Local 

Know: All of the trees and both bridges where the creek ran in front of EHS have been demolished as construction continues.

Inform: The destruction of the trees and creek are the beginning of Stage Two in a three-stage process. While the south drive is still blocked off, the construction has had no additional impact on student parking. Students are now required to walk around the space where the creek ran in order to get to the parking lot as the bridges are no longer there. Eventually, the space will be paved over and create as yet-to-be determined number of new parking spaces. Stage Two is expected to run through mid-November followed by Stage Three which will go into the 2019-2020 school year.

Care: The construction has only just began. While 77 parking spots have already been eliminated, the worst is yet to come. By the end of the 2018-2019 school year, as many as 200 spots will be blocked off in order to create room for construction. The construction on a new S.T.E.M. building will be complete by the 2020-2021 school year. Once construction is complete, roughly 150 new parking spaces will be available.

National

Know: Tropical Depression Florence, previously known as Hurricane Florence, has claimed the lives of at least 18 people as of Sept. 16.

Inform: Although the hurricane downgraded to a tropical depression, water is rushing through the streets of North Carolina flooding communities and sending more than 15,000 people across the state and an additional 4,000 in South Carolina into shelter. All 100 counties of North Carolina are under various National Weather Service alerts. Maximum winds of 35 mph and state records of rain have led to 18 deaths between both North Carolina and South Carolina. The state of North Carolina reports 592,370 power outages. Some parts of North Carolina received around 10 inches of rain this weekend and the NWS expects more flooding to come.

Care: Florence has already caused irreversible damage to the Carolinas. As much as 18 trillion gallons of rain has fallen as a result of the storm. Over 2,400 flights have been cancelled. Damages look to be up to $60 billion. The first hurricane of the Atlantic season has made its presence known. While hurricanes don’t come around through Missouri, Eureka itself is no stranger to the damages of flooding. Following two hundred-year floods in 17 months, rains brought $1.8 million in damages upon the city of Eureka.

International

Know: More than 3,000 people have been infected in a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe, Sept. 14.

Inform: Cholera is a waterborne disease that is easily prevented if people have access to safe water and practice good hygiene; although those who go untreated can die within hours. The recent Zimbabwe outbreak began, Sept. 1, in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. While different sources report different death tolls, at least 26 people have died as a result of the most recent outbreak. Zimbabwe has declared a national state of emergency as it tries to control the infection. The last cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe hit in 2008, infecting 95,500 and killing 4,282.

Care: The International Red Cross has deployed 1,000 volunteers to fight the outbreak and the World Health Organization has been providing care and antibiotics for the infected. Zimbabwe has taken to crowdfunding to raise money to fight the disease. Zimbabwe Minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube announced the effort via Twitter, Sept. 13. The crowdfunding has received negative backlash, as people have said it is a misuse of public monies. Despite the hate, the crowdfunding has already raised almost $10.5 million.