The Blue & White

Ellen Sears

Bored with the popular music on the radio? Think the lyrics “Here’s my number, so call me, maybe?” are a little too profound for you? Broaden your musical horizons with these alternative artists.

Punk-rock band The American Scene put out their first EP, “By Way of Introduction”, in 2009. They have since signed to Pure Noise Records and toured with the likes of Man Overboard and The Story So Far. You can check out the band’s Twitter and download Glamour Kills’ new Summer Sampler for a taste of their music here.

Hailing from Detroit, Mich., Fireworks is a pop-punk band currently signed to Triple Crown Records. After releasing their first album, Fireworks toured alongside Set Your Goals and Four Year Strong in 2009. They recently released their second LP “Gospel” and will begin touring with Polar Bear Club in the fall. Fireworks’ PureVolume is available for streaming of “Gospel”.

Although big in the U.K., not many people in the U.S. have heard Ed Sheeran’s emotionally driven lyrics and moving voice. At the BRIT Awards this year, he won both “British Breakthrough Act” and “British Solo Male Artist”. For One-Directioners, Sheeran wrote the single “Moments” off their debut album. His music is available on edsheeran.com/ and www.youtube.com/user/edsheeran.

Signed to Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst’s record label, Saddle Creek Records, Tokyo Police Club has played Coachella, Reading and Leeds and Lollapalooza. Their indie rock feel is something that doesn’t happen often. They recently released their third LP, “Ten Songs, Ten Years, Ten Days”. The single “Favourite Colour” peaked at number 12 on the Canadian Alternative Chart.

M83 is one of those bands that is almost indescribable. The five-piece French band doesn’t consistently stick to one definitive genre; their songs are part ambiance, part new wave chaos. Their latest LP, “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming”, peaked at 15 on the Billboard 200, partly due to their single “Midnight City” being used to promote the “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show”. You can stream the album and read an interview with singer Anthony Gonzalez here.

Remember Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness”? Now picture it without his vocals. That’s Ratatat, and MGMT, but if you don’t know “Electric Feel”, it’s time to broaden your musical taste. Not quite instrumental, not quite electronica, duo Mike Stroud and Evan Mast have hit the mark with their quick tempos and driving rock beats. Check out their YouTube channel for a sample.

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Emily Morgan

Miamisburg High School multi-handicapped programs have had various events of April 16-21.

The MH class was invited to Lebanon High School along with various other schools to attend their prom held especially for MH students. Before the class attended the prom, all the girls were invited by a local salon to receive manicures and pedicures. April 19, Miamisburg MH ladies went to the salon for a day of pampering.

April 20, all Miamisburg MH students attended the Lebanon prom. The prom was held in their high school from 9-1. The event included food, music and party favors. “It was the best day of the year for all of us,” said Mrs. Rachel Judge, an MH teacher at Miamisburg High School.

April 21, MHS held the Special Olympics track and field invitational. Although weather was wet and cold, athletes from various schools attended the event. Oakwood, Springboro, Valley View and West Carrollton are among the other schools who attended.

The invitational included a softball throw, baseball throw, 100m run, 200m run, 100m walk and the assisted walk. Students could also partake in the carnival going on throughout the day. The carnival held games and prizes including a cake walk and sucker tree.

The Miamisburg Viking Adapted Athletics, VAA, also attended the Special Olympics Dayton wide event at Welcome Stadium April 24.

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Ben Westfall

The United Nations approved sending 300 unarmed observers to Syria to watch and monitor a cease-fire agreement between Syrian armed forces and its rebel militia for a period of 90 days.  The point of the agreement is to withdraw stationed troops on the move back to their barracks and prevent the use of heavy weapons.

The observers will also be in charge of starting political talks and ensure access to humanitarian agencies for both groups.  The observers are working as a neutral party so no more conflict can arise between Syrian armed forces and the rebels.

The U.S. believes that this course of action will help simmer the heat between the two and are running the mission for a full 90 days.  The U.S. does not plan to abort the mission early unless Syria breaks the cease-fire agreement or if Syria prevents the work of the observers.  If no meaningful progress takes place in the course of the 90 days, the U.S. will withdraw the observers from Syria and call the mission off.  If conflicts between Syrian armed forces and the rebels start to resolve, the U.S. will renew the mission for another 90 days to finalize a peace agreement between the two.

Russia has agreed to assist the U.S. in demanding that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad stop troops from advancing forward into rebel territory.  Russia has also agreed to support the U.S. if any violent conflicts start to arise in Syria.  Russia had to stop a railway project because they lost over $4,000,000,000 in weapons contracts due to the overthrow of former Libyan dictator Murmar Quaddafi.

Since March 2011, Syrian conflict has taken the lives of over 9,000 people, about 20-25 people a day.  It is a mix between Syrian armed forces, rebel militia members and innocent men, women and children.

Mark Lyall Grant, United Kingdom’s envoy to the UN, stated that the mission will start in the next few weeks because there is no confirmed date at this time.

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Tulsi Patel

Although the Harry Potter series may be over, the creator of the popular series has not stopped working on new material for all her fans. J.K. Rowling has a new book coming out called “Casual Vacancy”. Although it has nothing to do with the wizarding world, there are many people who are anxious to read the book when it comes out worldwide on Sept. 27. This adult book is J.K. Rowling’s first project after the last Potter novel, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was published in July 2007.

“When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty fade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, and teachers at war with their pupil. Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?” According to www.usatoday.com, that is what “Casual Vacancies” is about.  This book will be sold as an e-book and hardback when it comes out.

After “Casual Vacancies”, J.K. Rowling is not going to stop with her writing. In fact, J.K. Rowling is going to make an addition to the Harry Potter series with “The Harry Potter Encyclopedia”. This is a final closure of the series that all of the Potter fans have been waiting for. “The Harry Potter Encyclopedia” will include all of the unsolved mysteries of the series and an explanation of everything in the whole series of seven books and eight movies.

Rowling will start working on the long-awaited encyclopedia as soon her new book “Casual Vacancy” is published. Potter fans are eager for both of the books Rowling has coming, and they are looking forward to more of Rowling’s future projects.

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Melinda Nunery

     Australian pilot Braden Blennerhassett could have used some help from Samuel L. Jackson after finding a snake on his plane.
     Only 20 minutes into his flight on May 5, Blennerhassett radioed in to air traffic control and said, “Look, you’re not going to believe this, I’ve got snakes on a plane.”
     Blennerhassett made an emergency landing after he called air traffic control.
     “Lo and behold, in between the instrument panel and the dashboard, a stowaway came on board and it took me a while to register that it was actually a snake. I turned [the plane] around and got it headed back towards Darwin,” said Blennerhassett.
     Once landing at the airport a fireman inspected the plane and found another snake and a green tree frog. The golden tree snake that Blennerhassett saw may have been enticed onto the aircraft by the green tree frog. The golden tree snake, which at one point was crawling down his leg, is only mildly venomous and considered harmless because their toxicity is not dangerous to humans.
     This occurrence is believed to be the first time a snake has appeared on a plane during an Australian flight, though other wildlife have surfaced during flight including a young chicken and a juvenile crocodile that appeared under a pilot’s pedal.

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Jenna Zengel

Earlier this month three UK men stole a penguin from Australia’s Sea World. They claim that alcohol played a part. They then boasted about their nights activities on Facebook, and even posted a few videos, which tipped the police off.

They told Australia’s 7News that when they woke up the next morning they were shocked to see the small penguin waddling around their apartment in Queensland.

Apparently the men, ages 18, 20 and 21, got drunk and decided to break into Sea World after it was closed. They stripped down to their underwear to swim with the dolphins. While they were swimming with the dolphins one of the men saw a penguin. “Yo, look at them…Let’s go get a penguin,” said one of the men during a personal video clip.

The men then stole Dirk, a 7-year-old penguin who had never been out of its enclosure before.

“Can’t believe…penguin in our apartment man…we stole a penguin,” one of the men says in a video, apparently taken after the hung-over trio woke up.

After they awoke the next morning, the men panicked when they saw the penguin and set it free in a nearby estuary, which was filled with sharks.

Sea World workers rescued the penguin a short time later. The three men face charges of trespassing, theft and unlawfully keeping a protected animal.

In other animal news, Tim the tortoise of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo passed away on April 10. He was the zoo’s oldest resident.

Tim was a male Aldabra tortoise and was more than a 100 years old. He was brought to the zoo

in 1955 he was already fully grown. He weighed about 400 pounds and his shell was 43 inches long when he died.

The Zoo’s staff will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of his death.

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Elizabeth Salinas

On March 2, southern Indiana was greatly damaged due to a series of tornadoes that killed 13 people and destroyed many buildings, including Henryville High School.

Henryville High had entered into an “Own the Prom Night” contest hosted by Lady Antebellum three weeks prior to the tornadoes and were selected as the winners due to their “resilience and unity following devastating tornadoes earlier this month” according to the Lady Antebellum website.

The 45 minute concert at the prom on April 27 will not actually happen as intended because of a scheduling conflict for the band.

“Trust me, we have something bigger in store,” Charles Kelly said. “Mark your calendars for May 16 because we are coming to Henryville.” Lady Antebellum plans to do something special for the entire community to make-up for missing the prom.

Their prom will be held in Jeffersonville, Ind., with donated catering, a free DJ, tuxedo rentals and free prom dresses, according to the “Louisville Courier-Journal”.

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Jenna Zengel

Studies have shown that the emperor penguin population is double of what scientists originally estimated. By using satellite imagery, the scientists were able to track the birds from their poop stains and shadows in the ice. They are hoping that these findings will help track climate change.

The study found about 238,000 breeding pairs in Antarctica, which is almost double of the two-decade old estimate of 135,000.

“Current research suggests that emperor penguin colonies will be seriously affected by climate change,” said Phil Trathan, a co-author of the paper on the study. “An accurate continent-wide census that can be easily repeated on a regular basis will help us monitor more accurately the impacts of future change on this iconic species.”

The Antarctic Peninsula, which is the part of the continent that points toward South America, has warmed 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 50 years. This increase caused the entire Larsen B ice shelf to collapse and part of the Wilkins ice shelf. These collapses threatened the habitat of the emperor penguins, which tend to live in these areas.

“While current research leads us to expect important declines in the number of emperor penguins over the next century, the effects of warming around Antarctica are regional and uneven,” Trathan said. “In the future we anticipate that the more southerly colonies should remain, making these important sites for further research and protection.”

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Tulsi Patel

     In school, students are constantly expanding their knowledge of many topics. Math, science, English and social studies are the majority of subjects that are elaborated on in school. Although those subjects are important, shouldn’t students learn about things that occur in the real world and their surroundings?
     The numbers of minorities in schools are rapidly increasing. It is clear that many of the students who aren’t minorities and are Caucasian do not understand or know much about the cultures of the different races of kids they are surrounded by. Our question is, why don’t schools teach kids about the different cultures of the world?
     It is vital that students are aware of not only their own culture, but the cultures and traditions of their fellow classmates. If they know this, they can understand and be less ignorant toward the different races in their school.
     Fortunately, History and Film, taught by Ms. Jones-Price, is a class that teaches students about minorities in the world. It teaches them the history and different points of view on the issues and past events that have happened throughout history that have shaped these points of view.
     We do not understand why it shouldn’t be taught to all students about the different people of the world and why anyone would disagree with it. It is clear that the lessons should be taught in school, but now the question is, when will more classes start to do so?

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Jenna Zengel

Celebrity it couple “Brangelina”, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, finally decided to tie the knot. Earlier this month the $1,000,000 ring made its appearance shining on Jolie’s ring finger.

It is rumored that Pitt popped the question over Christmas. Close friends said that he had the ring custom made for Jolie last year, and that he made sure it would be ready by Christmas.

The couple has been dating since 2005 and has six kids together. They previously said they weren’t going to marry until gay marriage was legalized in all 50 states. Now they are claiming that their kids were pressuring them to get married. It has not been released when they plan to marry.

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