News Briefs: Catch up on local, school, and national news

LOCAL

After a year and a half of complaints from Mission Hills residents regarding coyote traps, the City Council voted to remove them recently.

The city has been facing objections and backlash due to the traps for over a year. After two citizen’s dog’s were caught in the trap and sent to the vet with serious injuries, the traps were then removed from the park were the dogs were confined. 

The council voted to remove the traps as a safety precaution and has since been working to decide their next steps on how to manage the still-prevalent coyote problem.

Since the traps were placed in the fall of 2022, Mission Hills resident and freshman Chloe Harmon has seen an decrease in the number of local coyotes.

“I think they should keep the traps because they are working,” Harmon said. “If they’re really working, there’s no point in removing them because then the coyotes might come back.”

Freshman Campbell Brinton also supports the use of these traps to protect her neighborhood.

“I support the traps as long as they are not [to] kill [animals],” Brinton said. “I remember seeing coyotes in my yard and my dogs are half their size. Everyone in our neighborhood was very worried about the coyotes.”

EAST

The senior tradition of the “Assassins” water gun game will begin after spring break, and the first round of targets will be announced via text on March 20. 

Game commissioner and senior Paige Zadoo started an Instagram account and released a Google Form for seniors to sign up to play. While 80 have signed up so far, Zadoo hopes for 100-150 participants.

Each round of the game will last one week, starting on Monday mornings when the players will receive a target to “assassinate” with a water gun by the following Sunday. Failure to eliminate their target or being assassinated both result in disqualification from the game.

The participation fee is $10 and the game will last a month.

Senior Grace Knoff is planning to take the game seriously, buying her supplies a month in advance. 

“I already bought my water guns, so I don’t have to worry about getting them when I get back from spring break,” Knoff said. “[I’m] not hanging out with any of my friends and [I’m] not trusting anyone.”

Knoff is looking forward to the adrenaline rush and challenge of the game.

“As of now, I’m going to try to be super involved with it but will definitely have to see how it plays out,” Knoff said. “If other people are crazy serious about it to the point where it’s nuts, then I’ll probably chill out about it.”

NATIONAL

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a rise in job wages, economic inflation has increased at an unsteady incline, according to NPR.

The increase may be attributed to a rise in personal spending, which rose 1.8% in January, according to NPR. Though a drop in excess spending would help inflation settle, it could also result in a recession and potentially push the Federal Reserve System to increase interest rates to steady the prices.

Economics teacher Robert Bickers attributes the increased inflation to poor decision-making by the national government.

“Due to fears of an induced recession, congress chose to juice consumer spending, which led to predictably high inflation,” Bickers said. “Without that governmental action, we would not see inflation rates as high as we have.”

However, Bickers hasn’t felt the surge in inflation affect his own spending, substituting cheaper goods in place of his usual preferences. Still, he sees importance in discussing the national influence with his students to educate them on current economic change.

“It’s the core topic in AP Economics right now,” Bickers said. “I also touch on it in government as the economy is the single-largest consideration by voters in presidential elections, as it pertains to COVID.”