Friday, February 15 Adar I 10, 5779 Winter Edition #2 :​ January 21- February 7th Editor's Note Student Government Recap By: Julian Landes Dear Reader, We hope you enjoy reading this issue of Sharkbite During the end of February, the middle school student Junior. As always, we do our best to try to inform government has many fun activities planned for the student you of other’s opinions and information about our body. Student government has committees working on an all school, community, and nation. school spirit week for purim, a revival of the suggestion box, and a new game that is dubbed ‘Humanopoly’. We are glad you have decided to read our First up to bat, we have an all school spirit week on newspaper and learn something new. Pick up the purim. There will be a dress up day, and the rest is a surprise. next amazing addition of Sharkbite Junior! Next, we have an update on the suggestion box story Thanks for reading, from last month. Since our last article, the suggestion box has Ariella Fleyshman, David Mardakhayev, been found and completed. It’s purpose will be for Shana Steinberg, Kiva Jacobs, Julian Landes, Bradley non-student-government students to submit ideas for things Rothschild, Ryan SIlverberg, Jonathan Sosonov, that they want to see done. All you have to do is write down a Isaac Gorodeski, Alex Messeloff, Arthur Stadlin, suggestion and put it in the box. Charles Stadlin and Avi Saidel. Finally, we have created a new game, ‘Humanopoly’. Humanopoly is a new schechter spin on the classic Monopoly game. The properties that you can buy will be represented by classrooms and the railroads will be represented by the baby train, but we don't want to give too much away! For the rest of the game, you’ll just have to wait and see. There will be more activities and events planned by student government in the near future and you can follow what is going on in the next edition of Schechter Sharkbite! A Recap of the Government Shutdown By: Arthur Stadlin The government shutdown has been the longest ever - surpassing even President Bill Clinton’s 21-day shutdown in 1995-1996. Before the 1970s, the federal government would and could spend money without congressional approval. However, in 1974 a law was passed that gave Congress more power in the budget than the executive government. In 1977, the House and Congress fought over whether Medicare could be used for abortions. This led to three government shutdowns totaling 28 days. Next year, president Carter disagreed with an expensive public works bill and caused a 17-day shutdown. President Reagan caused a 2-day shutdown that caused the taxpayers over 80 million dollars. In 1995 when Republicans won the House and Senate they forced that aforementioned 21-day shutdown in order to get Clinton to sign a long term budget bill. This year's shutdown has been going on for so long because of a few reasons, but mainly because of Democratic refusal in allowing funds to be diverted to a wall at the southern border. The Republicans and Democrats refuse to compromise with each other. However, recently two plans have been drafted to be voted on. One allows for little border funding and one dismisses it. The second plan is particularly interesting as many Republican senators have decided that they will vote yes on both plans in order to end the shutdown. Republican Senator Susan Collins said through a spokeswoman “Shutdowns are extremely unfair… I’ll vote yes and yes.” Unfortunately neither was passed. Federal workers are owed almost 200 million dollars in wages, which includes sectors like the FCC, Department of Transportation, NASA, Department of Justice, and so many more. Each employee has missed more than $5,000 in lost wages. Currently there is a 35 day break allowing workers to get paid but no funding is provided for the wall in the bill. In the 35 day break they will work on a more permanent solution for the shutdown. The permanent solution will hopefully be a compromise that leaves both parties happy. Sports Recap (NBA) By: Alex Messeloff As of 2/7/19 the Cleveland Cavaliers are 11-43 and have only beaten the Bulls, Wizards, Hornets, Rockets, Pacers, Sixers, Hawks, Nets, Knicks, and the Lakers. They have some good players like Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson, Cedi Osman, and Tristan Thompson (also Kevin Love, but he hasn’t played in awhile). From my perspective, the problem is that they don’t start some of there better players like Jordan Clarkson, their lead scorer (16.8 ppg.). The Cavs as a whole, average 102.35 ppg. (points per game). There are rumors that the Cavs will trade Tristan Thompson by trade deadline (February 7). They are most likely going to make their team based on Collin Sexton (The Cavs Rookie Point Guard). Ms. Ebner (Middle school social studies teacher and 6th grade advisor) loves the Cavs even when they lose. Her favorite player is Matthew Dellavedova. She doesn’t really know what the Cavs can do better to win more. The Cavs will probably be terrible for the next few (3-5) years. They have a chance to get a good player in a draft and get better soon, but the odds of that are very low. They just traded Rodney Hood to the Portland Trail Blazers (32-20) for 2 second-round picks, Wade Baldwin IV, and Nik Stauskas. They also very recently made a three team trade with the Rockets, Kings, and the Cavs. The Cavs got Marquese Chriss, Brandon Knight, and the Rockets 2019 1st-round pick. Rodney Hood shouldn't have been traded because he has potential and averages 12.2 ppg. Over the next few weeks the Cleveland Cavaliers will be playing the New York Knicks (10-42) twice. Recently, the Knicks and the Dallas Mavericks (24-28) made a trade where the Knicks gave the Mavericks Kristaps Porzingis, Courtney Lee, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Trey Burke. While the Knicks get Deandre Jordan, Dennis Smith Jr., Wesley Matthews, and 2 future first-round picks. Now that the Knicks have Deandre Jordan, Dennis Smith Jr., and Wesley Matthews, the Cavs have a less likely chance to win. The Knicks are also trying to get Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant when they become free agents in the summer and now they have more money to get them. Sports Recap (NFL) By: Avi Saidel During the NFL championship, before the Superbowl, in the fourth quarter there was a missed call that decided the game. The call should have been a pass interference call against the LA Rams because the Rams wide receiver pushed the Saints cornerback so he would not block. Everyone agrees that there should have been a pass interference call. All four of the officials that game were from Southern California - coincidence? I think not! The commissioner has not spoken about the call, but he is planning to speak on Wednesday. The NFL said “they… [messed] up”. It was not the first time it happened this season where the refs screwed games up with no call. Even the Rams wide receiver said “I committed a pass interference.” President Trump said “It was a bad call.” And so, the Patriots win another Super Bowl against the Rams, but maybe next time they will lose. Read for Life By: Charles Stadlin and Jonathan Sosonov What is RFL? Read For Life is a big event at Schechter. During Read For Life, we read, play games, have competitions, have D.E.A.R. time, and donate books. The theme for this year is “Wild About Reading”. The games will probably be animal themed. In RFL, we have competitions between classmates to see who can read the most books. If you read a certain amount of books, you get to spin the wheel of wow, where you get cool prizes. We donate many books too. When the book swap comes around, we all trade and donate books. We also have D.E.A.R. time. D.E.A.R. stands for “drop everything and read”. There are a lot of benefits to reading. Here are some of them: ● Mental Stimulation ● Stress Relief ● Knowledge ● Vocabulary Expansion ● Stronger Analytical thinking ● Improves Concentration ● Better Writing Skills ● Entertainment Reading can mentally stimulate the mind and brain. It can help prevent Alzheimer’s and Dementia, and calm the mind. It can also reduce stress and relax you. It can also give you things that can’t be taken from you, like knowledge. You will learn loads of new information from reading. The more you read the more you’ll learn, which includes more vocabulary. It can improve the way you think, and makes you pick up more information in a tough or confusing situation. When reading, you’re completely focused on the book, and it improves your ability to focus and concentrate. With reading, you learn different ways of writing and grammar. And obviously, books are a source entertainment. Finding a good book will mean lots of time that will be spent doing something enjoyable. We hope you have found a new perspective on reading. Schechter Student Spotlight Teacher Spotlight By: David Mardkayev and Kiva Jacobs By : Isaac Gorodeski We had a chance to interview some 1st - 5th grade students! In First Grade, we interviewed Caleb. We found out that Caleb’s favorite thing about school is gym class. His favorite class is hebrew and the tastiest lunch in his opinion is French Toast. He is also excited for field trips in middle school.