Tragedy Strikes The Little Mermaid
Yebella Melaku
Disney princesses are the staple piece to a little girl’s childhood in the United States. In May of 2023, a live-action version of the animated film “The Little Mermaid” was released to the rest of the world starring Halie Bailey, Melissa Mccarthy, Josh Hauer-King, etc. People originally reacted unsatisfied with the choice of the main character Ariel as Halie Bailey due to the fact that she doesn’t exactly fit the typical stereotypical disney princess features, especially being an African-American woman when in the original film Ariel is white. The film in my opinion ended up being a fantastic depiction of the original and the cast only added to bring the majestic element of Disney to life.
Man Crab Walks Out of Jail
Lyric Smith
On August 31, 2023 convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante escaped from Chester County Prison. The 34 year old had been convicted of first degree murder for the murder of his ex-girlfriend in 2021. Surveillance Footage shows Cavalcante crab walking up the wall with access to the roof. Authorities say Cavalcante ran across the roof, climbed a fence and made it through razor wire. He was gone for an over hour before guards realized he was missing. Cavalcante was seen at multiple places while he was gone, such as at a house he allegedly broke into. Cavalcante was found about 30 miles out from Chester County Prison hiding in a large pile of logs. He is currently being held at SCI Greene in Waynesburg.
Housing Crisis in 2023
Paula Villalon
Throughout the year of 2023, high mortgage rates, low inventory, and elevated home prices are making it to where 32% of Americans believe they will never afford their dream home. This is caused by a 25.6% increase in home prices, an average interest rate of 7.66%, and a wage growth of only 1.2%. The higher mortgage rates and increase in home prices greatly overpower the small increase in wages, causing a large gap between cost and income. This is a leading problem that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later, before the whole housing market crashes.
Affirmative Action widens the gap between marginalized communities and the privileged
Myles Chapman
On June 29, 2023, The supreme court struck down and eliminated Affirmative Action in college admissions. According to the Legal Information Institution, “Affirmative action is defined as a set of procedures designed to eliminate unlawful discrimination among applicants, remedy the results of such prior discrimination, and prevent such discrimination in the future.” This decision was record-breaking and it shook the entire country. People who argue behind eliminating affirmative action say that “programs must comply with strict scrutiny, they may never use race as a stereotype or negative, and—at some point—they must end” (SHRM).
However, I disagree with this notion because affirmative action is still important to use in modern society since there is still a bias when people of color try to obtain a higher education. I don’t think affirmative action reinforces stereotypes, it gives marginalized people the same opportunities that more privileged people have. Now that affirmative action has been outlawed in higher education, legacy students benefit from it the most. If race and other factors are not being looked at during college admissions, more white, privileged and legacy students will be accepted compared to other marginalized groups, because oftentimes white and privileged students have more resources compared to others. According to an article by Best Colleges, “…university administrators struggling to conceive of ways to ensure student diversity in the wake of SCOTUS’ ruling, legacy admissions remains one more hurdle that suddenly seems not only expendable but also socially tone-deaf and morally repugnant.”
Overall, banning affirmative action has done more harm than good. It widens the gap between marginalized communities and America’s privileged white upper class. It is important for colleges to still advocate for the importance of diversity in their institutions.
Jeremy Renner’s survives the Sno-Cat
Naya Furqan
Earlier this year, the Hawkeye star, Jeremy Renner, was involved in a snow plow accident. On January 1st, while trying to help his nephew near his home in Lake Tahoe, his roughly 14,330 pound Sno-Cat ran him over. A video of the injury can be seen here.
His injuries consisted of eight ribs broken in 14 different places, left tibia and ankle broken, right clavicle broken, right knee and ankle broken, and more. The star stated in his caption that he has had “countless hours of physical therapy, peptide injections, iv drips and pushes, stem cell and exosomes, red light / IR therapy, hyperbaric chamber 2.0 atmospheres, cold plunge, and the list goes on and on.”
Many marvel fans continue to worry about his condition and hope for his recovery and career in the future.
Overpopulation in Colorado
Carrie Ames
Overpopulation has affected the United States for decades. Colorado, like many other states, in recent years, has been majorly impacted by the growing rate of people moving into the state. With nearly 200,000, according to Fox 31 KDVR, people moving into the state in 2021 from states like California, Florida, Texas and New York, and the Denver metro population increasing by over one percent each year Colorado has become a highly populated and highly unaffordable state in the United States.
According to Macrotrends.net, Denver ranks in the top 20 most populated cities in the U.S. ranking higher than even Las Vegas, Nashville, and Cincinnati. The increasing population in Denver that occurs each year affects many aspects of the city. Traffic rates and housing costs have also increased in not only Denver but the surrounding cities as well. Norada Real Estate Investments overlooks these recurring trends from recent years claiming that the average cost for a home in Denver was over half a million dollars, an increase of two percent from the previous year and a one percent decrease from the previous month. This showcases the idea that as more people move to the city, people who can’t afford to live in Denver will only move further from the city, which further affects the housing and economic markets in the surrounding areas.
It’s no lie that those who move to Colorado are mainly Californians. The Denver Post goes more into depth surrounding this idea by outlining that the main demographic of people moving to CO are from California with 33,000 people over a one-year span. This makes sense due to the higher cost of living in California compared to Colorado, people from California can find a more affordable life in Colorado but where does this leave Coloradians economically?
With the number of home sale closings decreasing by six percent, this only leaves an increasing number of listings and a higher rate of poverty in Colorado. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, in their 2022 report, claimed that homelessness in Colorado has increased by 130% over the past ten years, a statistic that is only rising due to more people settling in the state.
With housing costs and overpopulation impacting Colorado to such an extent, it will be interesting to see what lawmakers will do to improve the quality of life within the state. Will the Denver metro area be left overpopulated and ridden with homelessness, or will the housing crisis improve for hundreds of thousands of people across the state?
Oceangate
Ione Narajka
June 18th, 2023, OceanGate’s submersible Titan went missing just an hour and forty-five minutes into a trek to look at the Titanic. Five people, including OceanGate’s CEO, were onboard. The following four days heavily featured Titan’s rescue efforts in the news, until the US Coast Guard reported that they found debris from the submersible on the 22nd. It is believed that the vessel had imploded, and those on board died quickly and painlessly.
OceanGate has faced a lot of controversy regarding their vessel’s safety even before the voyage. While Titan was missing and after the debris was found quite a few safety concerns came to light, including the fact that the submersible was being piloted by a regular Logitech game controller. The internet latched on to the story and the clear design flaws, and produced multiple jokes at OceanGate’s expense.
Gun Violence in 2023
Lanaya Bannister
In the year 2023, there’s been a lot of commotion with gun violence. One big thing is
mass shootings. As of December 7, 2023, there have been around 632 mass shootings.
A mass shooting is defined as “an incident in which four or more victims are shot or
killed.”
The biggest mass shooting this year was on October 25 18 people died and 13 were
injured.
During these shootings, there have been around 597 deaths and 2,380 injuries
according to ABC News.
These are just the shootings that have been reported and investigated. There could be
many more.
Because of gun violence more than 40,167 people have died. This is an average of 118
deaths A DAY. 1,306 of these people were teenagers and 276 were children.
Not only is it person-on-person violence but there’s been a lot of deaths due to
self-infliction. About 22,506 people have killed themselves with guns. This would make
an average of 66 suicides A DAY.
Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, and Louisiana have the highest death occurrences.
1,344 people have died due to police involvement and 46 officers have been killed.
1,472 deaths from this year were “unintentional” shootings.
The U.S. has surpassed 40,000 deaths due to guns every year since 2014. However,
the number is going down as it used to be 50,000.
Biden has passed a gun reform bill which is hoped to change the amount of gun-related
Deaths.
Squid Game Reality Show Flops and They’re Still Recruiting for Season Two
Sariah Williams
Following the release of Squid Game in 2021, it remained Netflix’s #1 show for nine consecutive weeks. The show has since been very successful and fans begged constantly for a season two. Instead Netflix released Squid Game:The Challenge. Immediately after Netflix released word of the reality version of Squid game, fans everywhere were discussing if Netflix was being a little tone-deaf. Squid Game’s premise touches on Capitalism and a system of equality, viewers found it odd that Netflix would turn it into an actual game.
When the show was finally released players started coming forward about the grueling recording process and unfair elimination of players. “We were holding our positions for 15 to 20 to 25 minutes at a time… Red Light Green Light did not last five minutes, it lasted seven to 8 hours depending on when you were able to finish.”, Player 399 said after the season ended. Players also noted that the room was freezing and standing for 10-15 minutes while the camera crew went around trying to stay still was why over 200 players were eliminated in the first game.
Netflix apparently could not get enough reasons not to watch the show, when Squid Game’s winner came forward and confessed Netflix had still not paid her the 4.56 million dollars, even though the show finished in February.
Not only did Netflix release a show that was projected to fail, they put contestants through a rough experience and still failed to pay the winner on time. Although the show has a lot of flaws and should not have a season two. It’s good junk tv and is entertaining, but it was a little distasteful.
Colleen Ballinger Cancellation Apology
Aidan Shepard
Colleen Ballinger, also known as MirandaSings, posted her infamous apology video on June 18th 2023. This video was in response to the grooming allegations about her that had been circulating for a few months at that point. However, it’s hardly an apology — it’s more of a deflection. Instead of apologizing for her actions, she wrote a song. But it gets worse, as in this song she frames the people coming out with their stories about how she acted inappropriately to them as misinformation, and that they were trying to cancel her for their own enjoyment. A prime example of this is the line, “… those rumors look like facts if you don’t mind the gaps. I won’t survive in the crash but hey, at least you’re having fun.” Due to the immense backlash she received for addressing such a serious topic with a ukulele, she canceled all of her remaining MirandaSings shows for all of 2023 the following month.
Her Apology Video (blocked on @aurorak12 accounts)
