Weekly News Wrap-Up

News Editor Kathrine Shoppa discusses finals week, COVID-19 cases, tensions between Russia and Ukraine and other top stories you might have missed this week.

 

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Hi everyone and welcome back to this week’s West Side Story Weekly News Wrap Up! 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!

First, some West News. Next Friday is the last day of the trimester, so make sure to turn in any missing assignments before then. There will also be no AFT next week, in order to have longer class periods for tests.

Tuesday, the results were released from a survey conducted at all three Public Iowa Universities involving over 17,000 students and staff. In this survey, only 56% of students and 49% of staff reported that their environment “allows me to say things I believe.” Additionally, only 41% of students thought that their peers were “good at seeking and listening to different views,” but 90% said that they were.

Across the US, COVID-19 cases have dropped significantly; daily new cases were only a third of what they were two weeks ago. In response, many large cities, including Seattle, Washington DC, Philadelphia and the Twin Cities are loosening COVID-19 restrictions, although some experts are worried that this will cause an increase in cases.

The US embassy in Ukraine was moved temporarily to a city on the western side of the country, farther from the border of Russia, in an effort to keep the embassy staff safe. Additionally, all US citizens in Ukraine were urged to return to America. Tensions have risen between Russia and Ukraine, although whether there will be a military invasion is unknown.

In Australia, the remains of an ancient crocodile were found. This species of crocodile, first discovered in 2010, is estimated to have lived about 95 million years ago. Inside this skeleton, archeologists found bones that were later found to belong to a small dinosaur.

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