Author: Nicholas (Page 1 of 3)

In an East Bay Times article, it was reported than a teenage girl was killed by her mother’s boyfriend after an argument about the boyfriend smoking in the house.

On Tuesday night, the teenager confronted her mothers boyfriend about smoking in the house. After the dispute, the mother’s boyfriend retrieved a handgun from his room. The brother of the teenage girl tried to intervene and the boyfriend shot him in the leg. The mother went downstairs to call 9-1-1 and heard another shot, which was the boyfriend out on the deck, shooting the girl. After shooting the girl he then returned back inside and shot his girlfriend’s son in the chest.

The man then turned the gun on himself and shot himself in the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene and the two siblings were both pronounced dead later that night at the hospital.

To make matters a little worse, the late husband of the woman had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound three years prior in the same house.

I think this story is relevant due to the relevance of gun safety and gun restraints in the nation right now. Many people are debating the topic of gun control. Also, the awareness to possible mental health issues. These are two hot topics on the news in our world today and I think that is what helps bring this story’s readers in.

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At 9:53 this morning, there was an explosion in the Mega City Mall. Authorities are currently working to clear the site of the explosion in order to properly investigate the incident.

According to the police report from the Mega City Police Department, there were two fatalities and less than 100 injuries reported. The injured have been dispersed among both St. Mercy and Jean-Luc hospitals. Injures are reported to be consistent with fire and smoke inhalation.

Mall custodian, Madison Hartman, explained that she had been cleaning in the foodcourt when she heard a loud boom and was immediately hit by a chair that had flew through the air. The chair hit her in the color bone causing a compound-fracture. After she was knocked to the ground, she said she got up and ran for the nearest exit.

Hartman said, “I didn’t see anything suspicious before I started cleaning and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.” She is currently being treated at St. Mercy Hospital.

Capt. Fuglsang of the MCPD stated that the building will be closed until the “structural integrity is assessed.” To the captain’s knowledge, this is an isolated incident and will be investigated as such. Homeland Security has also been informed of the situation and is en route to investigate alongside the MCPD.

As of now, this is all we know. Capt. Fuglsang will address the public again this afternoon at 2 p.m. with updated information.

The Mega City Mall sends it’s condolences to the victims families and will be present if needed to assist the public in this tragedy.

Early this morning, here at the Midland Zoo, our beloved Homer passed away.

At around 7 a.m. this morning, the zookeeper, Sara N. Getty, found Homer in his enclosure. The cause of Homer’s death is unknown and Midland Zoo and its faculty are doing everything in their power to find out what happened.

Chris P. Bacon, the zoo director, said, “We will do everything in our power to determine how this bear died. Animal welfare and the preservation of species are our primary goals here at the zoo.”

The zoo also stated that two other animal deaths have occurred this month, but the deaths are unrelated. These deaths were of a 6-year-old giraffe and a 10-year-old bobcat.

The zookeeper, Sara N. Getty, said, “Homer was a very curious and playful polar bear and we will miss him terribly.”

Again, the zoo and its faculty are doing everything in their power to find out what happened to Homer.

2012 was the first year that Niklas Gustav stepped onto the gridiron. A friend of his had started playing football and Nik found it interesting. He began to attend practices with his friend and then signed up for the team, not quite knowing what he was getting himself into. Football was an unknown game to Germany as Nik described. 

The process of learning the game was just that for Nik, a process. Starting as a cornerback, moving to safety and then eventually to linebacker, Nik found his home on the defensive side of the ball. After playing for a couple years, he was getting more opportunities to play the game. 

In 2014, Niklas was selected to play football for team Germany in Kuwait in the World Cup. After a number of tryouts to make the team, he had to make it through multiple camps in order to play in the World Cup. 

Nik said that while there, they had to play some games at 11:30 P.M. because it was so hot during the day that they weren’t allowed outside during the day. In the days leading up to these late-night games, Nik said their whole day would have to be shifted back. Because of this, they would have to wake up at noon and would return to bed between 3 and 4 A.M. 

This is just a small example of the things that Niklas has done for the game of football. Players in these situations need to have a passion for the game in order to make the life adjustments. Life adjustments were about to become regular for Nik. In 2015, after realizing that he may be good enough to play in the United States, Nik began to attend camps that private U.S. high schools were attending. These private schools were too expensive, but one school got him in contact with Aquinas High School in Southern California. 

Following this, Niklas and his younger brother Joshka moved to California and lived with a family who was willing to take them in and this was set up through the school. 

Niklas then attended high school at Aquinas and played football and threw shotput. Niklas owns the school and league record in the shotput throw. After playing football in high school, he was offered to play at Morningside College. Football is the reason Nik game to the U.S. and it’s the reason he has a college scholarship. Football presented Niklas with an opportunity to further his education here in the U.S..

It was here, at Morningside, that Niklas began to thrive immensely. He became a starter and leader on the defensive line and helped the 2017, 2018, and 2019 Mustangs clench their seventh, eighth and ninth straight GPAC conference titles. The passion he displays for football is also a reason for Nik being a key component in the Morningside Mustangs’ first NAIA National Football Championship in 2018.

One thing that stood out to me when I first met Niklas Gustav was his passion for football.

Nik is a person who, for as long as I have known him, has always been willing to do whatever it took to play the game. I also know how his passion can carry over into life.

In 2016, Niklas was selected to play football for team Germany in Kuwait in the World Cup. After a number of tryouts to make the team, he had to make it through multiple camps in order to play in the World Cup.

Nik said that while there, they had to play some games at 11:30 P.M. because it was so hot during the day that they weren’t allowed outside during the day. In the days leading up to these late night games, Nik said their whole day would have to be shifted back. Because of this, they would have to wake up at noon and would return to bed between 3 and 4 A.M.

This is just a small example of the things that Niklas has done for the game of football. Players in these situations need to have a passion for the game in order to make the life adjustments required. The passion he displays for football is also a reason for Nik being a key component in the Morningside Mustangs’ first NAIA National Football Championship in 2018.

An article from Siouxland News, written by Jetske Wauran, stated that a local couple were recently scammed out of $1,000.

Janie Koch, Sergeant Bluff, said that she received a friend request on Facebook.com from a known friend. After a few messages back and forth, the friend explained to Koch that she could claim $150,000 if she called a certain number. Koch continued to make the phone call and a women named “Megan” answered and said that in order to claim the $150,000 Koch would have to pay a $1,000 filing fee.

Through some explaining Koch was told to go to the local Walgreens and buy $1,000 in eBay cards. After purchasing these cards, Koch was told to give the numbers on the cards to “Megan” and then the $150,000 would arrive at Koch’s door on Monday.

Of course, the money never arrived.

I thought this article was well written and straight to the point. I think it is important for the local community to know about this as well as any larger community as well. The internet alone can be considered a massive community and bringing awareness to scams like this is very important, especially for people who are not quite familiar with social media and the internet.

Article:

https://siouxlandnews.com/news/local/local-couple-warning-social-media-users-after-losing-1000-to-scammer

I woke up next to her this morning at 7:30 A.M. She is 23 years old and white. She is average in height, probably around 5’7″, and is of medium build, possibly weighing anywhere between 155-165 pounds. She has short brown hair and by short I mean a buzz-cut, not just shorter hair for a woman.

Her eye sockets were fairly deep and her lips were full. She also had earrings in. One stud in each ear, with another hole in each for another earring. She looked tired; she had brown eyes that were open about half way. Her voice was raspy, but that could be because she had just woken up. Her voice is usually somewhat soft. She was in a maroon shirt and grey sweats.

The conversation we had was not much different than any other morning. She asked me what my schedule for the day was, answered and returned with the same question. She said she had a few classes to attend and work would follow shortly after. When I left the room, she rolled over and, I assume, went back to sleep.

Madison Hartman plays on the volleyball team, here at Morningside College in Sioux City, IA. Hartman was born on August 13^th, 1997 in Fremont, California to her parents, Brad and Julia Hartman and her sister, Savanna Hartman. Although she was born in Fremont, Madison was raised in Morgan Hill, California. Madison recently turned 22 and is beginning her senior year at Morningside. 

Although her hobbies include sewing and watching sports. Volleyball is her passion. Hartman began playing volleyball because she wanted to be better than her sister at something. Hartman said, “Savanna and I played the same sports while growing up and when she started volleyball her freshman year, I started too.” At this time Hartman was in seventh grade and she was determined to be better than her sister.

After going to college, Hartman’s coach convinced her to start playing sand volleyball with the idea that it would help her with her indoor game. Little did Hartman know, she would fall in love with sand volleyball but because of the limited sand volleyball programs at the collegiate level she would come to Morningside and play indoor. Hartman said she would have never been able to make the 1,755 mile journey to Sioux City without the help and support of her parents.

Hartman says that her two major influences are her parents. She says, “My parents have taught me right from wrong and encourage me to learn from their own mistakes.” Hartman says her parents have set an amazing example for her, driving her to become the amazing young woman that her friends and family have come to know today. She looks forward to moving home and being around her family more. 

Madison plans on moving home after college in order to save money, while working as a Marketing Assistant. Her short-term goals are to save up enough money to buy a new car and to move to San Diego.

In an article from The New York Times, “California Tells Schools to Start Later, Giving Teenagers More Sleep”, Christine Hauser and Isabella Kwai wrote about a new law that has passed in California, requiring later start times for middle schools and high schools.

In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law in pushing back the start times at most pubic middle and high schools. California is the first state to do this. Schools will start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. The reason for this is years of studying the effects sleep deprivation has on adolescents in school. 

Dr. Sumit Bhargava, a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford University and specialist in pediatric sleep medicine at Stanford Children’s Health, said that brain development in adolescents is still occurring and sleep deprivation can be a cause of disease later in life. Bhargava said, “the effects of that one hour is something they will be feeling as 40-year-old adults.”

Anthony J. Portantino, a Democratic state senator who wrote the bill, said that this is the “magic bullet” that everyone is looking for in order to cut across all demographics and ethnicities that “has a positive, measurable increase in test scores, attendance and graduation rates without costing money.”

Many concerns come to mind when thinking about parents and guardians needing to change their work schedules in order to get the students to school at these later times. 

I think this article was well written. It was written in inverted pyramid form. The beginning is filled with facts about the bill and the reason for the bill being created. The facts and statistics are presented in the middle. And at the end of the article, a point of suicide in adolescents in South Korea is brought up. 

With mental health concerns in adolescents rising, this article uses relevance to get the story out. For communities in California it also uses proximity, because it will be effecting them directly. 

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We are not the only species who have multi-layered societies, according to a study published in Current Biology.

Current Biology is an open access journal that publishes scientifically accurate research. This study was conducted in order to research the relationship between brain size and multi-level societies. Damien Farine led research on baboons’ hierarchal societies. While studying the baboons he began to watch the vulturine guineafowl wondering around his study site.

The vulturine guineafowl is a larger bird which resides in eastern Africa. Farine noticed that these “pea-brained” guineafowl had a multi-level society, much like baboons. Farine said the guineafowls do not only have small brains relative to mammals, but relative to other birds as well.

The study presents information on the idea that small brained animals may also have the ability to create multi-level societies. These are societies where groups are within groups within the population as a whole. Research states that the guineafowl choose other specific groups to be around as well as sleep around. This shows that much like humans; these birds are capable of choosing groups of their species to be around. 

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