Hi everyone! Welcome back to this weeks’ episode of the WSS weekly news wrap-up! I’m your host, Audrey Parrish, and today I’ll be keeping you informed with the most important things that happened this week here West, in Iowa, the US, the world, and a little bit of wacky fun news to top it all off!

First off, we have West High news. There will be no school Monday, January 17, because of MLK Day. On Thursday, January 20, we will not be having regular classes. Instead, there will be sessions to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Seniors will also be able to have free senior photos taken on that day. If you are interested, you can stop by room 111 for more information and to schedule a time.

Now for some local Iowa news. Nomi Health is partnering with the ICCSD to provide a COVID-19 testing site for local students and staff. They currently have a drive-thru testing site at Liberty High school which is currently open weekdays 8:00 am to 5:00 pm and Saturday from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm and is available to everyone. However, they ask that you register beforehand at nomihealth.com/iowa/ and bring your insurance card if you have one, but there are no fees.

Now for some US news. Wednesday, the consumer price index was released for last year. In 2021, the inflation rate was 7%, the highest it has been since 1982, 40 years ago. This means the average product costs 7% more than it did a year ago. Some individual goods had much more inflation rates. Gas is 50% more expensive, used cars are 37% more expensive and beef is 20% more expensive than they were last year.

In world news, there are 100,000 Russian soldiers near the border of Ukraine, although Russia claims it is not planning an attack. Russia does not want Ukraine to join NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and asks that NATO remove its military from Russia’s surrounding countries and stop admitting new members. On Monday, there were meetings between the US, Russia, and NATO that lasted seven hours without reaching a compromise.

Now for some weird news. In the UK, paleontologists found the fossils of an ichthyosaur, which means fish lizard. This creature went extinct during the Cretaceous period, about 94 million years ago. The excavation of the skeleton started in September and is almost 32 feet long with a skull that weighs 2,000 pounds. 

Thanks for watching and I’ll see you all next week!