News Briefs Issue 16

Girls’ Varsity Swim Won the Sunflower League Championship 196

This past weekend, the girls’ varsity swim team won the Sunflower League meet.

This is the 11th time in 12 years the team has won the league championship. The girls’ varsity team had won consecutively since 2005, but lost last year.

The meet was hosted by SM North at the Prairie Trail Middle School pool in Olathe.

“Winning league is the next step to winning state, and it is important to get to state this year because we didn’t last year,” freshman varsity swimmer Miranda Hack said.

The final score of the meet was 351 to 243. The girls won by 108 points, beating East’s previous point differential record of 99 points.

The Lancers have won every meet they have participated in this season.

Swimmers who qualified for State will compete on May 21-22.

The girls’ swim team has won the state championship every year from 2010 up to 2014, but are hopeful to make a comeback this season since they the lost league championship last year for the first time in 5 years, according to Hack.

This year, the varsity boys team also won the Sunflower League championship, making it their 13th straight league championship.

Wildfire in Canada is Spreading Fast 214

More than 90,000 people have been evacuated from the city of Fort McMurray due to a wildfire in Alberta, Canada.

The Canadian wild fire has grown to be about 400,000 acres and is continuing to spread. It is currently 20-30 miles outside of the neighboring province of Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan and Alberta have issued air quality statements throughout their provinces. Air quality not only affects the Canadian citizens, but it heavily impacts the environment as well.

“Air quality affects all of us including organisms in our environment,” Environmental Club president Kyle Baker said. “Poor air quality can limit the sunlight that reaches plants.”

Although favorable winds have pushed the fire away from the city of Fort McMurray, smoke has been seen as far south as Iowa.

The fire will cost up to $7 billion to pay back insured residents.

One fourth of Canada’s oil lines have been shut down due to the fire. This is a problem because this region is the world’s third largest oil producer, behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Fort McMurray wildfire is being fought with over 500 firefighters, 15 helicopters and 14 air tankers, but it may continue to burn for months, according to usatoday.com.

There have been two reported deaths due to attempted evacuation of the fire.

New Restaurants Announced for Ward Parkway Construction 189

The construction of a building in the empty lot next to Ward Parkway Center at 89th St. and State Line Rd. will hold five restaurants, along with fire pits, fountains and seating areas.

Charleston’s, The Garage, MidiCi and Ted’s Escondido Cafe are the four restaurants that are confirmed tenants of the 31,000 square foot building. There has been no confirmed fifth tenant.

Charleston’s menu features American classics like chicken fried steak, ribs and hamburgers. The Garage also showcases burgers, along with tacos, sandwiches and salads.

MidiCi has made to order Neapolitan style pizzas, which are created in an open kitchen in the middle of the restaurant. Ted’s Escondido Cafe exhibits a Tex-Mex menu with specialty tacos and handmade tamales.

Not only are the restaurants mostly new to the Kansas City area, but they add different options to the three standard restaurants already in the Ward Parkway Center– Starbucks, Firehouse Subs, and Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

“The new places to eat will help me venture out and not stick to the same old restaurants,” freshman Kailey Rawson said.

The $16 million renovations will be complete by spring 2017.