Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty of homicide. On August 25, 2020, Rittenhouse fatally shot two people and wounded another when he shot at them during a riot over police conduct in Kenosha, Wis. He was 17 at the time of the shootings, and 18 when the jury came to a verdict.

The protest was for Jacob Blake. A 29-year-old man was shot and killed by a police officer, Rusten Sheskey. In his testimony, Rittenhouse claims he brought the gun for protection and was only going to use the firearm if he feared his life. 

On the day of the protest, most demonstrators were acting peacefully, but others were being destructive to cars, property, and other people. Rittenhouse was chased into a parking lot by Joseph Rosenbaum, 36 of Kenosha. Rosenbaum was unarmed and “acting erratically” as explained in the New York Times article. Rosenbaum was shot in close range by Rittenhouse.

As Rittenhouse was fleeing the scene, he was pursued by two men—Anthony Huber (26) and Gaige Grosskreutz. Huber was protesting his longtime friend, Mr. Blake, before he was fatally shot by Rittenhouse. Grosskreutz survived the shooting. He is a medic from the Milwaukee area and testified at trial. He claims he pulled his gun out because he believed that Rittenhouse was an active shooter.

I believe that Kyle Rittenhouse is guilty. The claims of self-defense, Rittenhouse’s age, the circumstances, or whatever else do not matter. What matters is that two of the three men he shot died, and the one who had a gun was still alive and never shot at Rittenhouse. I believe that Grosskreutz could have shot Rittenhouse if he wanted to, but he did not want to. That is the difference between him and Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse intentionally wanted to shoot those three men at that moment. Do I believe he was worried more about his own life than the others? Absolutely. But I believe the relationship between the protest and Rittenhouse seems troublesome. I have not been able to find much information as to why Rittenhouse was at the protest, but it would be interesting to know if he was there defending Mr. Blake or if he was defending Officer Rusten Sheskey. 

The remains of an adolescent were found on September 30th in a rural area in Poweshiek County, Iowa. Nearly a month after discovering the remains, it was confirmed to be Xavior Harrelson. The 11-year-old has been presumed missing since May 27th.

Authorities found the body about 3 miles northwest of Montezuma. At this time there is no cause of death, and there are no persons of interest in his disappearance.

Before his disappearance, Xavior was a loving, adventurous, and smart kid. He was known to wander from home, but his parents say he wouldn’t be gone very long.

Authorities reported that there has not been any evidence of foul play in his case. There was never an Amber Alert sent out for his case because there was no evidence of an abductor or vehicle description to add to the report.

Personally, I think this case has too many open-ended questions. It is terrible what happened to Xavior, but there are so many questions as to where he was going, how he left, and if he was kidnapped or left on his own. I pray that authorities find out what happened to Xavior so his family can have closure.

Des Moines Register: Xavior Harrelson: What we know about the death of 11-year-old Iowa boy

Pfizer Covid vaccine: FDA authorizes for kids ages 5 to 11.

In the video clip, a reporter is saying the lead while a summary of the lead is displayed on the screen. The written article’s lead simply gives more detail to the title.

In the written article, there are three or more sources while in the news clip, Dr. Anthony Fauci is the only source. Fauci is attributed in the news clip at the beginning of his interview with Don Lemon. The sources in the written article are attributed with quotes and given credit accordingly.

The two stories have the same message behind them: doctors agree with the FDA’s approval of the first covid vaccine for children. Both articles interview different physicians to get the message across to parents about vaccination.

The footage throughout the news clip is mainly the interview between Fauci and Lemon; some graphics of statistics are shown as well. I think they should have added more pictures in the news clip because I lost interest in just listening and watching them talk. Pictures of the vaccine and of children receiving a vaccine are shown in the written article.

The structure in both is like an inverted pyramid, starting with the most important information then digressing to lesser important topics. I personally like this style because it gives viewers and readers the chance to learn about the most important information first rather than later.

As soon as I open my Monster Buddies fruit snacks an overwhelming fruit smell exploded from the pack. All of the monsters are squishy and have different features.

The pale red, almost pink, mosters with square faces and big mouths taste like sweet, strawberry, and raspberry magic.

The googly-eyed golden yellow gummies are a mixture of sweet and sour, and the grossest of them all in my opinion.

The booger-green monster had eyes in its mouth and three antennas on top of its head like a fat squished cell tower. The odd green monster tasted like a delicious, top-notch, tropical drink that you would buy in Miami Beach.

The dark blue monster looks like it has afro-like hair with a big smile and is crosseyed. The blue one tasted like nothing to me, it was like a tasteless glutinous snack.

Overall, the Monster Buddies are nothing like the great Scooby-Doo fruit snacks, but they are pretty tasty.

A team of more than 40 former law enforcement investigators, The Case Breakers, say they identified the Zodiac Killer and linked him to another murder.

The Zodiac has been connected to at least five murders in the San Francisco area between 1968 and 1969. Since the first murder, multiple potential suspects have been investigated. 

The killer gave himself the name in ciphers that were sent to the San Francisco Chronicle and other newspaper publishers. To this day only two ciphers have been cracked. The Zodiac claimed to have murdered over 37 victims because he wanted to “collect slaves for the afterlife”.

In one of his ciphers, he said, “I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me. … I am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradise all the sooner because I now have enough slaves to work for me,”

The Case Breakers believe that Gary F. Poste was the Zodiac Killer. Although he died in 2018, the team has compiled potential evidence to link him to the murders.

The first clue was when the team deciphered letters sent by the Zodiac that revealed Poste as the killer. The ciphers quite literally had his full name in it. Another clue that linked him was the scars on his forehead that are also present in the police sketch done in 1969.

Most recently, the Case Breakers connected Poste to the Cheri Jo Bates murder that occurred on October 31, 1966, in Riverside California. This murder took place two years before the first murder and is over 100 miles from San Francisco.

The Riverside Police do not believe that Cheri Bates was murdered by the Zodiac. There was a letter sent to them the year following her murder, but in 2016 someone came forward to admit it was fake. Investigators confirmed the author was not the Zodiac Killer and did not murder Cheri Bates.

One link between Poste and Bates is that at the time of her murder Poste was going to check-ups at a hospital only 15 minutes from the Bates murder scene. Another link was a watch was found at the murder scene with pain platters on it as well. Poste was a house painter for more than forty years. Detectives discovered a military boot footprint at the Bate’s murder scene and it matches the size and style of the footprints found at the Zodiac crime scenes.

Since there is a significant amount of evidence for Poste being the Zodiac Killer, Poste’s former neighbor has come forward and said she believes he was the Zodiac Killer. Poste and his wife babysat her, and she claims he “lived a double life” and that it never hit her until she was older and “it hit me full-blown that Gary’s the Zodiac.”

https://www.foxnews.com/us/cold-case-zodiac-killer-identified-murder

On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, said immigration officers are no longer able to detain and deport individuals from the U.S. exclusively because they are undocumented. 

People who cause a threat to the public, national, and or security safety are the focus for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. This includes people who are suspected of terrorism or spying.

ICE officers are prohibited from arresting or deporting undocumented immigrants who have been contributing members of the U.S. community, including healthcare workers, farmworkers, or individuals in the service industry. New guidelines also permit ICE officers from detaining individuals whose documentation was revealed by corrupt businesses.

The new guidelines should alleviate the stress of undocumented immigrants who had a great possibility of expulsion from the Trump administration.

New guidelines will begin on November 29.

I think this is a great change for the United States Homeland Security. I always wondered why our leaders would leave the old guidelines in place since they separated innocent families and caused more harm than good. The fact that the process of documentation takes an extensive amount of time to complete and ICE officers were removing immigrants before they could even get a chance to be documented also never made any sense to me. People come to our country either to cause harm or to have a better life. It is extremely unfair to the people who are only looking for a better life to be deported for simply living. However, I believe ICE officers should continue to do their jobs by removing dangerous immigrants who want to cause harm.  

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/30/immigration-us-will-no-longer-deport-people-simply-because-they-are-undocumented.html

On Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two laws that focus on protecting the privacy of abortions providers and their patients.

Governor Newsom approved and signed two laws intending to protect the privacy of abortion providers and patients. Newsom declared California to be a “reproductive freedom state” and brought up points that disagree with Texas and the efforts to limit abortion procedures.

The first law made it illegal to film people, with intentions of humiliation or intimidation, within 100 feet of an abortion clinic. The second law makes it so individuals on their parent’s insurance policies can keep their complex medical information confidential. 

America’s two largest populated states, Texas and California, are on opposite ends of the spectrum when abortion is a topic. With Texas passing a law that makes abortions illegal after a heartbeat is detected (before 6 weeks), the conflict between the two states has escalated. 

Personally, I am on the same end of the spectrum as California. I believe that what the lawmakers in Texas are doing is wrong because most of the time a woman does not know she is pregnant until after the sixth week. When safe abortions are not an option after six weeks, women could choose to take the abortion into their own hands, literally. Unsafe abortions cause complications to the woman’s psychological and physical health, such as bleeding out, severe trauma, or in the worst cases death to the fetus and the woman. There is an even smaller number of women who do not know they are pregnant until they miss their next menstrual period, so four weeks after their last one. Say a woman knows she is pregnant at five weeks. She has one week to decide if she is financially, physically, and mentally able to carry the fetus to term, and that’s only if she finds out before the sixth week. This is not politics; it is a war on women.

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2021-09-22/california-governor-signs-privacy-laws-for-abortion-patients

Gabby Petito’s story has been taking over news stations around the country. The 22-year-old woman loved adventure, social media, and spending time with her family and fiancé. On July 2, 2021, Gabby Petito and her fiancé Brian Laundrie began their cross-country road trip. The last time anyone saw Gabby was on August 25 around the Grand Tenton National Park is in Wyoming.

The couple traveled through Kansas, Colorado, and Utah. During most of the road trip, Gabby was recording moments for her YouTube channel. 

In Utah on August 12, the couple was stopped by officers. The Moab City Police Department claims they had “engaged in some sort of altercation” The police had received multiple reports of disorderly conduct. The couple had gotten into a physical fight. Gabby had slapped Brian after an argument and were both adamant that he did not hit her. The couple agreed to not press charges.

Gabby loved adventure, but she also loved her family. She would always go off the grid and explore, but as soon as she got a WIFI connection again she would call or message her family. On August 30, Gabby’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, received the last text message from her daughter. Nichole claims that the message was “odd” and is suspicious as to if it was Gabby.

On September 1, Brian had returned the van they were traveling into his parents’ home in North Port, FL without Gabby. 

On September 11, Gabby’s family reported Gabby missing with the state of New York, where she and her family are from. Soon after on September 15, Laundrie was named the person of interest for Gabby’s disappearance. Laundrie has not been cooperative with the police and refuses to speak with them. 

On September 17, Laundrie’s family reports him missing. Laundrie is still a person of interest in the investigation, but the police claimed they are “not currently working on a crime investigation”. Both Gabby and Laundrie are considered missing persons.

On September 19, Gabby’s body was found. An autopsy confirmed the manner of her death was a homicide, but there is no final cause of death. 

There is no update on the whereabouts of Laundrie, but many search teams, police, and his family are looking for him.

My suspicions are high when reading this case. I believe Laundire had a part in his fiancé’s disappearance and murder. I believe he, just like anyone else, can carry out a murder. The number of young Native women who go missing in that same area Gabby disappeared in is unfathomable. I am not sure if it is just a place where murders can hide their victims, or if there is something else going on there. There are rumors of supernatural creatures being known in this area, such as demons or skinwalkers. There are endless possibilities to this case since it is all-new, but there are many questions from Laundrie that should have been answered. When Laundrie went missing only a few days after he became a person of interest, it only raised more suspicions against him. 

https://abc7ny.com/gabby-petito-disappearance-timeline-brian-laundrie/11024821/

Before Gabby, Indigenous Girls Went Missing In Wyoming

On Thursday, President Biden mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for two-thirds of workers. If workers are not willing to get vaccinated, they will need to follow-up with weekly testing for the infection. Healthcare workers and most federal workers will be disciplined if they refuse the vaccine.

The president expressed his feelings toward the nearly 80 million Americans who are eligible for the vaccine but refuse to get it. “We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us.” Said the President.

Biden has promised to “protect vaccinated workers from the unvaccinated” 

Many companies in the country were hesitant about mandates before the Pfizer vaccine was approved by the FDA, but now that it is approved many of them are beginning the process of mandating vaccines. 

Mr. Biden also expressed his thoughts toward governors who are refusing mandates by saying, “If those governors won’t help us beat the pandemic, I’ll use my power as president to get them out of the way.”

My comment:

I believe that what the president is doing is right. There are millions of people who have contracted the disease and were hospitalized, and thousands of people have lost their lives. In January, the death rate peaked, and I am worried that it will only repeat itself if people are not vaccinated. There are too many lives at stake. I understand the people who will not get vaccinated for religious beliefs, but I do not believe or understand the people who simply refuse for other reasons, such as the government trying to track or control us. There is a way to prevent COVID-19, and it may not be easy to get 80 million people to change their minds, but I hope they will soon.

The article I chose is from CNN and written by the highly respected Chris Isidore. The Category 4 hurricane, Ida, swept through the city of New Orleans taking out power for nearly a million people. The city is hoping to have most of the power back on by Wednesday, but the possibility of thousands of people being without power for weeks if not months is very high. St. Charles Parish, a town west of New Orleans and home to more than 50,000 residents are expected to be without power for at least a month. The possibility of creating an electrical grid that will stand through Mother Nature’s wrath is nearly impossible. Quickly restoring power is crucial, according to both experts and public officials in Louisiana, writes Isidore. The financial losses due to the hurricane creates larger problems both right after the storm and during the clean-up. Fixing power grids will take time, but the longer the residents must wait the more losses and costs they will experience as well. Huge power lines were sentenced to the ground during the storm and will take months to fix. Sending the power lines underground is a common practice in Europe, but it is extremely expensive. While the state decides, solar panels and batteries are being offered to the residents to get power back up. The costs of making a change to the power and the costs of doing nothing are both greatly impactful to the residence of New Orleans and the surrounding area. “But it will take both time and massive amounts of money to fix the system. Cohan said to do the minimum to make the US electrical grid as resilient as it needs to be would cost hundreds of billions of dollars. Webber said it would cost trillions of dollars spread over decades to do the complete upgrade. The current massive infrastructure bill sets aside less than $100 billion for electrical grid improvements, though.” said Isidore.

The storm that took place in southern Louisiana is tragic, but I believe that the officials and the Louisiana government should adopt the method of putting their power lines underground. Doing so will decrease the costs of clean-up, prevent most residence from long-term power loss, and overall be more beneficial in the long run. 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/01/business/hurricane-ida-fixing-electrical-grid/index.html