THE DOWNINGTOWN REPORT - AROUND THE WORLD - BUSINESS - Downingtown Area School District

THE DOWNINGTOWN
          REPORT
 AROUND THE WORLD
                                     China bans BBC News Broadcast
China has banned the BBC News broadcast from the already very few existing
channels that could be seen in the country. The Chinese government has
criticized BBC for spreading misinformation on Covid-19 reports and “damaging
Chinese ethnic unity”. This ban seems to be a response to the UK banning Chinese
broadcaster CGTN for its connection to the Communist Party. The spokesman for
the U.S. State Department, Ned Price has commented about the irony of this ban
on foreign news sources in China while “Beijing’s leaders use free and open
media environments overseas to promote misinformation.”
              Australia Open Goes on...without fans
Recently, 13 Covid-19 cases were reported in Australia, urging the government to take
action before the virus can spread any further. The cases arose from a “quarantine”
hotel worker in Melbourne and are all the new Covid variant. The government of
Victoria (Australian state) has imposed a strict lockdown for five days, prohibiting
anyone from leaving their homes - even attending sporting events. So the Australian
Open will continue without fans. Tennis Australia, the Australian Open organizer
announced that it will continue to work with the government to ensure safety and refund
all fans’ tickets.
The Apple Car: Is it Coming?                                                    BUSINESS
Apple’s plans on introducing a new automobile to the market have been obvious. For past years, the
company has steadily hinted at a new car: approving car patents, poaching employers from automobile
companies (Porsche and Tesla), and had a rumored multi-billionaire partnership with Hyundai and Kia.
However, the partnership recently ended with Apple pulling out of the agreement when Hyundai
revealed discussions between the two companies. Apple has always been a secretive company, only
announcing products close to the sale date, and are keen on keeping partnership agreements private as
well. With the ending of this deal, people are skeptical on how exactly Apple will step into the
automobile industry, whether they are planning to create software, building a car by itself or partnering
with another company, or even mobility service.            Travel Industry vs Covid-19
It’s been a long battle between the travel industry, a sector that makes up a large portion of the economy,
and the pandemic. With countries like Australia and New Zealand placing travel bans and other countries like
the UK having strict restrictions on travel, the travel industry has taken a major hit. Travel airlines cannot
simply survive without government assistance. What’s worse is that they don’t know how to solve the problem.
This past year has not only been tough for airlines but also for thousands of companies who heavily rely on
tourism. In 2019, these companies hired about 330 million people globally, but now, about half of them are
estimated to be laid off. However, 2021 might be different. People have been recently booking more trips for
the upcoming summer and are willing to pay more for vacations, but it is still uncertain if those trips will be
able to be taken.

U.S. POLITICS
 In former president Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, he was acquitted
 from his charge for inciting the 6 January Capitol attack. With the impeachment
 process being passed in the House of Representatives, it would take a Senate vote
 to actually charge Trump for what he was accused for. There are 100 Senators total,
 and there was a 57-43 tally, which absolved Trump from his charge--this tally fell 10
 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict him.

               BLACK HISTORY MONTH
              The Country Music Industry and the
                   Fight for Racial Equality
    When a video of popular country music artist, Morgan Wallen, surfaced of
him saying a racial slur, many expected Nashville (the music city of America),
would do as it usually would--stay silent during the controversy.
However, the next day, radio stations and streaming services removed his
music from their rotations and playlists. Country Music Television (CMT)
stopped running his videos and The Academy of Country Music stated that he
is disqualified from their upcoming awards. Grammy-nominated country artist,
Cam, stated: “I was really encouraged by how fast every group in the industry
showed up, but I don’t think aha moments to call someone on something so
ingrained in everyone is going to be the tide changer.”
    Cam, along with a few other country stars like Maren Morris, Margo Price,
and Amanda Shires have been trying to get Nashville to shift to promoting
uncomfortable conversations about racial equality and equity. Shires said “I’d
assume a lot of males aren’t speaking out because they’re comfortable in their
places of power and money. Why would they want it to change?” Another
problem is that it is mainly white country stars given a platform to speak out
about the injustices, which therefore diminishes the voices of black people.
“Black people aren’t even allowed in the door, cannot be in writing rooms,
cannot get signed, don’t have a Twitter following, so you never hear them,”
says Cam.
     On 11 February, Morgan Wallen issued a 5-minute apology video discussing
his actions. At the end of the video he told fans, “I was wrong. It's on me to take
ownership for this and I fully accept any penalties I'm facing," he said. "The
time of my return is solely upon me and the work I put in." As of now, he has
spoken with several Black organizations to talk about his actions and remains
inactive on social media. Despite his video, apology, and his boycott from
streaming services, his music has still soared at the top of the charts for several
weeks.

SCIENCE
   The Golden Rivers of                            Brutal Winter Weather
          Peru                                 You may have noticed that we have
A new photo taken by the International
Space Station (ISS) reveals what               been getting lots of snow and below
appears to be 10 mile long rivers full of      freezing temperatures for the past few
gold running through the Amazon                weeks. But what’s going on?
rainforest in Madre de Dios, Peru.             Meteorologists credit this blast of cold
Normally hidden by clouds, the rivers,         to a disruption in the polar vortex in
which are actually pits hopefully full of      early January. A polar vortex is not
gold, were glittering due to reflected         something new; according to the
sunlight. According to NASA’s Earth            National Weather Service, it is a “large
Observatory, the pits appear to be             area of low pressure and cold air
“hundreds of tightly packed water-filled       surrounding both of the Earth’s poles”
basins” that are surrounded by areas of        that can influence jet streams to send
deforested muddy spoil following               cold weather to the US and Europe
ancient rivers and deposited sediment          during the winter. This year, a sudden
(including gold). In fact, Peru is the sixth   warming (due to high pressure in
largest producer of gold, but the              Mongolia and low pressure in the North
independent mining that occurs in              Pacific) in the atmosphere by the North
Madre de Dios also brings major                Pole caused the cold air that is usually
devastation to the wildlife through            contained in the middle of the Earth to
deforestation and mercury poisoning            be sent everywhere, even as far South
from the mining process.                       as Las Vegas, who saw snow for the first
                                               time in 2 years.

Chip Shortage                            The code for cell
Game consoles, laptops, cars, tablets.             communication
What do they all have in common?            By using yeast cells, researchers at the
Semiconductor chips. But now, there is a    University of Gothenburg in Sweden
global shortage after the surge in          have figured out how cell
demand for electronics for work and         communication in organisms work. The
school from home during the pandemic.       communication between the cells is
The increase in sales has impacted          very important; it allows processes that
companies like Microsoft, who state the     occur in our body like pumping blood
shortage as one of the reasons they are     to be more coordinated and functional.
unable to release more PS5s, a popular      According to Caroline Beck Adiels, a
gaming console since its release last       lecturer at the Department of Physics,
year. But what caused the shortage?         “this knowledge can be applied in
One obvious reason is the pandemic, but     many other biological systems and
also a trade war from former US             more complex cells where coordinated
president Trump’s administration. The US    cell behavior plays an important role.”
placed restrictions on Semiconductor        One of the biggest tasks the scientists
Manufacturing International (SMIC), one     are attempting to complete is
of the biggest producers of chips in        understanding how pancreatic cells
China, which decreased the company’s        produce insulin, which when the body
ability to produce the maximum amount       produces enough, helps regulate blood
of chips. As of February, the Biden         sugar levels. This information will be
administration is working to address this   helpful in understanding what causes
shortage with the president signing an      type 2 diabetes (when enough insulin is
executive order to develop strategies to
                                            not produced) and aid in developing
prevent future shortages.
                                            new medications to treat the condition.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
 Taylor Swift Rereleasing Albums
In a brief statement on ABC’s Good Morning America this past Thursday,
American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift officially announced the first installment
of her re-recorded album work. She stated her second studio album Fearless
(Taylor’s Version) will be released on 9 April 2021. The cause of the re-recording
process goes back to her battle with an investment holding company and
media executive Scooter Braun that owned her masters (original recordings) to
all her albums up to and including 2017’s Reputation. Swift refused to negotiate
with these entities and decided to re-record to reduce the value of her old
masters and create the most value for herself with the re-recordings. Taylor
dropped her re-recorded version of hit song Love Story this past Friday, and in
a statement on her social media platforms she said, “Artists should own their
own work for so many reasons, but the most screamingly obvious one is that the
artist is the only one who really knows that body of work. For example, only I
know which songs I wrote that almost made the Fearless album...I’ve decided I
want you to have the whole story, see the entire vivid picture, and let you into
the entire dreamscape that is my Fearless album.” Additionally, Swift will
release 6 never before seen songs that almost made the 2008 album for fans to
experience the full package Fearless has to offer.

Free Britney Movement
Following the release of the new New York
Times documentary Framing Britney Spears,
the pop icon received an immense outpour of
support from fans and fellow celebrities who
are demanding an end to Britney Spears’
conservatorship. A conservatorship is where a person who is deemed incapable
of caring for themselves or making good decisions for themselves is given a
provider who is appointed to manage the particular individual’s financial
affairs and everyday life. Spears has been under a conservatorship controlled
by her father. The FreeBritney movement was started by concerned fans that
thought Britney’s conservatorship as of now, is not in her best interest, since it
controls how she works (like how she cannot sign contracts) and her personal
life (like how she needs permission to leave her house and spend her money).
Through documentation from Spears’ lawyer, the singer has requested that her
father be removed as the sole conservator of her estate and has requested that
Bessemer Trust Company is in charge of her assets. This past Thursday, the LA
court system ruled that Bessemer Trust Company and Britney’s father currently

serve as co-conservators of her estate. Her father’s objection to this ruling was
 denied. Britney's lawyer said a co-conservatorship meant "an equal division of
 responsibility," between Britney’s father and Bessemer Trust, "in the hopes that
 they would sit down and figure out together the best way to handle this
 complex estate for the benefit of [Britney]."

                       WEEK          IN     HISTORY
On February 19, 1878, Thomas Edison invented one of his favorites, the phonograph. He
was actually working on improving the telegraph and the telephone, but along the
way, he made a few other discoveries that led to the invention of the phonograph. A
phonograph is what we now call a record player that is used to record and reproduce
sound. In 1877, Edison found a way to record sound on tinfoil-coated cylinders which
led him to create a machine with two needles. One of these needles was used for
recording and the other for playback. When Edison spoke through the mouthpiece of
the machine, the vibrations of the sound would become indented onto the cylinder by
the recording needle. The first words that Edison recorded and played back on the
phonograph were “Mary had a little lamb”. He then went on to establish the Edison
Speaking Phonograph Company where he sold these machines.

                    POSITIVE NEWS
The climate crisis is a topic that is being focused on more and more by the young
generation. Several groups have taken to protesting to show their dissatisfaction with
efforts made by the government to reduce carbon emissions and halt biodiversity loss.
Greta, a 17 year old Swedish climate activist was one of the first to ignite the strikes
and grab the world’s attention. Several young kids have taken after her and are
trying to do their pair in fighting this climate crisis. You can be a part of this
movement too. You can tell others about the climate crisis, advocate for this problem,
start a little garden at your house where you could create a wildlife habitat, and you
could do so much more. Make small changes to your daily habits and it would still
make big differences.

ACTIVITIES

           ABOUT THE WRITERS
Vibha Guru, Mahi Mallina, Krystal Michoma, and Shanthi Bhaskar are all current juniors
at Downingtown STEM Academy. They were inspired by recent current events to create
an engaging newsletter to stimulate interest in the world around them among their
community’s youth. By creating short, yet informative, articles and interactive puzzles
about the various topics covered, they hope to inspire our community to learn further
and connect the knowledge they gain from their classrooms to the real world.