Know/inform/care

Becca Newton

Highway 109 is empty on this fall afternoon, but this road is often busy with teenage drivers commuting to and from school. Highway 109 is also the sight of many minor car crashes as a result of students rushing to make the commute.

Local

Know: A male teenager lost control while driving a car and ran into a light pole on North 18th Street and Parsons Avenue in East St. Louis while running away from the police on Monday, Oct. 31.

Inform: An officer pulled over the teen. It is not specified why the police stopped the teen. When the officer got out of the car, the teen sped up and drove off. The teen died in the car accident a block or two south of where he had been pulled over.

Care: EHS has 1,108 students that are eligible for a driver’s license, according to Mrs. Susan Witkowski, registrar. Six teenagers age 16-19 die every day from motor vehicle injuries. Cars can be weapons; it is vital to teen safety and the safety of others that teenagers learn how to operate cars responsibly.

National

Know: A member of Harvard University’s 2012 men’s soccer team ranked the sexual attractiveness of each recruit on the women’s team in explicit terms in a fake scouting report.

Inform: The Harvard Crimson  stated that the scouting report was a yearly tradition. The men’s soccer team members exchanged emails with descriptions and photos, including the potential women’s soccer team players’ positions and suggested sexual positions for each woman.

Care: Actions of a few individuals can reflect onto an entire community. The student-athletes of EHS positively represent the school on a large scale through their sports whether it’s by receiving the Andy Bedo award, winning a district title or qualifying for state. It’s important for them to continue to give the school a positive reputation by acting respectfully and responsibly on and off the playing field.

International

Know: Ildar Dadin, a imprisoned Russian opposition activist, claims he was abused by prison guards.

Inform: Russian media reported the claims, originally found in a letter Dadin wrote to his wife. Dadin stated that he had been hung by his handcuffs, had his head flushed down a toilet several times and was stripped naked. An official at the prison told the Novaya Gazeta newspaper that when Dadin refused to leave his prison cell, he claimed officers abused him.

Care: Russia is historically United States’ enemy. From the Cold War to nuclear threats, Russia and the United States have a history of being enemies.  Russia’s dark past includes many human rights violations. It’s important to make sure Russia ends those violations, especially if United States citizens get arrested by Russian authorities in the future or if the U.S. and Russia oppose each other again in a war.