Weekly news wrap-up

Co-News Editor Audrey Parrish discusses next year’s schedules, Justice Stephen Breyer, swans and other top stories you might have missed this week.

 

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Hi everyone and welcome back to this week’s WSS Weekly News Wrap Up! I’m your host, Audrey Parrish, and 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. Let’s get started!

For those of you who missed it, yesterday was academic planning day, where teachers went over your options for what classes to take next year. If you have any questions about your schedule for next year, you can make an appointment to talk with your counselor. Your courses aren’t due until Friday, February 18, so you have three weeks to make your decision.

Now for some Iowa News. In the fiscal year 2021, the state of Iowa had a tax surplus of $1.24 billion dollars. This means that after state taxes were collected and spent on everything in the state budget, there was $1.24 billion left over. Much of this money was collected through sales tax. In 2021, many Americans received stimulus checks, which caused an increase in spending, and also increased the amount of money that Iowa received through sales tax. Governor Kim Reynolds plans to use this extra money to decrease taxes in the future.

In the US, Justice Stephen Breyer, the oldest Supreme Court Justice, is planning to retire at the end of the term, which will be in late June. He has been serving on the supreme court for 28 years since he was nominated by Bill Clinton in 1994. Biden has announced that he is planning to nominate a Black woman, but no nominees have been announced yet.

In world news, UK Prime Minister Borris Johnson has been called to resign from members of his own political party after receiving information that he had broken quarantine rules in the spring of 2020 and 2021 by attending illegal parties.

And now for some fun news. On Tuesday, 14 London Underground trains had to cancel or reroute their routes, because there was a swan sitting on the tracks for over an hour. Eventually, workers were able to coax the swan off of the tracks, and London Wildlife Rescuers saved the swan and released it.

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