Tag Archives: national news

Opinion: Willow Project is Concerning

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By Leslie Cardenas

President Biden’s administration has approved the controversial Willow Project, a massive oil drilling project in Alaska.

The large-scale oil drilling project had been going through the administration’s approval process for months until its approval on March 13. Throughout these months, climate change activists have been protesting this project by sending more than one million letters to the White House and a Change.org petition that has over 3 million signatures. 

So, what is the Willow Project?

The Willow Project is a massive $8 billion oil drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope in the National Petroleum Reserve. It would open up 600 million barrels of oil and would produce 239 million metric tons of CO2 in 30 years. Most of the oil produced would take years to reach the market since the project has not even begun construction.

Jim Sugar/Getty Images

Originally, ConocoPhillips, the company that proposed Willow, was approved by the Trump administration in 2020 and was initially set to construct five pads. The Biden administration however, reduced it down to three pads. Although the Biden administration had approved The Willow Project, it might take some time before construction can even begin due to impending legal challenges. Earthjustice is an environmental law group that will more than likely file a complaint against the project and try to block the project from going forward.

Why should you be concerned?

As I said before, when started, the project would produce 239 million metric tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. This is the equivalent of 64 coal-fired power plants. The Willow Project would be a “carbon bomb,” according to environmental organizations.

Essentially, the noise, traffic, and pollution would not only be devastating to those who call Alaska their home but would affect the world as a whole. People may think that it is only animals being affected but that is not the case. There are Indigenous Alaskans who would be affected by The Willow Project as well. The project threatens the caribou population which is a vital resource many native communities rely on. This project goes directly against Biden’s campaign promise as well.

(Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for This is Zero Hour)

Here’s three ways you can help:

  1. Sign the Change.org petition.
  2. Write to The White House 

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20500

  1. Contact Local Representatives

You can find out where your local representatives stand regarding the issue and contact them. If you are not sure of your congressional district or who your representative is you may use this government website.

Round-Up of World News

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By: April Zavala

Gas prices have reached a skyrocketing price, and they may be here to stay. Prices began taking off two years ago when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, and Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine that occurred only three weeks ago was like throwing a lit match into a can of gas. Then again, those in control of gas prices will always find an excuse to raise gas prices because they will benefit from it. President Joe Biden recently put a ban on Russian oil imports, which was announced Tuesday, March 15. There is a fear that this will only make the situation worse.

Thousands of Brazilians have gathered outside Congress in Brasilia to protest against a set of bills that they say threaten the Amazon rainforest and the Indigenous people living in it. The event began and is being led by musician Caetano Veloso, who brought together other marquee artists as well as more than 200 non-profits groups. The bill has languished in Congress since Bolsonaro presented it in 2020. But war in Ukraine has threatened the supply of fertilizer from Russia to Brazil’s farmlands, which forced the administration to push for an emergency vote.

North Korea will launch a number of reconnaissance satellites in coming years to provide real-time information on military actions by the United States and its allies. Kim Jong-Un said “a lot” of military satellites would be put into sun-synchronous polar orbit in the period of a five-year plan announced last year. North Korea says it conducted two tests of satellite systems on February 27th and March 5th. Authorities in South Korea, Japan, and the United States say the tests involved launches of ballistic missiles. The launches drew international condemnation and the U.S. military said on Thursday it had increased surveillance and reconnaissance collection in the Yellow Sea. Kim defended the satellite work as gathering information as well as protecting North Korea’s sovereignty and national interests.

Denmark’s prime minister on Wednesday delivered a face-to-face apology to six living victims of a 1950s social experiment in which 22 Greenlandic children were taken from their families and sent to Denmark to be integrated into Danish society. They had taken children between four and nine years old and shipped them to Denmark. Then, the colonial power, in 1951 tried to re-educate them as “little Danes.” The children were supposed to return to Greenland and be part of a new Danish-speaking elite that would help modernize the Arctic island’s Inuit population. The children were never sent back to their families but were either adopted by Danish families or sent back to Greenland to be placed in an orphanage, where they were forced to speak Danish and had little or no contact with their relatives.

Empty streets and exhausted medical staff. Social distancing and drive-by funerals. Protests and vaccine rollouts. Pictures remind us of a world transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic, now over the two-year mark.

Gubernatorial Races in NJ and VA

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By Political Correspondent Edmund Shryock

Virginia and New Jersey’s Democratic Governors were up for reelection on November 2, 2021 after months of campaigning to gain support throughout their states. The results sent shockwaves through the political world as Republican candidates gained more support than expected. 

Virginia’s incumbent candidate Terry McAuliffe was supported by President Biden before the election, while his Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin, distanced himself from the support of former President Trump’s endorsement.

  In New Jersey, incumbent Governor Phil Murphy squared off against Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli. As the night progressed, Ciattarelli would take the lead. However, as the vote continued to pour in, Phil Murphy would manage to squeeze out a victory. This makes Murphy the first Governor to be reelected in New Jersey history in 44 years. 

The results of these Gubernatorial elections could provide insight into the type of election the country will see in the 2022 midterm elections. Also, it provided Republicans with momentum as the 2024 Presidential election looms over the nation. Democrats learned that they should not underestimate Republican votes in typically “Blue States” in future elections. So now the country looks forward as both sides prepare for critical elections in 2022 and 2024. 

This Month in History: September

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By Edmund Shryock

1. 1939 – WWII Begins in Europe: On September 1st, 1939, Adolf Hitler’s armies swept into Poland. Poland was also invaded by Russia at the same time. This would be the spark that would drag the French and the British into another war with Germany. This war in Europe would eventually turn into a global conflict. Most commonly known as “The Second World War.”

2. 2001 – 9/11 Terrorist Attacks: On the morning of September 11th, 2001 the lives of millions of people would be changed. Four American commercial planes were hijacked and turned into missiles against the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and possibly the U.S. Capitol. There were 2,996 deaths that day, and the country had to unite. Airport security would be strengthened as a result, and America would declare war on Afghanistan shortly thereafter,  that would end up ending 20 years later. 

3. 1862 – Battle of Antietam: On September 17th, 1862, the deadliest day in American military history would take place. The Confederate army, under general Robert E. Lee, met heavy resistance from Union forces under George B. McClellen. The fighting began at dawn and lasted throughout the day, and by the end of the first day 26,000 men were killed, missing, or injured.

4. 1960 – First-Ever Televised Presidential Debate: Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy squared off in the first televised Presidential debate in the election of 1960. This took place on September 26th, 1960. This new way of meeting the Presidential candidates allowed more people to turn out for the election. This debate also gained Kennedy support from people who did not know him, as he looked calm and collected, unlike Nixon.

5. 1955 – James Dean Dies: On September 30th, 1955 the 24-year-old movie star James Dean died in a car crash, abruptly ending his promising acting career. He was made famous with movies such as Giant and Rebel Without a Cause. Dean’s death was a tragedy as he made a vast influence on\ teenage lifestyle in the 1950s for numerous teens.

“Help is Finally Here” : Stimulus Checks Help Those in Need

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By Daisy Penaloza, News & Opinion editor

Finally.

In the last couple of weeks, much to the relief of many, Americans began seeing a rise in their bank accounts. That is because the stimulus checks have finally started arriving; and, more are on the way!

How did this come about?

The American Rescue Plan is a 1.9 trillion dollar economic stimulus bill created by President Joe Biden and signed into law on March 11, 2021. This bill includes many benefits for people who qualify.  

This stimulus bill will bring aid to small businesses and communities as well as many others in need.

This new plan covers just a small portion of what is needed in order to rebuild what was of incredible destruction from the previous years, from the United States last administration. We all know how much of a struggle those last four year were.

Anyways, enough about that. It’s time to focus on the new, the better. We’ve finally got some good coming our way, let’s see what that’s all about.

This new bill incorporates many needed factors from creating millions of additional jobs to advancing racial equity. Many people will finally see their window of opportunities arise.

As President Joe Biden stated, “It’s time that we build an economy that grows from the bottom up and the middle out. And this bill shows that when you do that, everybody does better.”

With this new plan, Americans are hopeful that the country will begin to recover from not only the consequences wrought by the traumatic pandemic but also from the period of national upheaval and unrest.  

See our related story for more insight on the American Rescue Plan.

Stimulus Checks From Government

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By Carter Balbuena 含光君

The new $1.9 trillion COVID-19 Stimulus Bill proposed by President Biden has been signed by the Senate and the President himself, so here’s what the bill includes:

Direct Payments

Most likely, the first thing people are wondering about is the stimulus check, specifically how much they’re getting, and if it’ll be enough to support them. Those eligible are as follows: individual people get $1,400 per person if they earn up to $75,000 per year and for couples if they earn up to $150,000 per year. This means that for a family of 4–two parents and two children–they would receive a check for $5600.

Unemployed Benefits

Now, those that are unemployed get $300 a week, which was originally proposed as $400. This will extend up to September 6, 2021.

Public and Education

Over $128 billion in grants is being given to schools, which includes funding for colleges, transit agencies, housing aid, child care providers, and food assistance. $7.5 billion is being sent to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to aid the COVID-19 Vaccines.

Other Benefits

Child tax credit has been increased to $3,000 for ages 6-17 and $3,600 for children under 6. As for couples earning $150,000 a year and individuals earning $75,000, this amount is reduced. However, those that are eligible for full credit will get payments up to $300 per month starting July and lasting until the end of the year. Additionally, $7.25 billion is included for a small-business loan program known as PPP which allows for more nonprofits to apply and also includes larger nonprofits to be eligible.

Check out more on the American Rescue Plan and the stimulus checks.

Women’s History month Gallery

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By Abby Corado

To mark International Women’s Day, the Bugle celebrates March as the month of women’s empowerment! In honor of Women’s History Month, we have a gallery of seven international female figures that have made an impact for women collectively.

  • Margaret Thatcher was also known as the “Iron Lady” due to her firm and assertive leadership style.
    “Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the high road to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.”
    (Credit: Photo by Historia/REX/Shutterstock)
  • Frida Kahlo was a Mexican woman known for her art and her political activism. Significantly, her art built ancestry that tied down to Mexican social values and morale.
    “I think that little by little I’ll be able to solve my problems and survive.”
  • Claudette Colvin is not as known as Rosa Parks, but similarly defied the likes of segregation in the 1950s by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. Colvin was a pioneer of the 1950’s civil rights movement.
    “I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it. You can’t sugarcoat it. You have to take a stand and say, ‘This is not right. ‘”
  • Marsha P. Johnson was an outspoken advocate for gay rights. Johnson played a big role in the 1969 Stonewall riots and continuously fought for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.
    “How many years has it taken people to realize that we are all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race?”
  • Grace Lee Boggs was an Asian American intersectional feminist. Because of Boggs’s background of being a part of the first generation, she was aware of the struggles that her community faced and that incentivized her to want to make a significant change.
    “History is not the past. It is the stories we tell about the past. How we tell these stories – triumphantly or self-critically, metaphysically or dialect ally – has a lot to do with whether we cut short or advance our evolution as human beings.”
  • Amanda Koonjbeharry, like many women, faced the experiences of racial injustice and gender-based violence. One of her more known acts to solve these issues was her involvement in working to prevent the sexual exploitation and trafficking of the youth.
    “The ‘Voices of Safe Harbor’ report is important because it is a way for victims and survivors of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking to be heard and to share their stories,” 
  • Ruth Bader Ginsburg was on the federal bench for 25 years and in doing so she became the second woman to serve in the United States Supreme Court. In her 25 years, she made sure to establish her advocacy for gender equality, civil rights, and women’s rights.
    “My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.”

Opinion: “For the People” Act a Step Forward

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By Andrea Arias

The House of Representatives passed an important bill to help expand voting rights called the For the People Act, also known as H.R. 1, on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. Some of the changes this bill would make include expanding the voting pool, mandating independent redistricting, ensuring voting rights, requiring presidential tax returns, and increasing election security. All of this comes after the mass amounts of voter suppression in the 2020 election, especially in states like Georgia and Arizona.

H.R. 1 will expand the access to mail-in voting and absentee voting, which were some of the ways to vote during the 2020 election. During the 2020 election, there was much controversy about mail-in voting due to misinformation and several statements made by former President Donald Trump and his campaign. Despite the misinformation, many Americans made the decision to vote from home, largely because of the pandemic. 2020 was the year with the most mail-in voting, having about 46% of voters voting from home, according to Pew Research. By making mail-in and absentee voting more accessible to Americans, it would give many people with disabilities and people out of the country the ability to vote without having to present themselves at a polling place.

H.R. 1 will also expand the voter pool, which means that it would make voting more accessible to people over the age of 18. It also includes things like automatic voter registration, restoring voting rights to people with completed felony sentences, and a reversal of state voter ID laws that would allow citizens to make a sworn statement affirming their identity if they were unable to produce an ID. With automatic voter registration, the struggle and almost endless process of applying to vote will become much simpler and quicker.

Gerrymandering is a tactic used by politicians to favor one party or the other. By doing this, the politicians are able to gain more votes in their districts and win elections much easier. While “mandating independent redistricting,” may sound crazy, it would just require states to redraw their congressional districts every 10 years. By doing this, it would lessen the influence of gerrymandering, which has long been a political tactic on both sides. While a great addition to the bill, if passed, it would not take effect until 2030 due to decennial census.

It is no secret that during Donald Trump’s presidency he hid his tax returns, never releasing them and fighting legal battles to keep them hidden. Well, H.R. 1 would require the president, vice president and candidates to the White House to release their annual tax returns. It would also require the president and vice president to fill out a financial disclosure form within 30 days of taking office. This would prevent presidents from having a financial conflict of interest like the ones with Donald Trump. This clearly seems to be the motive in adding this section to the bill.

By adding more security at the ballots it would crack down on voter intimidation tactics and the spread of misinformation. This would also hopefully make voters feel safer on their way to vote and while at the ballot. This was also a big story during the 2020 election, where many Trump supporters would stand outside polling places to prevent many people of color from entering.

H.R. 1 will also take aim at “dark money,” which would require organizations to disclose their large donors and also creates a system for small donations.

On the importance of H.R. 1, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated, “Our democracy is in a state of deep disrepair. During the 2020 election, Americans had to overcome rampant voter suppression, gerrymandering, and a torrent of special interest dark money just to exercise their right to vote. Across the country, people of all political persuasions — including Democrats, Independents, and Republicans — are profoundly frustrated with the chaos, corruption and inaction that plague much of our politics.”

Lastly, to ensure voting rights, H.R. 1 would, “improve voting protections that civil rights groups say have been eroded, notably by a 2013 Supreme Court decision.” The court decision mentioned is Shelby County (Alabama) v. Holder, the Supreme Court’s decisions threw out a section of the 1965 Voting Right Act which stated that states with a history of voter discrimination would have to obtain “pre-clearance” from federal officials before making election changes. By making this change, the Supreme Court has allowed many states and districts to get away with voter discrimination for years now, which this bill is trying to eradicate.

Although passing this bill would be a huge win for voters everywhere, many Democrats believe that this bill will not get past the Senate due to the very slim majority Democrats hold. Many Republicans continue to fight the simplification of the voting process, even passing laws in some states to make it more difficult to vote–the state of Georgia, for example–as well as passing several laws that would discriminate against many voters and make the application process more difficult for new voters.

Texas Battered by Snow Storm

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By Mathew Ruiz

It was the week of February 13, 2021 when an unusual snowstorm hit Texas, leading to massive damages including power outages, no water, no electricity, and very limited supplies, including food.

The storm left millions of people in a very dire situation. Many of their houses’ pipes burst open causing water to gush and flood the floors. This led to the point where they had to boil water from the snow for the heat inside their homes. The storm was so bad that it also delayed the federal government’s delivery of Covid-19 vaccines which had caused many other shortages.

In one of the most unexpected snowstorms of early 2021, approximately 58 people died, including an 11-year-old boy who froze to death. The parents of this young child filed a lawsuit of $100 million dollars after not having any electricity. In Houston, a woman and her 7 year old daughter died inside her car while it was parked and running in the garage in an attempt to keep warm. Most families were cooking outside, charging phones in their car and using snow to melt and shower. All of the wild chaos made it very difficult for hospitals to take care of patients.

While some schools were open in Texas, the storm then led to them being closed for several days as their crews would have to repair pipes, damages, and clean the classrooms. The horrific snow storm temperatures were the coldest it has been since the year of 1989. Driveways were covered in snow, and without a car or road access, it was difficult for the residents of Texas to go to their grocery stores. The only way to get there was by walking. When residents could drive, the weather conditions caused more than 450 car accidents between the days of Sunday and Tuesday in the Houston area alone.

The stores looked like it was the beginning of Covid-19 all over again. There were long lines to get in, all shelves were empty, including all toilet paper and wipes. Water, first aid kits, and food were also eventually completely gone. When you’re in a situation like this, you don’t know what to do; so, some people started panicking.

Overall, around 290,000 Texas residents were left without power and more than 22 million other people across the South were put under frigid temperatures in the coldest winter of their lives.

Opinion: Biden Is A Much Needed Change

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By Daisy Penaloza

The Drama is Ending

America has suffered for the last four years because of the horrendous acts of former president Trump. Trump never behaved as a president should behave–putting his country and its people first–and this was as clearly seen not only by our own country’s citizens, but by the entire world.

Trump never once did anything to save or to really help the country as a whole, but he’s surely done much to help himself and his own personal political agenda.

From deeming different groups of people as “criminals, terrorists, rapists, drug dealers,” plummeting the economy like never before, and knowing the dangers of COVID-19 yet letting it worsen, Trump made his mark as the worst president ever.

Additionally, as a result of the Trump-incited insurrection that took place on January 6 and the resulting death threats to both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. placed 25,000 National Guard troops and Secret Service, as well as other law enforcement personnel around them at the U.S. Capitol in order to ensure the safety and security of all involved on Inauguration Day.

Hope for the Future

Now that President Biden has taken office, Americans can breathe a sigh of relief as they finally have hope for a brighter and calmer future. 

President Biden receives the Covid-19 vaccine

Life still won’t be easy, and as always, it will get tough at times. But, with the help of the new president and his cabinet, our country may finally receive what it needs–unity.

Biden and Harris will have tons of work to do working to rebuild everything the previous president ruined, but it is a challenge that they both are eager to take on.

President Joe Biden has proposed some wondrous and amazing policies. First, he promised to get the raging pandemic under control. He is making public announcements asking Americans to wear masks and take precautions, and he is working to obtain vaccines and distribute them as quickly as possible. He also wants to work towards more ways to reduce climate change, empower and protect women, and even advance LGBTQ+ equality!

Even though our leadership has finally changed, this is not the time for complacency. 

The fight for our rights is over when the need for a fight is over.

For more information on President Biden’s plans and policies, check out his official campaign website.

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