My Freshman Change

My first year of high school at Parkway was rocky and i really didn't want to be here the first 4 months. But as i adjusted i started to make more friends and associates ; the growing relationships with my friends at school blossomed more then i thought it would. High school has changed me a lot like i learned to stay mellow and not snap out all the time like i use too. I also now learned to study and that's the ONLY way i can get good grades in high school. My personality is a lot more stronger and a lot less invisible, i still am quiet and mellow but i am more established now. My high school life has changed me outside of school but in some ways i stayed the same. For an example i am a lot more patient with people and more willing to listen to what they have to say, especially teachers. I also learned  that in high school there is way more annoying and ignorant people here you just just have to have the patients and decent state of mind. Over all i really haven't changed that much in appearances but as a person i matured a lot more then i would have if i would of just stayed to myself the whole year. Another thing about this school year is i became more social as in like talking and hangout instead just relaxing and letting life play out in front of me. I can say this school year was nice life changer.

Accused killer struggled with homelessness, mental illness, family says

44 Year old Antoinette Pelzer was accused of killing two people with a butcher knife. Witness say she was trying to steal a purse with money inside from the victim when another person tried to intervene. Pelzer started to stab the first victim in the chest and eventually the heart, and then attacked the other woman. Both the victims who died where 80 year old Po Lin Wan, who died from bleeding to death and 47 year old Alice Mei See Leung who was stabbed in the heart. Pelzer family said the suspect , Antoinette Pelzer has been suffering from schizophrenia since she was 24. Her family also stated that wasn't violent . 22 year old Ellen Slaughter (Youngest out of 3 children from Pelzer) , said " She's totally different person when she doesn't take her medication. Last time i spoke to her was in April and she was living in a shelter home". Last time anybody from Pelzer family checked , she was doing fine and taking her medication and quite don't understand what made her stab and kill to people. Pelzer is current;y being held at Atlantic County Jail, with a bail starting at 1.5 $ million. Her family said she must had not been on her medication when she attacker the two victims who were touring from Canada. Members of the family say Antoinette's disorder started to show very early after she had her first child at age 17. People pray for the two victims that died , due to Pelzer malfunction.

This I Believe

Peter Godfrin is a Army Commanding Officer who had lost a friend in a land mill accident. The young man who died in the accident was Sergeant Christopher Wagener. Chris was delivering food to another army base in Afghanistan along with other soldiers, but his truck fell into a land mill and big explosion happened. Chris was killed instantly , although the other soldiers were just severely injured. Ever since that day Commanding Officer Peter Godfrin wears a bracelet with Chris' name on it and the exact date he died. Godfrin blamed his self for the crash because Chris was in his well being. He also felt guilty that he felt this way and decided he was lucky he was able to finish all his wars unharmed for 14 years. He tries to think about the positive things about Chris and never negative things such as his death. He described Chris as friendly, extremely liked, and very hard working like a lot of young soldiers he commanded. But the thing that struck him so hard about his death was that he was so young. Godfrin explained that the army teaches people how to handle death physically but never emotionally. He didn't know how to tell the other soldiers about the death of Chris only say what he thought was best. He was happy to have met Chris and serve with him but he now realizes life is a gift and is thankful he can return home to his own family.

Career Day

May, 3 2012 was Career Day at Parkway West High School. Many different people showed up to talk about their jobs and why they became  interested in the career they picked. Each person who came to a class room that Thursday, talked for about 15 minutes and took questions from student and politely answered them. The first person who came was a woman, Ms.Singleton. She was Attorney who attended Overbrook High School. She went to law school for about 3 years and then another 4 to become a lawyer. She is a Mediation attorney which involves dispute resolutions. Also meaning she settles the differences between two people to come to a compromise. The second person who came to talk about their job and what they do was Mr. Heigler. He was a Commerical Banker who owned a lot of small businesses. As a Commerical banker he loaned money to other businesses and made money on fees that were owed to the bank. Also he he got his degree in Business Management Degree, also known as BMD. He graduated from Delaware State College . A third person to visit the class was another man, Mr. Hanible, a Tax Business Owner. He left school in 11th grade to help out with his nephew's . But in 1992 is when he started doing his taxes and other peoples taxes. He went back to school to get his GED. When he was hired as a Account Manager he made about 19,000 just on his GED. But when he pursued to keep that position he went up from 19,000 to about 47,000. In 1997 he had put in a application for Vanguard which then he made about 52,000. He now has over 300 clients. He's the owner of Print shop and two other small business. Career day at Parkway was actually pretty interesting.

Afghan Girls, Scarred by Acid, Defy Terror, Embracing School

A 17- year old girl ( Shamsia Husseini) from KANDAHAR, Afghanistan was approached by a man one morning with a surprisingly normal question, "Are you going to school?''. Out of nowhere the man grabbed Shamsia and snatched her burqa from her head and sprayed her face with burning acid. Her burns were so bad she had to get urgent medical care from doctors. Doctors told her she would have to get plastic surgery if she ever wanted all the scares on her face to be completely gone. Since the accident it hard for her to read because her vision sometimes becomes blurry. Shamisa and 14 other girls were terrorized and burned, for one purpose only. Men in Afghanistan believe women should stay home and clean and always be covered with their garments from head to toe. The attack on Shamisa was meant to keep her from attending school but that just made her and other young girls want to and still attend school. She attends Mirwais School for Girls. There are about 1,300 girls who attend her school. The girl's parents stated that Shamisa should always attend school even if she is killed. Unfortunately many of the girls have to walk 1-2 miles just to attend school. But Mirwais has no regular electricity, no running water, no paved. On Nov.12th three men with motorcycle's circled the school and began spraying acids from the bottles on the teachers and students , they also had water guns and jars. Eleven students and 4 teachers were hit but 6 had to go the hospital. Shamisa had got the worse of the blows. Taliban are being accused of this attack but they deny any part of the attack. People have yet to find out who has really been attacking these girls.

El Cajon police ask public's help to solve Iraqi woman's beating death

Shaima Alawadi was a Iraqi immigrant who was fount unconscious in her dining room. Her 17 year old daughter was the first one to find her and call police. The Alawadi family say that the husband left earlier to take their youngest children to school. Near this perfectly healthy 32 year old women had a warning note laying next to her. Officials would not show the note to the public, instead the family came out and said the note said "Go back to where you came from". The family said they received another note the day before saying the same thing but the family took it as a prank from teenagers or something. She was taken to the hospital and her family were told she was diagnosed as brain dead. Her family decided it was best to take her off life support. The puzzling question is why was this women murdered and who wrote the note left next to her body as she laid brain dead.The immigrant community in eastern San Diego County is in shock over the killing. They are devastated to have lost one of their people. Hanif Mohebi, executive director of the San Diego has estimated about 330,000 to 40,000 immigrants from Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries have moved to El Cajon. Alawadi and her husband, Kassim Alhimidi, immigrated to the United States in the mid-1990s. They have 2 sons and 3 daughters from ages 7-18. Police Officials and the Alawadi family are concerned that this terrorist act on this innocent women is a hate crime. Hopefully they will get to bottom of this and stop other  attacks like this from happening to other families.

Two Phildelphia firefighters die battling Kensington warehouse blaze

A old Thomas W. Buck hosiery building took up nearly a full block in Kinsington and was suppose to be turned into 81 apartment buildings several years ago. but instead it was sat vacant. People on the block complained they about the dangerous conditions, stating that the building would burn down one day. The people who owned the building were from New York and took up unpaid tax bills and ignored code violations. In February the city tried to put the property up for sheriff sale, which would possibly take months. Even though precaution's were made in the end it was just to late to prevent an avoidable situation. A fire started in this building taking the lives of two firemen. This happened on a Monday morning and a call was made about 5 am claiming the fire was completely out of control. But the warehouse fire alarm went out about 3:15 am. 3 firefighters where trapped in the building because something had fell on them. The firefighters were injured but were reported to be okay. The two fire fighters who were reported to be dead were ages 25 and 60. Flames ripped through out the buildings windows and multi floors. Police had to bang on doors to get near by neighbors out of harm. No one was reported to be injured or dead that lived on the Kensington block. 5 fighters were in the building when it collapsed, it took hours to get them all out safely. I think this is an ironic event and i feel bad for the families of two fire men who died to prevent a fire from over taking the Kensington Neighborhood.

For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside Marriage

There's a study shown that a steady occurrence's of pregnancies are outside of marriage. Most people don't wed because they fear divorce and the consequences with them. Most women who aren't married but have kids are white women in 20's with some type of college education but no 4 year degree. Mother of all ages is a majority that only 59% in 2009 where married with children. More then two-thirds of children in United States are born to mothers under 30. Some women say they don't marry because of the world work economic system it's hard to find a man who has a job and a stable life. A study has reveal children who are born outside of a marriage are at risk for poverty, failing in school, or suffering emotional and behavior problems. And because of the different things in the world such as the ''pill' women and men don't have to follow the old tradition of marrying the women they got pregnant. This research about occuring pregnancies to women under 30 is very true about the world today. Men aren't as high strong and motivated to do good in life like they were back in the day, and this is the reason why some of the women in the world today are stuck with children and no husband to help support them. Also not only that but women are behaving and acting the same way and are avoiding marriage just like the men. This subject has yet to have more thought put in to it.

2 Deaths occured in Pittsburgh Psychiatric Hospital

A man was reported walking into Pittsburgh Psychiatric Hospital with a gun and began to shoot. This shooting happened on March 8th Thursday. Two deaths were reported including his own as police arrived and fired back. "This is a tradgic day,a sad day, a senseless day, Mayor Luke Ravenshal said during a interview.The exact location was at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. Those who worked for the city and hospital refused to give out the name or idenity of the shooter, nor did they discuss his motive. They say the suspect walked through the hospital doors at 1:40pm with semi-automatic hand guns and started his rage of terror. Officers where on the sence within minutes to stop this this guy. say the authorities. The people he shot and killed where two adult males, their indenties where held as well. The people who were injured in all this chaos are reported to be okay and they're injuries are not deadly. The people who were injured were visitors and hospital staff. Everyone was okay except for the perp and the two lives he has took. Most people don't understand why he did this and are quite angry with this man actions. They are happy to seem him do no more harm to anybody else.

7 Millionth Person ?

A family in the Philippines welcome a tiny member that happens to be the 7billionth person to be born in 2011 0ct 30th. This little new member is Danica May Camacho, as soon as she was born she was a star. The UN choose the date Oct.30th for the celebration known as "Seven Billion Day". They had several festival's around the the states world wide for this occasion. But the 7th billionth member Danica was born at José Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila, Philippines. She arrived two minutes before midnight making her the 7 billionth baby to be born in 2011. Even though this being said professionals who track the population throughout the world say she might not be the 7th billionth baby to be born because the population simply grows to fast and almost is impossible to know. Little baby Danica's, father supports the family by driving trucks and taking things where they need to be taken. The UN congratulated the Camacho family by giving them gives to celebrate her arrival. They also granted the family money to help with her education, also they gave the family more money to open a store so they could support their self a lot better then what they were doing. Demographers say it took until 1804 for the world to reach it's first billion people. And took another century to hit 2 billion people. That being said the Philippines is the world 12th most populated country, occupied by 95 million people. But China is the worlds largest populated country in the world.

I'm a criminal and so are you

Not many people know this is or acknowledge but everyone is a criminal. They might not have robbed a bank or stole a car but they have done something minor. Most people won't admit to being a criminal because they don't quite get the full concept of the definition of criminal. the reason they are criminals and never been convicted because what they did was minor such as running a light on the freeway, smoking pot, or even drinking under age. People think these are natural things to do and don't see the wrong in both these law breaking's. Most people who engage in conversation like these say yes to all these questions asked such as speeding on a freeway always seem to think criminals exist somewhere in the ghetto. No matter how old they are or what gender they are this what they think when the word criminal comes to mind. In the country we live in today, we force millions of people of color for example black and brown into the second class status because they have committed a crime. And because of this some people are denied the right to vote an labeled a felon for life because of one crime they committed. They also automatically excluded from jury duty and hard to find a good job that pays well. Colleges are hard to get into because they look at everything on a person background before they accept them into their school. But not all people are recognized as criminals such as President Barack Obama, Obama has admitted to smoking weed in college days. This shows everyone has committed a crime but hasn't quite done anything big to be informed as a criminal.

An American hero

Jefferson Thomas was a average young African-American would made history. He was one of the "Little Rock Nine," which means there was nine colored teens to integrate a public school for white teens. He did this in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. When he died on Sept.5 2010, his friend and family honored his legacy and honored him as a pioneer who open doors for many other generations to come. Thomas was a teenager at the center of the civil rights movement. Leader who were invovled the movement opposed the seperation of blacks and whites going to seperate buildings. They finally achieved this goal in 1957, many didn't approve but the law was passed anyway. The case that was won was called Brown vs. Broad of Education. In the law it meant that black kids could attend all white schools and this happened in 1957 and this law had to be obey. The plan was to let African-American students to attend all white schools. Thomas was 15 years old at the time and volunteered to do this. But this process wasn't easy and African-American fount it hard to deal with because of the whites being hateful toward them. Whites students and parents protested this law outside of the school and didn't approve of the law at all. Thomas and other students had officers escort them into school and to their classes including lunch and when they went home. They did this to ensure the safety of the black teens.
 

Sea Lions are the problem ?

Wildlife officials that take duty by keeping wild creatures safe such as bears are having a hard time deciding whether to kill sea lions or simply remove them from parts of the ocean. The reason they want to do this is because a endangered fish called Salmon is going extinct because they happen to be the favorite food of the Sea lion. On Oct. 5, 2011 federal law makers are trying to make a step closer to killing sea lions that feed on salmon. Even though this being said Seal lions are protected by law and are only killed when proven that thy harming the salmon population. A law has been passed for this but only 10 sea lions can be killed in a single year under this laws. But the sea lions being killed can always repopulate by reproducing. In the last 3 decades the Sea lion population has grown up too 250,000 strong. They don't just feed on the precious salmon but they also eat squid, small sharks, and mackerel. Salmon swim together in Columbia River, salmon gather near the Bonneville Dam on the border of Washington and Oregon on their way to spawning grounds. The area has become a favorite spot for the sea lions. In 2010, sea lions ate about 5,000 salmon there. That's about 1.4 percent of the salmon run. This is when sea lions feed on salmon the most. But not only are animals a threat to the ever decreasing population of salmon but so are fishermen. They are also responsible for this problem. Wildlife officials are trying to find positive ways to save the salmon by not killing the sea lions but finding a way to co-exist.
 

Don't need help?

In Manchester, Connecticut, shoppers are getting their impute on how they feel about do you self grocery lines. There are some people that like the do it your self lines because they say it fast and easy. One of the people that like the old fashion traditional line is being Keith Wearne, he says he like being able to talk to someone while paying for his groceries. Connecticut is not the only state that has do it your self grocery line, many other states have them too. A study was made that 16 percent of supermarket checkout lines in 2010 were done with self serving checkout lines. The study shows that people are more satisfied using a traditional grocery line. Some customers think the do it your self serving line make make a mistake such as a error on the cost of food. The customers would like to be able to talk someone that works at the store if there is a problem that they might need help with. Local stores have removed some of their do it your self lines and replaced them with employees. Customer service is another factor on whether to keep the self-serve lines. Some people find the self-serve lines very useful because they can just come into the store and grab what ever they need and scan their food on the self-serve lane and go without the inference of a slow cashier or a problem with the cash register. The debate on self-serve lines is still in progress and will be somehow resolved.

Photoshopped?

There is a big contriversal disagreement about if magazine article and other major papers should aloud women to be enhanced in pictures. By enhancing pictures they are making their skin flawless and smooth and any stand of hair that is in the way is being deleted or covered up. Magazines do these things to make people look flawless and put the ''this is how people should look image'' in their head. Some people are very upset about the enhanced photoshopped pictures and wonder why would people agree to this. But not everybody has the same opinion of that, Some actress, models, rappers and other well known people think this is a good thing because the photoshop picture makes them look great. They don't really think of this as a big deal but more of this is just getting a better perspective of them. Also some are even amazed that people can get rid of flaws of a person picture by a computer. The people who take the pictures and photoshop them think of their job as a work of job and impressed with their self. Companies who use photoshop to make their picture better debate against those who think photoshop is a bad and is putting images in people heads of that is how people should look. They feel as though people don't look like that in the world war most defitantly not even super models. Photoshop is still be debating upon between those who think photoshop is good and the ones that think its bad.

Manufactuing Apple

Apple is a world wide known company and the biggest one of them all. They are known for their laptops, iPhone, iPads, and other well used products. Even though apple is a wonderful manufacturing company even they have their problems. Many Apple companies in China have blown up because the carelessness of people who run it. Workers complain that they stand for long hours and share rooms with at least 20 other workers. The workers were so fed up and angry about their living and working conditions lit trash on fire and throw it out of they're tiny dorm rooms. Police were required to take action, many workers were injured and at least 8 were arrested. A young man from China was invited to work for a Apple Factory in certain part of China. Luckily for him he was college graduate and got good job at the Apple Company and better living condition compared to most of the workers who had a job from Apple. The company worked their employees for almost 12 hours a day and made very little money doing so. They was forced stand in a line and wear masks and glasses to protect their eyes from the dust that occupied their living space. The dust from making the machines for apple were the reason most often why their buildings almost always blew up.  Only after the explosions did authorities take action into making the factory a better more comfortable work place.

Understanding Diease

Around in the 1300s there was a horrible disease called the bubonic plague. This disease was fount in Europe and was said to be very deadly and contagious. Europe had lost a third of their population to this vicious disease.  This being said their most had been 100 million lives claimed by this deadly disease. This disease still in fact exist in some parts of world today but isn't as deadly as the years before. The scientist are trying to figure out why the disease isn't as contagious and life threathing . Back in the 1300s the disease was so bad of a virus that is was called the ''Black Death''. People contracted this disease when a rodent such as a rat came into contact with a human and the human was bitten by this infected rat. Also human came infected by a flea with a certain bacteria in their mouth that fed on rodents and jumped on a human.  Their our 5 symptom's of bubonic, this includes swollen glands, fever, exhaustion, infection of the blood and lungs. The bubonic plague was spread from the 1347 to 135. This disease was so misunderstood in the 1300s the doctors back then didn't know exactly what to do. Some used old method such as mashed garlic on a wet cloth placed on the bubonic bumps. They also used medicines like dried toad and varities  of roots.

Drugs Related Deaths More Common Than Car Crashes

Drug related deaths have been  more common then car crashes since 2009, Killing as many as 37,485 people all around the world. That information had come from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some major deaths are being prevented but the death toll from drugs have increased in the last  decades.  To make things worse every 14 minutes a person dies from drugs. But the death toll in auto mobiles have decreased over the years because of more companies are investing in car safety. This is the first time that drugs have been counted for more deaths then car crashes since 1979 when the government started to take track the number of drug deaths. The main drugs commonly used in a drug related death are pain and anxiety. These drugs are highly potent when mixed with other major medicines such as xyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma. Drugs that are prescribed are mostly used in a case of death involving drugs. The government is trying to put a stop to this.

Gambling Limits

In Missouri voters had made  the decision whether gambling addicts should be kept out of casino's after a certain extent. The Missouri Gaming Commission is trying to make the decision whether they should make a black voluntary lifetime list of know people when gambling addiction, but instead replace it with a 5 year suspension. If they do that it will allow 11,000 banned gamers back into the riverboat casinos. This list has been a implement since 1996; and a centerpiece of Missouri efforts to manage gaming addiction, and has been destroyed in the last eight other states, some in which don't have lifetime bands. Several states have increased betting limits since gambling was legalized. One these states being Colorado has changed it's highest bet in 2009, from 100$ to 5$. Also lets casinos be used 24 hours.

Detroit Police On A Mission

The Police Department of Detroit is trying to create a plan that will make police be on patrol more then be in precincts and headquarters. They are trying to do this without adding a $200 million budget cut. The precincts and headquarters will be closed to the public after 4p.m. Also police will be patrolling tough areas if this law passes, this practice will be passed in 6 other states. Officers are still inside the building on duty, but at night access is limited to the public. Many states have came up with the same idea but Detroit will be the biggest state of America to do it. The idea of all this is to change the way things are operated in police departments. But closing precincts to the public is not excepted to save money it will just simply re organize officers and their duty. But like  others of the many country's Detroit is under severe financial problems. They have about 2,700 police officers down and about 100 officers that may be laid off next month without federal grant money. Restricted officers that do light duty will be called for non- important phone calls that normally just go to the front desk, a speaker said that 100-150 cops will be issued to be on duty all at the same. Chief"s from other department discusses this situation. 

Dr.King Legacy Lives On Through ''Freedom Of speech''

Thousands of Americans all gathered together in the capital of America to honor Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.King was a civil rights leaders and activist, he fought for our rights because nobody else could at the time. He gave his famous "I Had Dream" speech in 1963: he had 250,00 people march with him. But in 1964, King had been awarded the ''The Noble Peace Prize''. He was only 35 years old, meaning he was the youngest person to recieve this award. In 1968 King was assassinated. But in 2011 a 30 foot sculptor was made to honor Dr.King Jr. The statue is called '' The Stone of Hope'': this sculptor shows Mr. King emerging from a rock representing the speech ''I Had A Dream''. President Barack Obama was one of the many people who spoke at a dedication speech honoring King's success. Everyone who spoke at King's ceremony spoke of his courage, bravery, knowledge and hope he gave everyone every time he spoke of rights.

Only four days of school ?

Schools in South Dakota were running out of money to fund for schools so they came up with a solution. They cut back on a day in the school week, so now they have 4 days instead of 5. By doing this they had to reduce their lunch time period and get rid of teachers and other staff members. Also they added a extra 30 minutes to school time, But some still worry that even though they did all this they still will lose money. Some parents insist that their child's performance on standardize test will not be as strong as it would be on 5 days school week. But other thinks it will not affect the children because of the cut backs that have been made to support the children. They argue they would will be able to save up too 50,000 dollars from making these cut backs. These cut backs include food, and other necessary expense's. Most students agree with having only 4 days of school because they have extra weekend day.
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U.S Ignores Iranian Threat

Iran Threaten that a American aircraft on duty would not return from the Middle East in order to go back to it's base in the Gulf. They also said they would not be saying  warning the U.S again. This warning had been made soon after the Iranians had successfully launch three towards the Strait Of Hormuz. That location is 40% of the worlds oil; the U.S uses this route as well. Commander Bill Speaks, Defense Spokesman stated that the launch of the military assets will continue like it has been doing for years. He also said the aircraft using the Hormuz route would be secured and it will have an easy passing. This aircraft is nuclear powered and has 90 fighter jets and helicopters inside. Also is accompanied by 5 destroyers. The carrier is almost done it's seven month deployment at sea. The Iranians continue to send warning about the aircraft not returning, they've also been launching missiles  3 at a time that are suppose to sink ship carriers.