One of the most important aspects of becoming an adult is paying attention to things around you that happen. Recently, so many important things happened that students at Sandpoint High School need to be aware of, especially those seniors who are up-and-coming voters and especially those Swifties out there.
In terms of national news for the U.S., for the first time in 100 years, the U.S. House of Representatives ousted their leader, the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy held his position for a grand total of 269 days and was the first person to ever be removed from the position in this way. He lost the vote by a small margin, the tipping point being the 216 people who voted against him against the 210 people who voted to keep him in office. Following this history-making vote, the House fell into organized chaos with one representative shouting “what now?” to the House floor. Everyone was a bit lost following this vote, because without a Speaker of the House, bills cannot be passed and agendas cannot be discussed.
On another subject, as the NFL mentioned in their Instagram bio, the Kansas City Chiefs are 2-0 as Swifties. This is a comment towards the alleged relationship between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. After the Chiefs tight-end supposedly tried to give Swift a friendship bracelet at her concert with his phone number on it in July, the two finally connected and she has been seen cheering him on in Kansas as well as New York. This relationship caused a huge stir in the “Swiftie world” and Kelce’s jersey became one of the most popular, with sales rising an astonishing 400%. The outcome of the game, a win for the Chiefs, was their third win of the season making them 3-1 this year and first in their conference.
Another development in the sporting world, it was recently announced that the 2030 World Cup would be held on three different continents. Morocco, Spain, and Portugal are co-hosting the tournament and three matches are being played in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay.
Last week as well, the Nobel Prizes were awarded to those who showed that they truly excelled in their field of expertise. According to NobelPrize.org, the Nobel Prize in Physics was given to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L’Huillier “for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the tuft of electron dynamics in matter.” The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman “for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.” The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 was awarded to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus, and Alexei I. Ekimov “for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.” The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Jon Fosse “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.” The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Narges Mohammadi “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.” Finally, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded to Claudia Goldin “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labor market outcomes.”
