ancient swords and other top stories you might have missed this week
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Hey! How’s it going? My name’s Audrey Parrish, I’m a junior here at West High and I welcome you to the very first edition of the WSS Weekly News Wrap Up! It is my honor to bring you some of the important news from this past week. Since we haven’t made one of these before, I think I should let you guys know the general format we will be following. The news I will share will usually be from West High, Iowa, the US, the World, and some kind of obscure, fun news to top it off. Let’s get started!
First up, West High news. The last football game of the season was yesterday (Friday, Oct 22) and we competed against Pleasant Valley.
In news from Iowa, school board elections across the state will be held on Nov. 2. In the ICCSD, there are six people on the ballot. J.P. Claussen and Ruthina Malone are running for re-election, and the other spots are held by first-time runners Krista Burrus, Jayne Finch, Maca Pilcher-Hayek, and Sheila Pinter.
In the national news, the Parkland shooter pleads guilty. Nikolas Cruz admitted to the murder of 17 students and faculty members of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February of 2018. He faces a minimum sentence of life imprisonment and a maximum sentence of the death penalty, but the final decision is yet to be made.
In more national news, the use of booster shots to give individuals additional protection against COVID-19 has been approved by the FDA. You can mix-and-match, so you do not have to get a booster shot from the same company that you received for your initial vaccination. Although not everyone who is eligible for a vaccine is eligible for a booster shot. Currently, those eligible include everyone 65 and older, as well as 18-65-year-olds with underlying conditions or who live in high-risk settings. Hopefully, this approval will bring us one step closer to ending the pandemic that might have killed up to 108 thousand health care workers across the world, according to the WHO.
And now for some fun news: A diver in Israel discovered an ancient sword that likely belonged to a crusader. The sword was perfectly preserved, encrusted with shells, and was found near other artifacts, including multiple anchors and pottery shards. It is estimated that the sword is 900 years old, though whether it retains any magical properties has yet to be seen.
That’s all I have for you today, tune in next week for more news updates!
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(she/her) Vivian Polgreen is a senior at West and it is her third year working on staff. She is the news editor and co-managing editor for the online publication....
(she/her) Audrey is a senior and has been on the West Side Story staff for 3 years. She is the Copy Editor for the WSS website this year. For fun, she...
(she/her) Helelia is a senior war at West and has been on staff for 3 years. She is the social media editor of all WSS accounts. She enjoys golfing and...
