Vaping Regulations Effects on Businesses

Ian Mendola

Staff Writer 

Over the course of the past few years vaping has become a major industry, boosting  America’s economy. The article, Trump's vaping crackdown could help Juul by ending the decade's biggest small-business success story, written by Andrew Van Dam, talks about how the government's crackdown on vaping is hurting small businesses and allowing Big Tobacco companies to monopolize the market. The article begins by explaining that the vaping industry is primarily dominated by small independent vape shops. Dam explains that these shops are valuable for local economies and beneficial to the communities they reside in through the taxes they generate.

Nonetheless, the Federal Government continues to move ahead on putting a ban, or significantly increasing regulations, on vape products. Dam goes on to explain that “a government ban on flavored vapes and increased regulation could wipe them (small, independent vape shops) out and leave an opening for Big Tobacco and big tech to dominate the fast-growing industry” (Dam 1). Essentially what Dam is saying is that these government regulations will extremely diminish the amount of businesses, especially small ones, in the vaping industry because government prices could make it infeasible for these small businesses to continue production. It will be too expensive for everyone aside from the major players like Juul, which will eventually allow them to form a monopoly as the smaller players in the industry will be gone. After Dam makes this point he compares vaping to the alcohol industry. 

After prohibition ended and the 21st Amendment was passed, expensive regulations killed many small brewers in America and allowed for a few larger brewing companies to monopolize the market. Dam explains that “A few enormous corporations still sell six out of every seven U.S. beers, leaving about 7,447 craft brewers to split the remaining 14 percent of the market.” (Dam 2). Looking at history, it is too easy to envision a future in which the vaping industry, like the alcohol industry, will be a monopoly. A monopoly, in part, established by the government.

Trump has Repealed the Flavor Proposal

Ian Mendola
Staff Writer

 It was a wowing reaction to an eye opening health crisis very deeply affecting today’s teenagers. In the Oval Office in September, President Trump said he was moving to ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes as vaping among young people continued to rise.

  “We can’t have our kids be so affected,” Trump said. He continued to speak on how “Many people think vaping is a wonderful thing, when it’s really not wonderful commissioner”.   When Trump placed the ban back in September, All flavors of Juul, except Mint, Menthol, and Tobacco were pushed to be banned from in store resale. The flavors include: Mango, Fruit Medley, and Creme Brulee. Juul has been under fire from the FDA for a very long time due to the teenage epidemic that has been spreading globally for the past few months.

  The vaping industry has taken some turns after the bans and regulations on the products, but their advertised mission is to help people with a safer alternative to smoking as of 2018 there are approximately 43 million users worldwide. 

   On Nov. 11, Mr. Trump tweeted that he would be “meeting with representatives of the vaping industry, together with medical professionals and individual state representatives, to come up with an acceptable solution to the vaping and E-cigarette dilemma.” These meetings will set the precedent for future laws and legislations on the vaping industry.

President Trump has had many of his advisors and White House Staff members, alert him of the danger that this potential ban could put him in during the 2020 election. Data taken by the New York Times suggests that many of his voters are smokers or e-cigarette smokers. By enacting this ban on vaping products, big companies will not make money, as well as Trump will lose support in the long run.

Personally I would agree with many of Trump's advisors and campaign managers on this issue. Taking away someone's right to smoke and vape, is similar to taking away freedom from an American. When I read reports based off of the presidents ideas about the policy he would’ve like to move forward with and enact, I asked many students around New Hope-Solebury High School their thoughts on the issue at hand. The following are their responses:

Lila Datz, A junior “I think that stopping certain flavors of vape from being on the market, isn’t going to kill the craving for the buzz”. I agree with Lila’s statement because people that truly are addicted such as teenagers will use anything to satisfy their cravings. 

Eric Locke A Junior “I do not believe that vape products are the sole issue here because the deaths that have occured have been from teenagers using illegal and fake THC cartridges, not the actual nicotine product.” 

Will Kelley, “I don't think that he should do anything about his it because it is their choice if they want to put that stuff in their body.”

PISA Test Scores Demonstrate Large Gaps in Education in High-Schoolers

Laney Heffelfinger

Staff Writer

It’s certainly a little bit of an eye-opener when millions of dollars are put into an education system, only for the students in that system to regress or remain stagnant in their education. Recently, an exam was administered to 15-year-olds all over the world demonstrates that this specific demographic of American teenagers have remained stagnant in their education in both reading and math since 2000. For many years, a test referred to as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has been administered to adolescents all over the world, and for those of us in the United States, the results were not what we were expecting.

  This ultimately means that despite the United States’ numerous attempts to improve the educational progress of  American youth, these efforts have only been effective for those who fall into certain demographics.

  It seems that the gap between the higher and lower scoring individuals has been growing larger and larger. The scores of those in the top 25 percent have been increasing since 2012, however, those who fall into the bottom 10 percent have been scoring lower and lower on these international exams as time has passed.

  The overall result from the PISA exams demonstrated that ⅔ of the children examined were shown as below proficient in reading.

  When you look deeper into these results, you are able to see that when comparing American children’s scores to other countries, on average, children from the US fall “below the middle of the pack in math” according to the New York Times.

  Those who fall lower in these statistics have been the primary targets of the billions of dollars spent by the nation, however, despite the production of numerous national educational programs, the resulting scores are always uneven, with the higher-ranking students improving their scores with those in the lower percentiles falling more and more behind.

  Different educational groups such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are trying their hardest to evaluate what is leading to such an immense gap in scores between not only American children, but also between our youth and that of other countries.

Apple Bans Vaping Related Apps

Jackson Cane

Staff Writer

  As a result of recent crackdowns on e-cigarettes and vaping, Apple had no choice but to remove apps containing vaping needs or promoting it. Apple took down 181 “vaping” apps that helped consumers find vape stores or flavors, games or social networks promoting it, and allowing users to control their vape or pens. This ban was the second of its kind in relation to e-cigarettes and apps. In June, Apple updated its rules to ban new vaping apps from being accepted in the category with apps promoting excessive use of alcohol, use of tobacco, and illegal drugs. Yet now Apple banning all apps prior to the update in rules from June.

  Apple has also released a statement in agreement with health experts, stating their belief on this so-called epidemic. Health experts calling “the spread of these devices a public health crisis and a youth epidemic,” as Apple responded, “We agree.” With deaths and illnesses on the rise over the past year deemed vaping related, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges people to stay away from vaping anything since the side effects are unclear. 

  After making an astute and smart choice for the wellbeing of the company, Apple now faces controversy and criticism from opposers of this ban. The majority of apps were stores advertising products, although users couldn’t purchase vape products from them, along with apps connected to the devices to change temperature and custom settings of vapes. Owners of the apps are still able to use it as of now, but will eventually experience problems as Apple continues to upgrade software and hardware in the future. As this might strike as unfair to consumers of the legal age, Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, made a statement regarding the ban and the youth, saying, “By taking e-cigarette related apps off the App Store, Apple will help reduce youth exposure to e-cigarette marketing and discourage youth use of these products.” Since the dawn of their beginning, Apple controls their apps and what is put in or out of the App Store, not the users. For this ongoing vaping relating epidemic, there are many unknowns in which only time tells to discover them. 

A Significant Win for the United States of America

Connor Fitzgerald and Michael Borys

Staff Writers

On Oct. 26, 2019, the U.S. performed a raid on the leader of ISIS which resulted in his death. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was found in a compound, and after being confronted by U.S. troops, then ran to a tunnel which had no exit. This led to al-Baghdadi detonating a suicide vest which killed him and his two children. The blast also injured the heroic military dog that chased him down the tunnel. 

  The attack took place on Sat. around 5:00 p.m. Baghdadi’s death was announced by the special operations forces when they declared “jackpot” at 7:15 p.m. EST. Six enemies were killed in this raid, and 11 children were safely evacuated. Al-Baghdadi was the United States government’s most wanted terrorist. They offered a $25 million bounty for him.

  Conan, the heroic canine which chased and pinned al-Baghdadi in the tunnel, was named courageous by President Trump and will be visiting the White House once he is healed from his wounds. He is a four year member of special operations and has been involved in 50 combat missions with the troops. 

  Once all troops and citizens were removed from the compound located miles from the Turkish border, a precision airstrike was targeted on the compound which destroyed information, evidence, and reduced the building to rubble.Al-Baghdadi was buried at sea located at a classified located by U.S. special operations forces.

  By removing Baghdadi from the battlefield, the United States has neutralized the threat from a man who was both ruthless and experienced in running a terrorist organization. This was a huge accomplishment for our country and the United States will continue to track and eliminate any new ISIS leaders. ISIS announced Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as their new leader.

Government's Big Tabacco Problem

Ethan Apparies

Staff Writer

Over the course of the past few years vaping has become a major industry, boosting  America’s economy. The article, Trump's vaping crackdown could help Juul by ending the decade's biggest small-business success story, written by Andrew Van Dam talks about how the government's crackdown on vaping is hurting small businesses and allowing Big Tobacco companies to monopolize the market. The article begins by explaining that the vaping industry today is primarily dominated by small independent vape shops. Dam explains these shops are good for local economy and beneficial to the communities they reside in through the taxes they generate.

  Nonetheless, the Federal Government continues to move ahead on putting a ban, or significantly increasing regulations, on vape products. Dam goes on to explain that “a government ban on flavored vapes and increased regulation could wipe them (small, independent vape shops) out and leave an opening for Big Tobacco and big tech to dominate the fast-growing industry.” Essentially what Dam is saying is that these government regulations will extremely diminish the amount of businesses, especially small ones, in the vaping industry because government prices could make it infeasible for these small businesses to continue production. It will be too expensive for everyone aside from the major players like Juul, which will eventually allow them to form a monopoly as the smaller players in the industry will be gone. After Dam makes this point he compares vaping to the alcohol industry. 

  After prohibition ended and the twenty first amendment was passed, expensive regulations killed many small brewers in America and allowed for a few larger brewing companies to monopolize the market. Dam explains that “A few enormous corporations still sell six out of every seven U.S. beers, leaving about 7,447 craft brewers to split the remaining 14 percent of the market.” (Dam 2). Looking at history, it is too easy to envision a future in which the vaping industry, like the alcohol industry, will be a monopoly. A monopoly, in part, established by the government.

Google Pixel 4’s New improvements

Jackson Cane

Staff Writer

In today's world of technology, consumers are witnessing first hand the evolution of one of the greatest inventions known to mankind, the smartphone. Google stands above its competition through creating the ultimate devices at the best of their ability.  Competitors of Google, such as Apple and Samsung, have been neck and neck on releases these past few years. From the upgrades of the original Pixel, releasing in 2016, to the recent 3 and 3a, introducing newer camera specs and screen upgrades, Google has done an incredible job at keeping up with others, even outdoing them in some categories. But does the Pixel 4 have what its competitors don't?

  Being released on the 24th of October, the 5.7 × 2.7 Pixel 4 is priced at $799 and $899 for the 6.3 × 2.9 Pixel 4 XL. These phones feature AMOLED screens with options for either 64 or 128 gigabyte storage. The camera features display the most substantial improvement from previous generations’ and competitors’ hardware The Pixel 4 features a dual 12-megapixel and 16-megapixel telephoto rear camera, and an 8-megapixel front, coming nothing near Apple’s iPhone 11 base and pro models. Both the rear and front cameras are 12-megapixel, featuring two lenses for the base model and three for the pro. Apple also out-performs Google with double the frames per second (60) in 4K video, a feature most consumers are demanding. User preference of operating systems also plays a role, and Pixel 4’s Android 10 provides the most capabilities coupled with a user-friendly interface.  It comes down to the price, operating system, and ability to take photos and videos for consumers. The Pixel 4 offers the most mediocre stage of what smartphones are at. Google in all could be leaving past consumers wanting more for their next phone, yet also meets standards to compete with others. 

Sean Kratz, Cosmo DiNardo’s cousin, takes the stand

Lucie MacGillvray

Editor

Sean Kratz, cousin of the infamous murderer Cosmo DiNardo, began his trial in a Doylestown courthouse on Nov. 6 on account of assisting DiNardo with three of the four gruesome killings from 2017. Kratz has been charged with conspiracy, abuse of a corpse, criminal homicide, first degree murder, and other charges relating to the murders of the four boys in 2017. If found guilty, Kratz may face the death penalty. 

  During the time of July 5 to July 7, 2017, four young Bucks County men had been reported missing. In a drug deal gone wrong, Dean A. Finocchiaro, Thomas C. Meo, Jimi T. Patrick, and Mark R. Sturgis were lured with the promise that DiNardo would sell them marijuana, but were killed by Cosmo DiNardo on a family-owned farm in Solebury. DiNardo had taken a plea deal and is set to serve a life sentence. Kratz is accused of contributing to the murders of Finocchiaro, Meo and Sturgis.

  Considering there is usually not much felonious news in Bucks County, residents of New Hope were understandably shocked at the horrendous homicides. Many students at New Hope-Solebury High School can easily recall the event. Tate Pronel, a high school student, said, “It feels like it was just yesterday when it happened. I can remember the sound of helicopters flying near my house. It was scary!” 

  On Nov. 8, a video of Kratz’s interrogation was shown to the jury in which Kratz denied any involvement in DiNardo’s brutal slaughter, and that he had failed to report the crime because he feared DiNardo. Kratz had also vocalized his disdain for DiNardo when he said “What an evil (expletive) kid. I hate you, you sick monster.” Alongside Sean was his mother, who begged that Sean tell the police exactly what had occurred on the day of the crime. Finally, Kratz admitted that DiNardo had kept two guns on his mother’s property. Both Kratz and DiNardo are set to testify.