What happened this week?
“Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less” – Marie Curie
Biden Targets Trump's Legacy with First-Day Executive Actions
Just hours after his inauguration Wednesday, President Joe Biden is finalizing 17 executive moves, working quicker and more vigorously to undo the legacy of his predecessor than any other modern president. Biden is signing a flurry of executive orders, memorandums and department directives, his first steps to counter the coronavirus pandemic and reverse some of the signature policies of former President Donald Trump. With the stroke of a pen, Biden has halted funding for the construction of Trump's border wall, reversed his travel ban targeting largely Muslim countries and embraced progressive policies on the environment and diversity that Trump spent four years blocking. Biden also reversed several of Trump's attempts to withdraw from international agreements, beginning the process of rejoining the Paris climate accord and halting the United States' departure from the World Health Organization -- where Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, will lead the US delegation. His first action was to impose a mask mandate on federal property, a break in approach to dealing with the pandemic from Trump, who repeatedly downplayed the virus. Biden also installed a coronavirus response coordinator to oversee the White House's efforts to distribute vaccines and medical supplies. Press secretary Jen Psaki and other top Biden officials had told reporters on the eve of his inauguration that the first-day actions are only part of what will be a series of moves to undo Trump policies and implement Biden's campaign promises in his first weeks in office. He plans to follow Inauguration Day by centering each day of January on a specific theme, according to a draft of a calendar document sent to administration allies and viewed by CNN. Thursday, Biden's first full day in office, will be focused on the coronavirus pandemic, and Friday will highlight Biden's push for economic relief -- including executive orders restoring federal employees' collective bargaining rights and directing agency action on safety net programs, including Medicaid and unemployment insurance. The themes next week will be "Buy American," with a Monday executive order beefing up requirements for government purchases of goods and services from US companies; equity on Tuesday, coupled with a push to eliminate private prisons; climate on Wednesday with an executive order kicking off regulatory actions reestablishing the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and combating climate change; health care on Thursday, a day on which Biden will rescind the so-called Mexico City Policy blocking federal funding for non-governmental organizations that provide abortion services; and immigration on Friday, when Biden plans to sign executive orders focused on border processing and refugee policies and establish a family reunification task force.
Joseph R Biden Jr. will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on January 20, 2021.
During his inauguration, Biden will emphasize the need for unity in the country.
“Addressing a deeply divided nation, Joe Biden will call for unity in his inaugural speech Wednesday in an appeal to “bring the country together during an unprecedented moment of crisis,” advisors to the president-elect said.
However, Biden’s inauguration will differ from the inaugurations before him. The ceremony will be live-streamed, no parade will take place down Pennsylvania Avenue, nor the traditional short walk for a portion of the trip by the president and first lady.
Impeachment - What is it?
Impeachment is no joke and has only happened a few times. Only 3 times to be exact, to previous presidents Bill Clinton, Andrew Johnson and Donald Trump. While each president faced impeachment, none were removed from office. This means that they were found guilty of crimes against the constitution like treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. None were removed from office officially for the reason that impeachment is a two-step process. After the House of Representatives votes to impeach, the Senate must then hold a trial to determine whether an official is guilty and should actually be removed from office. To start impeachment, an individual member of the House must request that the impeachment proceedings begin. In some cases, the House itself could pass a resolution to launch the proceedings themselves. Then it is moved to the House Judiciary Committee, which must determine if there are enough grounds for the process to move forward. If the committee finds enough evidence, it would then draft “articles of impeachment” and vote on whether to bring the articles to the House. After the House, a two-thirds majority of the Senate must decide whether an official is guilty or not guilty of the charges in the articles of impeachment. They can then choose to remove the former president from office and determine whether or not they would be allowed to run again. Impeachment takes up a lot of Congresses time and energy and can be risky considering what the public opinion and energy are at the time. Impeaching a president is rare, and is only a step taken when its absolutely necessary to do so.
School is virtual, but arts and sports remain
For the past two weeks, school has been completely virtual. Students have completed their required courses online at home ever since we’ve come back from winter break due to a drastic increase in corona virus cases in South Carolina. Corona virus cases in SC have been at 1000 per day and have only been increasing. However, this has not put a stop to Dreher’s sports and arts programs. Multiple sports, such as basketball, track, and cheer have resumed practice in person returning from winter break. However, precautions have been set in order to keep students and faculty safe. Basketball will not be hosting any public games, only players, cheerleaders, and coaches will be allowed to attend these games. Track conditioning has begun, but outdoors of course. Cheerleading is only being hosted in the cafeteria or gym. Arts such as dance have resumed as well. The Dreher Dance Team will not be hosting its annual “Dancing with the Teachers” this year. Instead, they will be showcasing multiple pieces they have learned and choreographed this year in a small family showcase in March. Additionally, there will be a senior showcase in May at Memorial Stadium, showcasing the senior dancers’ choreographed pieces and more.
School Closures and Students
Many people have worried how would school closure effect children in the long run. Well I hear to tell you. School closing is and will effected children in many ways, like some are hands on learners, and some kids just learn better by being in the class room.
Frist Schools are hubs of social activity and human interaction. When schools close, many children and youth miss out of on social contact that is essential to learning and development. Some children are fine and adjusting well with this but some are really struggling with this new change. Not only does it affect the children but it does something to the parents and teachers; interrupted learning, poor nutrition, confession and stress on teachers and many more things.
Second with all this going on it can cause depression on all. For an example for me I really don’t get a chance to see many of my friends that much because of the pandemic and that could be
pretty depression because I’m a very social person. And then its depression when I can’t see family members on holidays. Study says, “
rates of
depression among students are higher then normal
with remote school dragging on into the winter”
Read more here: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/world/schools-closures-impact-children-history-intl/index.html
https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse/consequences#:~:text=Social%20isolation%3A%20Schools%20are%20hubs,essential%20to%20learning%20and%20development. https://news.stlpublicradio.org/education/2020-12-01/stress-and-depression-rising-again-among-students-as-school-closures-drag-on
Plane Crash on Kennedy St.
On Wednesday the 13th, a small plane crashed into the rosewood neighborhood. At around 10:30 a small plane crash-landed on a house in Kennedy Street. The fire department arrived and contained the fire. There was one person on board who sadly perished shortly after the plane had made impact no one else was harmed. The plane landed in a woman’s house after clipping a few other houses. The initial crash caused a fire and then an explosion. The pilot was to land at Owens field airport about half a mile from where it crashed. It is thought this crash was caused by a lack of visibility due to it being fogy that Wednesday morning.
Covid-19 Vaccine: The Bottom Line
As we wave 2020 goodbye and say hello to 2021, we also welcome the Covid-19 vaccine. The Covid-19 vaccine is being slowly distributed across the U.S. According to Healthline, The New York Times reported that the daily average of cases this past week was at a 37% increase from two weeks ago. The “big picture” is that the United States has more than 23 million confirmed Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began. If that doesn’t alarm you, the US Coid-19-related deaths have surpassed 380,000. The country is now averaging more than 3,000 deaths per day.
The experts, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (HME) predicts that the United States will top 560,000 deaths by April 1st if conditions continue. According to the article, “The rate of positive test results nationwide was slightly more than 13% past week. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers a level above 5% to be “concerning”” (Healthline).
Hospitalizations are increasingly rising every day. California remains the highest among states with hospitalizations. It was reported on January 12, 2021 that the state had 21,668 people hospitalized for Covid-19. This sounds horrible, but it is actually about 100 less than reported 4 days ago. The state sliding into second place, is Texas with 13,935 people hospitalized.
The Reuters graph lists 32 states where deaths have increased from the previous week. When discussing death tolls, Hawaii has the highest percentage increase among states at 400% with 20 deaths. Alabama comes in second with a 153% increase for a total of 461 deaths, according to Reuters.
The bottom line is that experts say that the most effective ways to avoid infection are still physical distancing and mask use.
Source: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/travel-plans-this-interactive-map-will-show-your-risk-for-covid-19#The-bottom-line