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It’s finally Christmas time! What better way to get into the holiday spirit and festivities than to look at the beautiful Christmas lights all over Jacksonville!

Over the years, AI has gotten more advanced.

Club pictures are currently being taken for all clubs in the gym.

The government is days away from a Nov. 18 shutdown, which could force Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees and federal air traffic controllers to work without pay just as the busy Thanksgiving travel season begins.

PSA to all Taylor Swift fans! You can now join other Swifties on a cruise, called “In My Cruise Era”, to the Bahamas and celebrate all things Taylor!

The government is days away from a Nov. 18 shutdown, which could force Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees and federal air traffic controllers to work without pay just as the busy Thanksgiving travel season begins. As of right now, 30 million passengers are expected to travel between Friday and Nov. 28. At Nease, most of our student body and faculty members will either travel out of state or host family members for the holidays. If Congress fails to pass a new funding bill, there will be an increase in absenteeism which could tremendously impact flight departures. “We are quickly approaching what is forecasted to be the busiest travel period since before the pandemic, and it’s critical that policymakers work together to avoid a shutdown and support continued, safe, and efficient airport operations,” said Kevin M. Burke, president and CEO of the Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA). By: Pavithra Sankar  Sources: https://jalopnik.com/government-shutdown-chaos-for-thanksgiving-travel-1851021207 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/government-shutdown-upend-holiday-travel-rcna124909 Photo Credit: Jalopnik 

On November 4, 2023, around 5:45 a.m., a burglary took place at a Ponte Vedra storage unit, just 5.5 miles from Davis Park, where a shootout took place just a few hours later.

The city of Jacksonville holds an annual rescue mission called Shoeboxes of Love.

In today’s world AI is becoming increasingly more present, facilitating benefits to human life in various fields.

On May 9th, 2021, thirteen-year-old, Tristan Bailey, was found murdered near a retention pond in a St. Johns County neighborhood.

Picture this, you just got assigned a group project in your history class and need to exchange numbers with your new assigned partners.

Sarah Katz, 21, a University of Pennsylvania student, died on September 10, 2022, after drinking Panera’s Charged Lemonade.

The longtime leader of Duval Teachers United, the union representing teachers and staff in Duval County schools, has retired.

As the population in St Johns County continues to rise, the district plans to respond by opening five new schools.

By: Ashley Hughes For 40 plus years, the Jacksonville Jazz Festival has taken place, and in 3 days it will take over the streets of Downtown Jacksonville yet again. The festival has endless food, drinks, music and plenty of people. It begins with the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition, which will be followed by three days of free live Jazz related entertainment. VIP and Preferred seating packages are sold out already, so get your tickets while you still can at https://jacksonvillejazzfest.com/  Here is a schedule of the performers scheduled: Friday, May 26 Saturday, May 27 Sunday, May 28 Sources: https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/spotlight-jacksonville-jazz-festival-headlines-memorial-day-weekend/GM7UWLOTBBCJHKUA5TJGKTNSYE/ https://www.visitjacksonville.com/events/annual/jacksonville-jazz-festival/

History was made on May 16th when Democrat Donna Deegan became the first female mayor of
Jacksonville.

Something that most students can agree on is that the media center has a lot to offer.

As of May 12, associate professor Dr. Joseph Dituri of the University of South Florida has broken the world record for days spent living underwater.

On Friday afternoon, the mother of Aiden Fucci, Crystal Smith, was sentenced to 30 days in St. Johns County jail and five years of probation after being accused of tampering with evidence related to Tristyn Bailey’s murder.

Tuesday, May 9th, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill enforcing  several educational changes such as the prohibition of student cell phone use during class along with the restriction of the use of the social-media platform TikTok, on school grounds.

Interlachen High School, in Putnam County, Florida, had an incident on Friday, April 22nd when two students had to be rushed by ambulance to the hospital with vaping-induced health issues.

By: Hanna Virts On Wednesday, April 26, Disney sued Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in retaliation for the governor attempting to take away special privileges of the company. Earlier this year, Florida Legislation passed the “Parental Rights in Education Act”, more widely known as the “Don’t Say Gay Law”, prohibiting any kind of education on sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through third grade. Disney did not support this kind of regulation, which began tensions between the organization and Florida legislation. Then, the special tax and governance grants that the company had had since it was founded were potentially going to be taken away, hinting at the end of the decades old agreement between the park and the state. Now that Disney has retaliated, DeSantis accused Florida’s most iconic business and the biggest tourist attracter in the state of being “upset that they are actually having to live by the same rules as everybody else.” All of this is amid the rumors of DeSantis’s 2024 presidential campaign, which is expected any time this summer. Sources: https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2023/04/26/disney-sues-florida-gov-ron-desantis-citing-efforts-to-retaliate-and-hurt-business/ https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/26/politics/disney-desantis-reedy-creek-power/index.htmlhttps://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/26/disney-sues-florida-gov-ron-desantis-alleges-political-effort- to-hurt-its-business.htmlPhoto creds: News4JAX

Early this Monday morning, on April 24, 2023, a gymnastics gym, Gymnastics Unlimited, caught on fire.

House Speaker Paul Renner introduced House Bill 1 to make vouchers available to all Florida children eligible to enter kindergarten through 12th grade. The bill would greatly expand the state’s voucher programs by allowing voucher recipients to use public funds for more than tuition at a private school and transportation. Families would be allowed to spend the money on home-schooling, college courses, private tutoring and specialized testing such as Advanced Placement exams. “It’s about freedom and opportunity,” Renner shares during his news conference. “We empower parents and children to decide the education that meets their needs.” Critics say that the legislation will hurt public schools by sending money to private schools that aren’t held to the same accountability standards. Hearings about the bill are set to begin sometime next week. The Legislature will begin its annual 60-day session March 7th. At this time, the Senate does not have a companion bill. By: Kailey Buecker More Information: https://www.news4jax.com/news/florida/2023/01/20/florida-house-speaker-wants-to-expand-school-voucher-program/ https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2023/01/19/florida-lawmakers-seek-expand-voucher-eligibility-all-k-12-students/

On Wednesday, April 19th Florida’s Board of Education approved an expansion to the Parental Rights in Education law, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. This expansion was requested by Governor Ron DeSantis. The law currently bans classroom discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. This new rule will extend that law up to 12th grade.  This law had drawn intense criticism from progressive groups. Joe Saunders is the senior political director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Florida. He said that this law is part of DeSantis’ “assault on freedom.” Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. said, “All we are doing is we are setting the expectations, so our teachers are clear: that they are to teach to the standards.”  By: Mary Vega More Information: https://www.news4jax.com/entertainment/2023/04/19/florida-board-passes-desantis-expansion-of-the-parental-rights-in-education-bill/ https://www.fox13news.com/news/florida-education-board-to-discuss-parental-rights-law-expansion-through-12th-grade

On Thursday morning, at 4:45 AM, Florida residents across the state were woken up by a notification on their phones from the Emergency Alert System.

SpaceX has called off its first launch attempt of Starship, its most powerful rocket ever built, after a problem cropped up during fueling.

On Wednesday, April 12th, Fort Lauderdale experienced record breaking rainfalls, which caused flooding throughout the area.

A large “blob” of seaweed, estimated to be twice the size of the United States, is moving towards Florida.

On February 24th, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a large-scale invasion of Ukraine to demilitarize the country. Since Russia’s invasion began, there have been more than 40,000 deaths, more than 50,000 non-fatal injuries, at least 15,000 people missing, approximately 14 million people displaced, more than 140,000 buildings destroyed, and approximately $350 billion worth of damage. When Russia initially began the invasion, many expected them to quickly overwhelm Ukraine. However, Ukraine has been able to survive for nearly a whole year under…

The NFL has announced that Rihanna will be the halftime performer for Super Bowl 57 which will be at 6:30 pm on Sunday, February 12th.

On May 9, 2021, St Johns county was rocked by the news of Tristyn Bailey’s brutal
death. Now, around 2 years later her murderer, Aiden Fucci, pleaded guilty to first-degree
murder on February 6 before the jury selection for the trial due to the amount of overwhelming
evidence convicting Fucci.

To take measures against the opioid epidemic in Duval County, local addiction advocates and state health officials announce a new program to battle this issue: “CORE” or “Coordinated Opioid Recovery.”

While Nease has many well-known clubs like DECA and National Honor Society, there are a few clubs that do not receive enough recognition around the community.

By: Mikayla Moring House Republicans are split trying to elect a new Speaker of the House after Nancy Pelosi, Former Speaker of the House, resigned from her leadership position on January 3rd, 2023. Anyone can be voted into the position of the Speaker of the House, even someone who is not a representative and has no history of being a representative. To win the election, a candidate must receive a majority of votes in the House. After more than ten ballots, representatives have yet to provide a majority vote for Speaker of the House. Representatives McCarthy (Republican) and Jeffries (Democrat) have lead the election, and votes for Representative Donalds (Republican), Representative Hern (Republican), Representative Jordan (Republican), as well as former President Donald Trump have prevented a majority to be met. In order for the House to complete any work and “act on business”, a decision over who becomes the Speaker of the House must be made. Continue staying updated by visiting the following sites. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/05/us/house-speaker-vote https://apnews.com/article/house-speaker-vote-updates-669e23dc963da9579ab10e4b3da78911

The U.S. Senate passed legislation on Wednesday to ban the TikTok app on all government devices as a result of security concerns with the app.

Officials at Orlando International Airport share that bad weather has prevented the delivery of fuel to airports.

Argentina and France are the two opposing teams approaching the FIFA Final occurring this
Sunday, December 18th, 2022.

On November 30, a tragedy devastated the local Alligator Farm Zoological Park in St. Augustine. Two of their priceless Galapagos tortoises were missing from their enclosure.

There has been an increasing lack of affordable housing in Jacksonville.

La Fuerza, the Hispanic/Latino cultural club at Nease, worked with our media center specialist, Mrs. Millian, to throw an amazing fiesta in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

On Monday, September 13th, an iconic event took place in New York City- the Met Gala.

By: Mary Vega (Web Editor)
Every student has had the moment in class when they think “Why do I need to know this?” or “I’m never going to use this when I’m an adult” and while school is important, it is true that very often the things we learn in school aren’t going to be useful to us outside of class. 
(Cover Photo: Mary Vega)