Current Events 6.1

I know what you're thinking. Mr. Winter, we just did a current events assignment. Well, it was more than a week ago, so it's no longer current. Besides, it's a new six weeks and you should be reading the paper every day. So, to encourage that practice, here we go.  

To get to the Austin American-Statesman - click the link and then put in the user name and password.

http://nieonline.com/austin/studentconnect.cfm

The user name is MAC-J

The password is Knight1!

Current Events Assignment 6.1 -- April 21, 2016

To answer question 1, please read "Jackson out; slave savior to be face of $20 bill" on the lower left corner of page A1.

1. How is the design of U.S. currency going to chance if Treasury Secretary Jack Lew's proposal is carried out? And how might the proposal prove the power of musical theatre to effect change (Mr. Denning must be happy today.) This is a $40 question as you should discuss the $20, the $10 and the $5 thoroughly.

To answer question 2, please read "3 officials charged in Flint lead crisis" on the lower right corner of page A1.

2.  What is the latest news in the Flint water crisis? According to Detroit defense attorney Neil Rockind, why is the latest news a "rare" development?  This article does a good job of summarizing this whole debacle briefly. I counted at least three horrible mistakes made by Flint officials which led to this whole mess. What horrible actions (or inactions) caused this to be a full-blown disaster. Last question: What is the Michigan governor doing over the next 30 days? Why? Do you think it will help?

To answer question 3, please read "Clinton, Trump riding high after blowout wins" across the Btop of page A4.

3.  Why are the Clinton and Trump campaigns "invigorated" after Tuesday? How close are each of the front-runners to securing their respective nominations? What's up next Tuesday for the candidates? What familiar argument did Trump make again Wednesday in Indianapolis? What streak was halted by Clinton's win in New York?

To answer question 4, please read "Teachers union sues over new evaluations" at the bottom right of page B1.

4. Why is a teacher's union--the Texas State Teachers Association--suing the head of the Texas Education Agency? What does the union hope to accomplish with the lawsuit? What does the story say about the Austin Independent School District? How does AISD compare to other districts when it comes to teacher evaluations? What is "a value-added model" and how does it relate to this story?

To answer question 5, please read "Report: Volkswagen makes deal to pay U.S. customers" at the bottom right of page B7.

5. My son and I play Punch Buggie incessantly in the car (I lose virtually all the time), but after reading this article we may have to stop because I'm not sure we should create any fond memories that involve the German automaker Volkswagen. What deal is the automaker Volkswagen like to announce today at a federal court hearing in San Francisco? How much money is involved? Why might some individuals receive more money than others from the German automaker? And why do they have to make payments anyway? Why is the amount of money (it's a lot) apparently just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how much the automaker is going to have to pay? 

6.  Pick an article that you want to read (more than other articles anyway), read it and then write a three-sentence (minimum) summary of the article and a three-sentence explanation (minimum) about why you chose that article to read or why you thought it was newsworthy or important enough to select for this assignment.