2k18 New Hope Solebury Mini-THON promises to do it all FTK

Justin Horak & Devon Beacham
Staff Writers

With more than 90,000 student volunteers and 265 schools in 8 states, New Hope Solebury High School is contributing to conquer cancer. Mini-THONs are bringing hope to families in need and giving back to their community. During the 2016-2017 school year, high schools and colleges raised more than $6.46 million dollars for the Four Diamonds organization. This 2018, the high school’s annual participation in the Four Diamonds Mini-THON falls on Saturday, Jan. 27, from 7pm to 7am the next day. This year’s theme is based off the phenomenal Netflix series Stranger Things. Once again the school has teamed up with the Four Diamonds organization which amps it all up FTK-- for the kids. Every year, students raise money for childhood cancer and are a part of a team. Mini-THON begins with an exciting dance from 7pm to 10pm. After the dance, the doors are officially locked and teams are checked in for the night. From there until the morning, the teams compete against each other in a series of competitions to keep the night lively. Activities include games like handball, dodgeball, karaoke, bubble soccer, movie watching and so much more. Throughout the night, prizes will be rewarded to winners of games, the top fundraisers, and more! Prizes include gift cards to favorite restaurants, apple watches, and Four Diamonds apparel! 
  Last year even after a long twelve hours of activities, too much redbull, snacks, lack of blankets, and complete exhaustion, NHS’s Mini-THON 2017 was considered a total success. Over $16,000 was raised through student donations, businesses, and from friends and family. This 2018, the goal is $18,000 but it is always great to go above and beyond! The best way to make this Mini-THON a success FTK is to start raising money now! Get creative! One day we will dance in celebration. Until then, we dance for the cure.

Australia moves to ban foreign interference in their politics

Jen Abele
Features Editor

Australia will ban foreign interference in politics through financial or espionage laws on Dec. 12, due to the 2016 election in the United States and also China influencing Australian politics through campaign donations.
   The new law states that a person involved conduct with other foreign entities that will influence a political process or government that was formed through covert or deceptive operations. The “sister” bill will be a piece on legislation on electoral reform to ban foreign political donations. The law includes providing, possessing, and obtaining information from espionage. The law also includes soliciting or acquire a person to pursue espionage. The new espionage law will lead up to the penalty of life imprisonment.
  As reported in ABC News, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stated why this espionage bill is essential: “Foreign powers are making unprecedented and increasingly sophisticated attempts to influence the political process, both here and abroad."
  Former President, Barack Obama, weighed in on Australia’s susceptibility to Chinese political influence during his presidency. He advised Australia to ban foreign donations from China.
  US Ambassador John Berry was also astonished by the Chinese influence over Australia with foreign donations.
  “We have been surprised, quite frankly, at the extent of the involvement of the Chinese government in Australian politics,” Berry stated in ABC News article; Australia to ban foreign interference in politics. “That, to us, is of concern. We cannot conceive of a case where a foreign donation from any government, friend or foe, would be considered legitimate in terms of that democracy.”

Wildfires appear untamable in California

Jack Buckard
Staff Writer

Early Tuesday morning, on Dec. 5, a new wildfire began ravaging Santa Paula, California. The new fire, predominantly fueled by wind, had burned 31,000 acres of land and forced 27,000 people to evacuate their homes on Tuesday. At least 1,000 structures had been swallowed by the flames and the insane wildfire is still growing. On Friday, Dec. 19, the blaze, labeled “The Thomas Fire,” expanded to 271,000 acres, which is equivalent to 423 square miles. It is now California’s third largest wildfire in history,
  Officials are saying that the fire broke out on Monday, Dec. 4, east of the city of Santa Paula, which is 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles. By Tuesday morning, the fire was already a massive 48 square miles.
  “The fire growth is just absolutely exponential,” Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said to CBS News, “All that firefighters can do when we have winds like this is get out ahead, evacuate people, and protect structures.”
  One of the buildings not protected was the Hawaiian Village Apartments. Firefighters prevented that fire from spreading, as winds of up to 50 mph attempted to stop them.
  On Friday, Dec. 8, the fire headed towards San Diego County, destroying over 4,000 acres overnight. “We are nowhere near the end of this,” Rona Lane, the county’s deputy chief officer said, “There are thousands of homes that are within the path of these fires.”
  The first person unfortunately died on Thursday, Dec. 14. Cory Iverson, 32, was a fire engineer who had been fighting the east flank of the Thomas Fire. Iverson’s death was the first fatality of the wildfire.
  Three separate fires close to Los Angeles forced over 100,000 people to evacuate, which is a lot more than the 27,000 statewide Tuesday. Although most of Los Angeles hasn’t been destroyed by the flames, Mayor Eric Garcetti said that “it was still an insecure time.” Winds could pick up at any time during the day, which could threaten the city. Furthermore, the Creek Fire, the largest inferno frightening the area, has already grown to over 15,000 acres and only 20 percent of it was contained. The Creek Fire has destroyed more than 60 structures, with around half of them homes, and another 2,500 buildings are in the path of destruction. With a State of Emergency being declared, it seems that no one in Southern California is safe, as anything could happen with these fires.

Fertile Soil Found on Mars

By Colin Morton
Staff Writer

On Nov. 28, NASA hosted a study on earthworms on whether or not they can reproduce in synthetic Martian soil.  The decomposers successfully reproduced, and it told scientists something big.  This discovery is a major one because it indicated to scientists that earth on Mars could possibly be able to produce live crops. 
  Previously, soil on Mars was thought to be poisonous with toxic compounds; therefore, it was deemed inhospitable to crops.  Biologist Wieger Wamelink told National Geographic, “It's possible to sustainably grow crops on Mars, but to do this, they'll need to modify the planet's dirt. Earthworms may help.” 
  Although the test soil is not directly derived from Mars, the compound is a very close replica.  It is only missing one chemical to be an exact recreation, and that chemical is called a “perchlorate.”  Perchlorate isn’t naturally found on Earth, therefore it must be created in a lab.  The reason for perchlorate not being in the synthetic soil is because the chemical hasn’t been 100% perfected yet.  Scientists don’t want to introduce the foreign substance until they know it is a valid replica.
  Worms play a magnificent role in every possible environment.  They are known as “decomposers.”  Decomposers are the organisms that break down dead animals and plants, and turn them into nutrients for more plants to grow.  If all the decomposers were to disappear from the environment, everything would be destroyed.
  This information is important because if the worms are able to reproduce in this soil, there may be a chance that life is possible on Mars.

Record-breaking ‘Stall Day’ fights cancer and exams

Parker Miele
Staff Writers

Stall Day is a day for NHS students to raise money for mini-THON, which raises money to fight  childhood cancer. Stall Day is also a day for the students to be able to miss a minute of class for every $2 raised. Many classes raised a ton of money, one of the best being Mr. Elvey’s second period contemporary issues class. The students had a quiz on the day of Stall Day and to avoid the quiz the class gathered together all their money and raised the $82 needed to miss class.
  Jack Tocci, who is in Mr. Elvey’s second period contemporary issues class, said that he was “so happy I didn’t have to take the quiz. I was up late with EMT class the night before.”
 The final figures for this year’s Stall day were impressive! Students were able to raise over $400 more than last year. This year students raised a total of $2657 while last year they got $2251 together. The money that students raised is very impressive, especially for the small number of students in the high school.
 Not only do students love missing class, but they also enjoy raising money for a good cause. Vanessa Northrup, who is in one of Mr. Rutledge’s statistic class, said “I really enjoyed Stall Day and having Mr. Rutledge bring in pretzels for all of us, but the best part was that the money we raised went to help cure childhood cancer!”
  Amanda Horak contributed to this article

High school’s ‘First Annual Cow Plop’ to fund prom

Maggie Pfeifle
Staff Writer

New Hope-Solebury High School’s first annual Cow Plop will commence on Jan. 11 at 2:30 p.m. on the football field to raise money for the Junior/Senior Prom.
 On Jan. 11, a cow will be brought in from a local farm. In whichever square the cow plops first, the owner of the square will receive 15% of the money raised.
 Each donation slip costs $25 and buys one square on the football field. Donation slips are available in the main office and are to be dropped off Dec. 15 and Dec. 21 before homeroom at the posts that will be set up by the main office and the theater lobby.
 After the collection dates, the names of participants will be put through a random generator to decide which square belongs to who. Once the squares are randomly generated, the participants will be informed of which square they were assigned. The size of the square is dependent on the amount of squares sold and will make up the football field. The squares will be mapped out online and on the day of the event, wherever the cow plop lands will be measured by exact coordinates to determine whose assigned square it fell in.
 Once it is determined who the square is assigned to, the buyer of that square will receive 15% of the total money raised. If the fundraiser goes well, this money could equate to over 1,000 dollars. The first place junior and senior seller will receive two free tickets to prom, the second and third place junior and senior seller will receive one. A portion of the money raised by freshmen and sophomores will also go to their future prom. In addition, for every five squares a person sells, they are automatically entered into a raffle to win a grand prize.
 A precedent is hoped to be set for future grades: having a single successful prom fundraiser. If participation from all grades occur, this will achieve the successful goal of extremely low prom ticket prices.

Kevin Spacey Faces Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Maggie Pfeifle

Staff Writer

Recently, more than a dozen sexual misconduct allegations have been made against actor Kevin Spacey ranging throughout the 1980s to just last year.

 On Oct. 30, in an interview with Buzzfeed News, actor Anthony Rapp publicly alleged that Kevin Spacey made a sexual advance on him in 1986, while Rapp was a teenager. Rapp alleged that Spacey had invited him over for a party, and, at the end of the night while Spacey was inebriated, had climbed on top of Rapp in an awkward sexual advance. Rapp says that he was able to squirm away and leave the apartment. Spacey was twenty-six at the time, Rapp only fourteen. Rapp stated that he felt compelled to come forward with the information following the accusations against Harvey Weinstein.

 In response to the accusations made against him, Spacey tweeted, “I honestly do not remember the encounter. But if I did behave as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years.” In the second part of his statement, Spacey came out as a gay man, which was met with outrage from the LGBT community who believed his timing was a deflection that reflected poorly on them. According to Variety, Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD said, “This is not a coming-out story about Spacey, but a story of survivorship by Rapp and all those who bravely speak out against unwanted sexual advances. The media and public should not gloss over that.” Other backlash came from celebrities, like comedian Wanda Sykes who tweeted, “No no no no no!  You do not get to “choose” to hide under the rainbow!  Kick rocks!”

 The Boston Globe reports that journalist Heather Unruh has also accused Spacey of sexually assaulting her teenage son in July of 2016. She claims that Spacey had sexually assaulted her son in a bar where he worked as a busboy. Spacey then allegedly urged the young man to accompany him to an after-hours party to drink more, before leaving for the bathroom, which was when Unruh’s son was able to run away. Unruh’s son reported the incident to Nantucket Police. A meeting with prosecutors will occur soon and “the investigation will proceed from there,” Cape and Island’s District Attorney, Michael O’Keefe has said, as reported by the Boston Globe.

 Other incidents have been alleged to take place at the Old Vic, a theater in London, between 2004-2015. According to the BBC, an actor at the theater, Roberto Cavazos, claimed Spacey, “routinely preyed on young male actors.”

 CNN additionally reported that eight crew members anonymously described the work environment of Spacey’s Netflix show House of Cards as a toxic work environment, saying Spacey’s behavior was “predatory and included non-consensual touching and crude comments and targeted production staffers who were typically young and male.”

 In a statement provided to the New York Times, Spacey’s publicist said: “Kevin Spacey is taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment. No other information is available at this time.”

 In response to the allegations, Netflix has since suspended production indefinitely on the next season of House of Cards, and has fired Spacey from the show he once starred in. Spacey’s upcoming biopic, Gore, has also been canceled, and Sony Pictures is replacing the actor with Christopher Plummer in All the Money in the World, an upcoming film that is set to release in December.