SAMANTHA PEREZ-LIMON
By: Esmeralda Martinez-Lopez
By: Karina Davis
Russia and Ukraine Tension and anxiety continues to rise as Russia threatens to invade Ukraine. This all started at the end of December when Russia began to stockpile munitions along its border with Ukraine. Today, there are over 120,000 Russian personal positioned along the border. Aside from threatening Ukraine, Russia has also threatened to shoot down U.N. satellites. The U.N. responded stating that they will see it as a signal of war. Ukraine believes that Russia is trying to divide and weaken Europe and the U.N. Russia has been attempting to overthrow the Ukraine government by supporting rebels and sending 3,000 of their own personnel into Eastern Ukraine.
NATO expansion ban. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has a total of 30 countries, 27 European countries, 2 North American countries, and 1 Eurasian country. Moscow, Capital of Russia Moscow denies having any plans of attack and invasion despite their threats and their controlingness towards Ukraine. For example, Russia demanded that Ukraine should not join NATO and wants defensive alliance militaries such as those in Poland to be limited. The west and Russia have not yet come to any agreement because Moscow’s demands were seen as being non-starters where Moscow wants a
Image shows Russian troops at the Ukraine’s border.
NATO members are in blue These NATO unified countries stand against Russia and they do not plan to agree to the terms that Russia wanted. President Biden stated that any Russian troop movement into Ukraine will be seen as a sign of war. The United States and other countries in NATO stand by as Russia continues to threaten Ukraine and NATO prepares for what could possibly become armed conflict against Russia.
Janeli Cruz & Jesus Vargas
Satellite image of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano before the eruption, by Maxar Technologies.
An underwater volcano located in the South Pacific near Tonga recently erupted twice. The first eruption occurred on January 14 and later again on January 15. Tsunamis quickly hit Hawaii, Japan, and Tonga Islands. Additionally, Japan and Peru experienced harsh waves, which resulted in an oil spill and two drownings. After the news of the wave activity, the United States sent tsunami warnings for the West Coast as a precaution. The specifics on Tonga’s status are unreleased because of the damage to telecommunications, but it's estimated that there were 3 deaths, 100 homes damaged, and 50 destroyed on the central island.
The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai volcano has had a history of frequent eruptions over the years. Its last eruption was in 2014; a few years prior to the one in 2009 that merged the twin islands, Hunga Tonga and Hunga Haʻapai. As a result of the recent volcanic activity, the islands have separated and reduced in size. Fortunately, the islands are uninhabited. The aftermath left the area in volcanic ash, smoke, and brown water. Toxins in the water and air, along with Covid-19, have restricted the involvement of international support. Regardless, New Zealand's government assisted with
$340,000 in relief supplies and along with Australia, have sent their first reconnaissance flight. Meanwhile, the U.S. international aid agency provided supplies and shelter to residents. Overall, there is much anticipation to receive news back about Tonga's conditions.
Satellite image taken after the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano eruption, by JMA.
BY: Esperanza Herrera
COVID Cases
An Editorial by Eva Preciado
in LAUSD You’d expect schools not to reopen after the surge and a new variant spreading like crazy, right? Well, just 3 weeks ago LAUSD opened up schools again despite the huge surge of cases. Over 65,000 students and staff tested positive right before school but that didn’t raise any concerns to the LAUSD district. Everyone should be asking why schools are open and putting many students at risk, while knowing the impact that these variants are having on so many schools. At the end of the first week of returning to school, 80,424 positive cases were identified, including 68,560 cases among LAUSD staff and students, resulting in a test positivity rate of 14.6%. This didn’t raise a concern in the district and continued to keep the schools open. That was the highest number of cases the district saw since the start of the school year in August. This raised many concerns for parents, but their were told that it would be better for all kids to be back in person than going remote again.
Although LAUSD maintains
the highest COVID-19 safety standards of any other public school in the district, many kids
always
cross
one
problem. The daily pass which caused
problems
the
first
couple of weeks because many kids and staff couldn’t see their results due to the site crashing
several
LAUSD was
times.
rushing many
kids and staff last minute to get tested which became a huge issue for the daily pass. Another problem is that Bravo is a small school, and it’s very hard to keep a distance which makes it easier for the disease to transmit faster. I do believe the cases will continue to rise as the school year goes on. Even
though
the
district
claims that they can keep everyone
safe
with
the
protocols
they
have
like
weekly testing, hand sanitizer in every classroom, and
cleaning
the
classrooms
everyday after school. I don’t believe that will solve the issues and concerns schools are having. I believe schools shouldn’t have reopened, they should’ve done remote learning for at least two weeks and waited for cases to go down. But there are a lot of factors for why schools didn’t go remote.