Annika's Current Events Blog

        Single-use polystyrene food and drink containers have been banned in Maine, making it the first state to ban styrofoam. The bill was signed by Gov. Janet Mills, it will be enforced by 2021. Oregon, Vermont, and Connecticut are considering the single-use containers state wide. Some states have similar bans like New York and California have a ban on plastic bags. Companies like McDonalds and Dunkin’ Donuts have started to eliminate the styrofoam cups from their retail locations. The European Union has agreed to ban some single-use plastic containers like polystyrene, they hope to help the marine pollution.        I believe it’s great that Maine signed this bill. Saving the environment is very important because we have this world and that’s all we have. I don’t think many people realize how big of a movement this is. First Maine is the first of the states to ban polystyrene single-use containers, second its one step closer to getting rid o...

A medical student, Rom Rahimian, was helping a 20-year-old Guatemalan woman. She was found dehydrated, pregnant and in labor in the desert. Border patrol agents lingered in the room during medical examinations, they observed while physicians helped to stop her labor, listened in on conversations with doctors and even watched her ultrasounds. The agents started pressing that the patient is put into an immigration detention facility. As migrants cross the southern border many are taken to community hospitals. The respect and treatment of them have gone down, from restricting them from using restrooms to pressuring medical officials to discharge them to Immigration detention facilities. Although these people are migrants they deserve the respect of a human being, they aren’t dirt and treating them poorly won't do anything for them or us. Everyone deserves privacy if you were in the hospital in poor condition you wouldn’t want someone to be watching your every move. Not letting som...

On a school trip to a resort island, a Korean ferry had flipped and drowned 250 students. Families couldn’t do anything, students were calling parents to say their last goodbyes, South Korea could only watch. The nation would hope that from the disaster they could make a change. Some change has been enforced but it's hard to stop a lying crew. The Sewol Ferry crew knew they could make a good profit off of the school trip, they lied about the capacity of the ship. Shippers had loaded twice the legal limit of cargo on the decks, some would be tied with only ropes or nothing at all. If inspectors had boarded the ship the overboard decks would be hard to miss. Today the cheating still occurs even with new laws at sea. Some people don’t realize what money can do, in this case, the greed factor killed 250 students. The company that owned the ship didn’t care about the safety of the passengers, only about the money. With many safety precautions not taken, like secured luggage and no...

In New York, there has recently been a ban on plastic bags, but using paper bags from a store will still cost you five cents by next year. When the state lawmakers approved the ban on plastic carry-out bags it helped to end the “paper or plastic?” dilemma. The state lawmakers gave an option whether to charge for the paper alternative or not. They voted on it and there is a nickel fee on the paper carry-out bag. It was approved less than a month after New York became the second state to ban most plastic bags and the ban was signed on Earth day. Environmentalists like the movement of banning plastic but think that the paper alternatives will exchange one form of waste to another. I think banning plastic bags is a great idea to reduce plastic waste and with more decomposable paper bags. Although one form of waste is going to the other. Instead of plastic waste, we will have paper waste. I think the fee on the paper bags will help in the change. It would be so much easier to buy reusab...

Sri Lanka had devastating suicide bombings the days leading up to Easter Sunday. The bombings killed at least 321 people. Security agencies had been watching the National Thoweeth Jama’ath. The National Thoweeth Jama’ath was a little-known radical Islamist organization that security officials say carried out the act of the suicide bombings. They had known that this was a dangerous group and had warned of Catholic church bombings. They had known about radical Islamist that was possibly tied to the group with stockpiled weapons and detonators back in January. An enormous question is why the security agencies failed to act upon the information before the bombings. This question has led to a feud between the prime minister and president. A history of fighting between leaders has led to security breakdowns that led to one of the worlds deadliest terrorist attacks. Many people have lashed out on President Maithripala Sirisena for not taking action on the warnings before the attacks. This...

The president is very involved and uses twitter a lot. It seems to be a valued form of communication for him. Twitter is becoming a place for public officials to make statements, activists to pressure others, and reporters to give the latest news. This is very unrepresentative of America. This whole Twitter craze with politics may even affect the 2020 race. “The views of Democrats on social media often bear little resemblance to those of the wider Democratic electorate,” as said by Nate Cohn and Kevin Quealy. “The outspoken group of Democratic-leaning voters on social media is outnumbered, roughly 2 to 1, by the more moderate, more diverse and less educated group of Democrats who typically don’t post political content online.” Social media has influenced many things in today's society some of which have actually benefitted us. Social media is not a place for things that apply and are important to politics. Reports of it, however, are okay. When the president posts something th...

In the summer of 2014 Melvin, a 36-year-old mom with three kids had completed the journey of crossing the Rio Grande on a raft. She arrived in McAllen, Texas and was led to a house on the border. Melvin was locked into a room with the men she paid to keep her safe across the border. They drugged her with pills and cocaine, they withheld her and wouldn’t even let her bathe. “I think that since they put me in that room, they killed me,” she said. “They raped us so many times they didn’t see us as human beings anymore.” On the southern border women crossing the are being mistreated. Migrant women and girls become victims of sexual assault. Most of them go unreported. There are many stories like this, women being beaten, impregnated by strangers, bound with duct tape, rope or handcuffs, and some even forced into prostitution. The New York Times found many documented cases through police records, interviews, prosecutors, and federal judges and immigrant advocates around the country. What p...

In Beirut, Lebanon it was announced by the public prosecutor of Saudi Arabia's Office that it had completed its investigation into a group of women's rights activists, who were accused of working to “undermine the security” of the Kingdom. They also were preparing to put them on trial. The treatment of the activists has been frowned upon and criticized by human rights groups. The activists were arrested last spring but have not faced formal charges. Some of the activists were mistreated while the interrogation was taking place according to relatives although Saudi Arabia says otherwise. The group of activists included both men and women. Some of them had campaigned openly on lifting the ban on women driving, and some were in the middle of opening a shelter for abused women, that's when they got arrested. The activists ended up being detained while Saudi Arabia started to lift the ban on women driving. Some are assuming that the current ruler, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, di...

On February 25th at Sugarloaf strong winds toppled a communication tower. Winds increase to 50 mph. The same day winds got up to 53 mph in Portland, ME and New Hampshire's Mount Washington got up to 171 mph. A groomer took a photo of the tower and posted it online. The tower is owned by the Somerset Telephone Company. Franklin County Officials said that they lost three radio stations. Currently, they have a backup before they figure out a permanent fix. Officials said that the snow and ice that was on the tower helped bring it down along with the high winds that went beyond measurements. I find this interesting that winds and snow were able to cause this tower to bend in half. With many years of going to Sugarloaf Moutain, I’ve never seen anything like this. I went not long ago and the most that has happened is lift being closed because of winds. From experience and past knowledge, this tower has survived many storms with high winds and tons of snow. A couple of years ago the s...

With well known booming companies like Walmart and Amazon, another store had to file for bankruptcy like Toys ‘R’ Us, a popular kids store. Sears, a well-known retail store filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Sears was flooded with debt with $134 million dollars to pay.  Sears closed 142 stores, but after months they survived through the bankruptcy auction and 400 stores are being kept open. Eddie Lampert, a billionaire, and the companies chairman along with the largest shareholder, won the auction. Lampert ended up raising his offer to $5 billion to keep 400 stores open in the nation. This move will not only save 400 stores but 45,000 jobs. Bankruptcy is definitely one of the worst things that could happen to a business. As we have seen the well-known crash of Toys ‘R’ Us because of Amazon. This also happened to Sears. Like what's the point in going out to buy something when you could get it delivered to you with a click of a button? I do think Lampert's move was wise to help...

Islesboro a town on an island is three miles away from the mainland. They have to pay for a ferry round trip to leave. Most residents are having a problem with the increase of the ferry price. The change in price went up last May but since then some are really struggling because of it. Maggy Willcox, the publisher for the Islesboro Island News, wants to see her granddaughter but for a round trip, it costs her $30. She can only manage one trip a week. Every time she leaves the island she has to add $30 to whatever she's doing. Many people that live there have spoken out to the Maine Department of Transportation. I think that the Maine Department of Transportation should’ve taken this matter into consideration before they actually did anything. They should’ve thought about the people who don’t have access to the mainland by car or walking. With the ferry prices up some people can’t leave the island very often. It's disappointing when people can't leave to do the things th...

The beloved 74-year-old song, a classic, that would be on heavy rotation during winter time has now caused controversy. Now radio stations are taking the song down and won't play them. The song is about a man trying to convince a lady to stay with him but she repeatedly says “no”, but he still persists. Some interpret the song to sound like date rape. There has been criticism in the past but it took until this year for the topic to skyrocket. The song was originally written as an act for a party. Frank Loesser wrote it for him and his wife to sing as a party. The song ended up being a hit and they started to sing it everywhere. I can totally get where people are coming from especially with the #MeToo movement this year, but with the song being a Christmas classic and being around for more than 70 years then what's the point in criticizing it now especially if it’s been so popular. Why address the problem after years and years of being on the charts? In earlier times things l...

Recently a couple in New Jersey started a GoFundMe for a homeless man, except that this wasn’t for a good cause like it seemed. This whole thing had started on a lie and proceeded to be completely fake. Kate McClure made up a story about how Mr. Bobbitt gave her his last twenty dollars for gas. She said she “wanted to give back” and made a GoFundMe for him which raised $402,706. Apparently, all of the money was spent. Over $100,000 was being used for Casino play, but only 20,000 was actually spent on casino play. In March the couple exchanged texts about how they only had $10,000 dollars left. After a couple of months, Mr. Bobbitt sued the couple claiming they kept it for themselves. The couple and homeless man are now being charged with conspiracy and theft. I know things like this don’t happen very often but when it does it's very disappointing. In this case, Mr. Bobbitt was an actual homeless man and the couple set this up for themselves. Knowing that some people just pulled ...

Recently a bridge connecting Macau and Hong Kong was finished. It spans a long 34 miles making it the worlds longest sea bridge.  The bridge ended up costing more than a whopping $20 billion. It started 9 years ago, but it ended up going way over budget and they had to delay it for two years, but finally, it was finished this year. The structure required more than 400,000 tons of steel. The sea bridge is raised enough so ships can pass underneath. They made it so there was easier access in the area and hopefully have it lead to potential growth. I think this bridge could really change and improve some things. With Macau, and Hong Kong connected more people would be willing to travel because of the cheaper cost and easy access. More people could populate in the land and bring growth to improve the areas. Some say the bridge was to help China more politically than economically by bonding Macau and Hong Kong more. Luckily the 34-mile bridge still leaves access for boats so they c...

In Detroit, Michigan water with high levels of lead and copper is being used in schools. Some schools have stopped having water at their school. Water fountains have been replaced with water coolers. Parents are outraged and disappointed that this has been pushed off. They want the problem to be addressed. A test had been done by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that children under six had a higher percentage of lead in their blood in Detroit -- almost nine percent, above the statewide average of four percent. Some are saying that this is becoming a lot like the Flint incident which started in 2014. Officials and water quality experts say that the problem might just be of aging pipes. They say they’re decades old. Something very similar to this happened only a couple of years ago in Flint. The lead levels in the water were very high and exposed over 100,000 residents. If this exact problem has happened in the same state and only a few years later why hasn’t it bee...

In Vermont, Kiah Morris announced her resignment. She was the only African-American woman in the House of Representatives in Vermont. A month ago she ended her re-election bid because of the racial harassment she was getting. She posted something on facebook saying that she originally hoped she would be able to serve the rest of her term, and that “this time has proven to be one of significant challenge for my family.” Her term was supposed to end in January, but she shut down her re-election August 24. “I step away now to focus on caring for and supporting my family during this time of transition and ensure our health, safety, and well-being are prioritized.” She says. Not only was there harassment but she even had some cases of vandalism and home invasions. “We found there were swastikas painted on the trees in the woods near where we live. We had home invasions.” “It has come and gone and in different waves, but then it picked back up again and of course we are back in an election ...

In an article by Bangor Daily News, recently Maine has been lacking the support and help for children’s mental health problems. With children’s behavior disorders like autism and cognitive impairments, families are being held on waitlists for at home, and local community services. The state has even sent kids out of state for these services. These services have gradually stopped providing for families which have caused many kids to spend periods of time in psychiatric hospitals and hospital emergency rooms. Other kids are being sent to Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, the states youth prison. Mental Health Specialists are even questioning whether Maine children with mental health issues are getting the right treatment when they can get it.     This event actually comes shockingly to me. Just knowing how many mentally challenged kids that are in our school in Maine might not be getting the correct treatment. I’m questioning why some families didn’t b...

In February of 2018 in Parkland, Florida there was a school shooting. It impacted many of kids and influenced others to take action. Alex Wind, a seventeen-year-old junior, was crammed in a closet with sixty other students. He didn’t think he was going to survive. He texted his mom what he thought would be his last goodbye: “I think theres a shooter on campus… I love you guys.” Fortunately, he survived. He started to protest and tell his story along with Emma González, another survivor. The Parkland Shooting really got people to take action and protest for more gun control. Even though the shooting was in Florida high schools in D.C. started to take action and host rallies outside of the Whitehouse. Students everywhere started walkouts and protests because of the school shooting. I think that this action is great. These high school students have gone through a shooting with some of their friends being victims of the situation. This exact situation could happen to anyone. Prote...