NATIONAL

The U.S. has experienced the highest inflation — the rise in prices of goods and services — rate since 1982, spurred by an increase in rates from 3.6% Jan. 1 to 5.52% on March 17th.

According to an ABC News poll, 29% of Americans chose everyday bills or inflation as their primary financial concern. Americans are struggling with this surge in prices for everything from groceries to water bills. 

Typically, as inflation rises the average salary rises too, however, businesses have struggled to raise wages as quickly as inflation has increased, according to The Washington Post. This has left many Americans, especially those living from paycheck to paycheck, in desperate situations unable to support their families.

According to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, after 2011, the number of student loan borrowers began to decline, since 2020, the number of student loan borrowers has increased steadily. 

Senior Tongtong Yi said he too was considering taking on more student loan debt because of inflation. 

“If the interest rate on loans is lower than the inflation rate, then I save a greater amount of money by kicking down the money I owe to future me,” Yi said. 

However, the Federal Reserve is expected to increase their interest rates in the next year to combat inflation. Though rates will likely increase, rates will still be significantly lower than the previous decade.

LOCAL

KC Power & Light held their 48th annual St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 17, after a two year break due to COVID-19.

In the parade, there were nearly 130 parade entries consisting of floats, bag pipers and parade organizers were led by Grand Marshall Pete McCluskey under the theme of “Doing an Irish Dance.”

The parade also marked one of the first large-scale events in Kansas City that would be mask optional. However, this caused concern for many, according to junior Harry Treml, he feared an event of this size had the potential to ignite COVID-19 in the community.

“I definitely think having attended the parade was a risk,” Treml said. “People from all over are going to be packed together unmasked after traveling over spring break, COVID could easily spread.” 

Despite this dilemma, many were simply happy to be able to take in the sights and sounds of the parade and celebrate their Irish ancestry for the first time in two years, according to junior Ryan Holland, who attended the parade with his brother Sean.

“It was nice to be able to go to the parade after it was closed for the last two years,” Holland said. “I had a lot of fun.”

EAST

40 eighth-grade girls came together to the East gym on Monday, March 21 to attend their first cheer clinic in order to prepare them for the upcoming team tryouts. 

These clinics are led by current members of the cheer team and will continue until tryouts on March 31, where the freshmen trying out will be cut to a group near 12. 

The purpose of the clinics is to teach the eighth graders what to work on in preparation for tryouts. Each incoming freshman is paired with one of the current cheer team members who taught them techniques and dance sequences they’ll need to memorize. Some of the things they’ve learned include jumps and the East fight song, said eight grader Sarah Stein. 

“The clinics have definitely had us feeling prepared and more confident going into tryouts,” said Stein.

The clinics are also instrumental in bringing all the potential future cheerleaders closer together. Because they practice every day for two hours, the eighth graders are able to meet many upperclassmen, allowing them to place the foundations of relationships they’ll build with everyone on the team.