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

Local

Since being approved in January, Homestead Country Club’s new indoor pickleball courts are expected to be finished by the end of the month along with a grand opening party on Oct. 22.

Homestead member and junior Syl Brundige can’t wait for the new courts to be finished, especially since it will open up another option for East’s pickleball club to play in the winter.

“It might create more opportunities to play since there aren’t as many pickleball courts around here,” Brundige said.

According to Pickleball Co-President Autumn Sun, the sport has gained popularity over these past couple years and she thinks that the KC metro should have more pickleball courts.

“I definitely think that pickleball has gained a lot of attention in recent years,” Sun said. “I’ve seen a lot of new faces at the pickleball [club] meetings. I have seen a lot more people get involved in playing pickleball, I think it’s an easy way for all ages to get outside and get exercise with friends and family.”

East

The Shawnee Mission School District canceled Chill Ball — cheer and dance team’s formal — due to it being classified an exclusive dance by SMSD.

SMSD classifies it as exclusive as it only allowed cheer and dance team members to participate, so any dance with these groups from this point on will not be affiliated with SMSD. When Chill Ball was an official SMSD dance, it was used as a fundraiser for the hosting school, according to East’s dance team’s coach Bubba Close. 

“I do understand where the district is coming from,” Senior and Cheer program captain Evan Jantsch said. “But I think it’s very unfortunate that after many years of this tradition it was completely canceled without warning and there was no chance to hear from cheer or East’s [perspective] on this situation.”

According to Janstch, alternative Chill Ball plans are still undecided. It will probably be in a rented event space with a DJ and everyone will still dress up and bring a date, but will instead be funded by the cheer and dance teams of East.

“Chill Ball was a super big part of the cheer team,” Jantsch said. “Everyone looked forward to it. Whatever we end up doing this year will still be super fun and I hope setting up our own Chill Ball will be a new tradition for athletes on the teams because it’s a super fun time.”

National

President Joe Biden is fulfilling a campaign pledge to take action on decriminalizing marijuana.

According to CNN, There have been more than 170,800 drug possession related to marijuana in 2021, Biden claims that there has been too many American lives have been unjustly affected because of the U.S failed approach to marijuana control, and that no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana.

Sophomore Lexy Aguilar thinks that this new decriminalization is a good thing.

“I am glad that Biden did that, and I felt like it should have been done a long time ago whether it was him or a different president,” Aguilar said. 

When Biden was announcing his executive actions he believes that marijuana possession leads to lack of employment, housing and educational opportunities, according to an interview on CNN. He also mentions the racial disparities when dealing with consequences.

“I do feel like there is a lot of racial bias on who gets convicted because of marjuana use, Aguilar said. “I feel like due to it being legalized in a lot more states, there are going to be people crossing state boundaries with possession of marijuana that are used to having it be legal.”

If this law does pass, certain federal and local regulations will change but important limitations like trafficking, marketing and underage sales laws stay in place.

“I don’t think there should be a lot of regulations because what’s the point of parting with crimes if you’re just going to keep it super locked tight,” Aguilar said. “I think everything should at least have some sort of regulation, but don’t make the parting of crimes useless.”