APRIL 2019 NEWS RECAP

LOCAL NEWS:

MICCA

The Lexington High School Bands, Orchestras, and Choral groups performed in the annual Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association (MICCA) festival on April 5th to 7th. The Wind Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, Madrigal Singers, Concert Choir, and Chamber Singers all received gold medals for their performances and were invited to perform at either Symphony Hall on Saturday, May 4th or Mechanics Hall on Sunday, April 14th.

Patriots’ Day

The annual reenactment of the Battles of Lexington and Concord took place on the Battle Green for Patriots’ Day 2019. This annual event attracts hundreds of people to commemorate the 244th anniversary of the opening of the Revolutionary War on April 19th, 1775.

LHS Tree Huggers

Recently, an Instagram account supporting the nonprofit organization, Trees for the Future, was made by Lexington High School students. The account set up a giveaway for a free Hydro Flask water bottle, asking its followers to post a photo of themselves on Instagram hugging a tree, with #HugATree and to tag three friends. Many Lexington High School students are now posting their tree-hugging pictures to spread awareness of hunger, poverty, and deforestation.

Bikepath accident

Two cyclists hit each other head-on on the Minuteman Bikepath about a mile from the Arlington town line on Sunday, March 24th. Both of the men were taken to Lahey Hospital & Medical Center following the collision, which happened around 2 p.m. According to the police, one of the men passed away and the other remains hospitalized, but is expected to survive.

Stop & Shop strike

More than 31,000 Stop & Shop workers at 240 different stores across New England walked off the job on Thursday, April 11th. The workers were protesting proposed increases in health care costs, reductions in pension contributions for many nonvested part-time workers and new hires, and changes to Sunday and holiday overtime pay. For Stop & Shop, the first few days of the strike saw visits plummet 75 percent when compared to the previous weekend, according to the Boston Globe. After eleven days, the strike ended, and in a statement, Stop & Shop said it has reached “fair new tentative agreements” with the unions representing its associates in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. “We’re also glad to have our associates return to work as the strike has ended,” the statement said.

BIG HEADLINES:

Nipsey Hussle’s death

Nipsey Hussle died on March 31st after being shot multiple times in the parking lot of his store, Marathon Clothing. Hussle was a rapper, songwriter, entrepreneur, and community activist from Los Angeles. In the midst of Hussle’s funeral procession held on April 11th, which was attended by many celebrity figures paying their respects, yet another shooting resulted in one dead and three others wounded. Two weeks earlier, two people were reportedly hit by gunfire during an evening vigil for Hussle. Hussle’s death seem to be related to personal disputes, however the motivations behind the two latter shootings are still unclear. Many theorize the shooting was in retaliation to Hussle’s work with the police department to address gang violence in the city. JAY-Z, a famous rapper, paid tribute to Hussle during a concert on April 26th through performing a freestyle song that honored Hussle’s role in fighting anti-black racism.

College scandal indictments

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles are looking to indict more parents who may have been involved in the College Admissions Scandal. Prosecutors claim that they have evidence regarding individuals who have not yet been publicly charged. Actress Felicity Huffman, a parent implicated in the scandal, pled guilty to her charges along with twelve other parents. Fellow actress Lori Loughlin has not yet signaled an intent to plead guilty.

Notre Dame fire

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was damaged by a fire on the night of April 15th. Firefighters had contained the fire by morning, but not before the famous monument lost its spire and roof. Construction for the Cathedral started in 1163, and since has been a functioning Catholic church that serves as a site for many important religious events. Paris police investigators think an electrical short-circuit due to recent re-construction mostly likely caused the fire.

Easter Sri Lankan bombings

At least 207 people were killed and hundreds more injured in a series of explosions across Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. There were a total of eight blast sites at high-end hotels and churches.

Before the bombings on April 11th, a memo signed by Sri Lanka’s Deputy Inspector General of Police warned of a potential attack. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said at a recent press conference that he was not aware of this memo. ISIS has since claimed responsibility for the attack.

POLITICS:

Saudi-led coalition war on Yemen

President Trump vetoed a bipartisan resolution to end U.S. military aid to Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the Yemen Civil War. The Yemen Civil War is a conflict between the Houthi armed rebels and the Yemeni government, and has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and widespread famine.

Trump skips White House Correspondents Dinner

President Trump skipped the White House Correspondents Association dinner, which was held April 27th, for the third year in a row, claiming that it is “too negative.” Instead, he is planning to hold a political rally the night of the dinner. The White House Correspondents Association dinner is an annual dinner to salute the First Amendment, honor award-winning journalism and recognize scholarship winners. Historian and author Ron Chernow, the speaker at the dinner, called for civility between executive powers and the press using examples of past Presidents.

Mueller Report

A heavily redacted version of the Muller report was released on April 18 in the Department of Justice website. Despite the Special Counsel concluding there was no collusion between the Trump administration and Russia in the 2016 presidential election, the report describes numerous instances in which President Trump welcomed help from Russia. The report also reveals that Trump may have obstructed justice through trying to undermine the Mueller Investigation. Because of this, many Democrats are discussing the possibility of impeaching President Trump. Trump has insisted that he is “not even a little bit” worried about impeachment. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, along with many other Democrats in Congress, criticized the presence of redactions, with Pelosi claiming it is a “single-minded effort to protect @realDonaldTrump.”

William Barr

In May of 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein helped fire former FBI director James Comey by writing a detailed justification to dismiss Comey based on his mishandling of the Clinton email investigation. The Mueller report revealed that Rosenstein later pushed back against the idea that firing Comey was his idea, instead claiming that President Trump already planned to fire him for his own reasons. Meanwhile, Attorney General William Barr backed President Trump’s claims that the Mueller investigation was a “witch hunt.” Many have criticized Barr for lacking impartiality.

Romney on the Mueller Report

U.S. Senator from Utah and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney said he was “sickened” by findings of the Mueller report. Trump responded a day later tweeting “If @MittRomney spent the same energy fighting Barack Obama as he does fighting Donald Trump, he would have won the race (maybe)!” Attached to the tweet was a video contrasting footage of Romney’s loss to Obama with Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton.

President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani also responded to Romney, insisting there was “nothing wrong” with the President Trump’s 2016 campaign taking information from the Russians.

Ilhan Omar receives death threats

A Florida man has been charged with making death threats against many Democratic officials, including Representative Ilhan Omar, Representative Rashida Tlaib, and Senator Cory Booker. The death threats spewed hateful language against African Americans, Muslims, and immigrants. These threats came after a video was tweeted by Donald Trump featuring Ilhan Omar referring to the 9/11 attack as “some people did something,” which many conservative media outlets have criticized. Others have claimed that this video was taken out of context, as Omar’s original speech was making a point on the issue of Islamophobia. Omar responded by tweeting “No one person - no matter how corrupt, inept, or vicious - can threaten my unwavering love for America.”

LOOKING TOWARDS 2020:

Eighteen Democratic candidates are officially running for president in 2020, as compared to the two Republican candidates, Donald Trump and former Governor of Massachusetts and federal prosecutor, William Weld. Some of the lesser-known Democratic candidates include: Julian Castro, former mayor of San Antonio, Texas; Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana; Andrew Yang, entrepreneur and founder of Venture for America; Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator of Minnesota; and Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. Representative for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district.  

Joe Biden’s accusations & apologies

Three more women have come forward with accounts of inappropriate touching involving former Vice President Joe Biden, a report in the Washington Post said on Wednesday, April 3rd. The women—Sofie Karasek, Vail Kohnert-Yount and Ally Coll—shared stories similar to those of four other women who have described unwanted touching by Biden. In a video responding to the accounts, Biden acknowledged that some of his “gestures of support” make some people “uncomfortable.” Anita Hill testified before the Senate Judiciary committee during Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s confirmation hearing, saying that she “cannot be satisfied by simply saying, ‘I’m sorry for what happened to you.’” Biden responded, “I believed her from the very beginning, but I was chairman. She did not get a fair hearing. She did not get treated well. That’s my responsibility.”

Bernie Sanders’s tax releases

U.S. Senator from Vermont and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders disclosed 10 years of tax returns on Monday, April 15th, providing a detailed look at his finances. The returns show that Sanders’s earnings shot up after his first presidential bid when he built up a national following. He and his wife, Jane Sanders, reported income that topped $1 million in 2016 and 2017, lifted by proceeds from his books. Sanders’ best-selling book, Our Revolution, faced criticism for hypocrisy, as his previous policies criticise billionaires. Sanders responded by saying “if you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too.” According to data from the Internal Revenue Service, his income now puts him within the top one percent of taxpayers.

Candidates calling for Trump’s impeachment

On Friday, April 19th, Senator Elizabeth Warren called on the House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, joining fellow 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, Julian Castro. In a series of tweets, both Warren and Castro reacted to Robert Mueller’s report, which was released on Thursday and detailed the findings of a nearly two-year investigation. Warren wrote that the report shows that a “hostile foreign government,” Russia, “hacked our 2016 election to help Donald Trump and Donald Trump welcomed that help.” Castro wrote about how he “think[s] it would be perfectly reasonable for Congress to open up those proceedings,” and that “it’s clear that Bob Mueller in his report left that in the hands of Congress.”

Five candidate CNN Town Hall

On April 22nd, CNN hosted a town hall where five Democratic presidential candidates answered questions in front of an audience of college students in New Hampshire. Sen. Elizabeth Warren discussed dismantling large companies, like Amazon, Google, and Facebook by imposing new rules on certain kinds of tech companies with $25 billion or more in annual revenue. Warren also discussed her “wealth tax,” a plan aimed at the most affluent Americans whose net worth exceeds $50 million.

Sen. Bernie Sanders discussed how he was “rightfully criticized” on foreign policy: he conceded that his decades of consistency on economic issues do not extend to his approach on foreign policy. The senator also responded to a student who asked whether he believed that incarcerated Americans should be allowed to vote. Sanders answered yes, and said he wants to see America have the highest voter turnout on Earth, and part of that is preserving the right to vote even for the most “terrible people.”

When asked about why she declined to answer questions about whether the Mueller report offered grounds to impeach President Donald Trump, Sen. Amy Klobuchar noted that impeachment originates in the House and that the Senate’s role is that of a jury. She noted that she is waiting to see all the evidence as a former prosecutor, and said Americans could see justice through the varied investigations that continue into Trump's conduct.

Sen. Kamala Harris delivered a clear answer on how Democrats should proceed after special counsel Robert Mueller's report on the Russia probe was revealed, saying, “I believe Congress should take the steps towards impeachment.” She has called for passing sensible gun measures in the past, and at the town hall outlined a series of executive actions she would take on gun control if Congress did not act within her first 100 days in office.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg responded to a comment about how his campaign website is missing a policy section by saying that Democrats need to communicate their values without drowning voters in “minutiae.” “I’ve been pretty clear where I stand on major issues,” he said, citing “Medicare for All” as an example. Buttigieg contradicted Sanders’ view, saying that prisoners should not be allowed to vote. He also backed impeaching Trump in the wake of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, saying the President has “made it pretty clear that he deserves impeachment”.

CULTURE:

Game of Thrones

After two years since the season 7 finale, the first episode of Game of Thrones season 8 premiered on April 14th. It was watched by 17.4 million viewers on HBO, exceeding the serie’s previous record high of 16.9 million viewers set by the season 7 finale. This is the final season for the fantasy television series.

Lil Nas X

Lis Nas X, an American rapper, singer, and songwriter, recently gained massive popularity for his single “Old Town Road.” Although released early December in 2018, the song went viral as part of the “Yeehaw Challenge” on the video sharing app TikTok. The “Yeehaw Challenge” consists of someone turning into a cowboy or cowgirl after drinking a beverage labeled “Yeehaw Juice,” while “Old Town Road” plays in the background.

Lizzo’s new album

Singer, rapper and classically trained flutist Lizzo released her new album “Cuz I Love You” on April 19th. The album has quickly climbed the charts, going to No. 1 on iTunes. Her music seeks to empower plus-sized black women. Popular songs include “Juice” and “Good As Hell.” Lizzo comments that she “wants to see tons of plus-size pop stars,” and believes in “black girl magic.”

Coachella

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival  is an annual music festival held over two weekends in Indio, California. This year, Coachella was held on April 12-14, and April 19-21. Thousands of music fans gathered to hear performances by some of the world's most famous artists, including Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Blackpink, Kid Cudi and many more.

Beyonce’s Homecoming

Homecoming is a film that provides a behind the scenes look into Beyonce’s 2018 Coachella performance. In April 2018, Beyonce was the first black woman to headline the annual music festival in California, performing in front of more than 100,000 people. The film teaches viewers about the importance of black culture through highlighting aspects of Beyonce’s performance that used black music, black style, and most importantly celebrated historically black colleges and universities. The film was released April 17th on the popular streaming service, Netflix.

Endgame

Marvel film “Avengers: Endgame” premiered on April 25th. The movie brings some new faces to the Avengers series, including actress Brie Larson, who last appeared in Marvel’s hit movie “Captain Marvel.” In the film, Thor, Black Widow, Captain America and Bruce Banner must find a way to bring back their vanquished Allies in order to defeat Thanos, an evil demigod who killed half of life in the universe. In its opening weekend, Endgame grossed a box-office shattering $1.22 billion globally.

WHOLESOME NEWS:

The Sussex baby

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, announced their pregnancy October of 2018, with the palace revealing that the couple’s baby is due in the Spring of 2019. Local woman Kim Thompson met the Duchess during a walkabout in Hamilton Square earlier this year and revealed that Markle said she was six months pregnant at the time and due at the end of April, beginning of May.

Family Photo before Notre Dame fire

A woman who took a photo of a man and his daughter playing outside France’s Notre Dame Cathedral shortly before it caught fire says the heartwarming picture has made its way to the family. The photo, captured by Brooke Windsor, and her public search for the family went viral after a fire struck the Paris landmark on Monday, April 15th. On Thursday, April 19th, Windsor tweeted, “the photo has reached the dad & family. He has chosen to remain anonymous and writes: ‘Thanks again for that beautiful photo, we will find a special place for it.’” Windsor had said that she was looking for the pair and hoped the photo reached them. She wrote Thursday that the man reached out to her via Twitter.

Earth Day social media

On Earth Day 2019, Treedom—an online platform that plants trees and lets supports track them—posted a video on YouTube. They open the video with the statement, “This video produces oxygen,” and wrote in the details, “We pledge to plant 1 tree for every 1000 views. Pledge with us, share this video. Let’s green the planet. Together!” So far, the video has over 10 million views, and 10 million trees have been planted across Italy and African and South American countries.

Dog rescued from the ocean

An offshore drilling team has rescued a dog they found paddling 135 miles away from shore in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand. Workers on the oil rig noticed the dog’s head poking out above the ripples as she paddled through the ocean on Friday, April 19th. She stayed on the boat for two nights while staff gave her food and water. “When we first took her onboard her she was depressed and tired from being in the water for a long time. She had lost her body water,” Vitisak Payalaw, captain of the drilling team, wrote on Facebook. “When he gave her water and minerals her symptoms improved. She started sitting up and walking normally.” The dog was then transferred to shore and taken to vets. Vitisak told the local press that he would like to adopt her if no owner comes forward. “I hope to adopt her as a pet,” Vitisak said. “I am looking forward to spending many happy years together with her.”

Firefighters help man in wheelchair get home

A group of firefighters in Missouri helped an elderly man get home after his electric wheelchair gave out on the side of the road on April 20th. The man, who is a veteran, had decided to go fishing at a nearby pond when he got stuck in a ditch. Some people tried to help but were unable to free him, so they called the Raytown Fire Department. “Our guys responded out there and basically lifted a wheelchair with him in it up out of the rut he was stuck in,” Deputy Chief Mike Hunley told the local press. “He apparently had been trying to get himself out with the wheelchair and had expended the battery so it was pretty drained.” The firefighters decided the best way to get him home was to push him in the wheelchair. “They pushed him about 7 blocks back to his house,” Hunley said. “We encourage our guys to find the best way to make a difference when they are out in the field.”

by ABBY SULLIVAN & AUSTIN LI