The Consequences of the Impending Ruling on Roe v. Wade

By Leaana Khan

A&E Editor

Source: Crosscut

On May 2nd, 2022, Politico obtained a leaked draft of a majority opinion from the Supreme Court written by Justice Samuel Alito that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Roe v. Wade established that a woman’s choice on whether to have an abortion was protected under the Fourteenth Amendment’ rights to privacy. Overturning the ruling from this forty-nine year old case will have dire consequences for those affected by the ruling and for the American political scene.

There are currently twenty-six states that are expected to restrict access to abortion if the ruling from Roe v. Wade is overturned. Many states even have “trigger laws” that will go into effect automatically if Roe v. Wade is overturned. When there isn’t safe access to this vital medical procedure, many women turn to less legitimate and more dangerous means of having abortions, such as the infamous coat hanger method. Banning abortions does not get rid of the need for them, it just denies women the medical care they need. Because of this, abortion clinics in neighboring states are preparing for an influx of patients coming in from states that ban abortion. California is even introducing legislation to cover costs for out of state residents that go to California to get an abortion. If more states follow suit, access to safe and affordable abortions will increase. 

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Johnny Depp Sues Amber Heard: A Look Into the Defamation Trial

By Kevin Barry and Eli Glenn

News & Managing Editor, and Staff Writer

Source: The Teal Mago

The “Johnny Depp Vs. Amber Heard” trial has been bizarre to say the least. Amber Heard and Johnny Depp got married in 2015, and then shortly after in 2016, they separated. What followed was Heard accusing Depp of domestic abuse in an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post. After those accusations, Depp was cut from the franchises of Pirates of the Caribbean and Fantastic Beasts. After these allegations came out, they quickly tarnished his reputation.

In 2019, Depp filed a lawsuit on the grounds of defamation of character. Heard had taken away two of his biggest franchises and Depp wasn’t going to let that slide. Although he filed the lawsuits in 2019, the trials did not commence until last month.

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A Show To Remember; Hammond’s Spring production of Freaky Friday

Pictured above: the cast and crew of Freaky Friday posing for a silly photo after a performance

By Lilianna DeBlasio 

Features Editor 

This spring, Hammond’s theater department developed and performed Freaky Friday: A New Musical for the Hammond community to see. The production was a huge success for the department and was loved by the audience, with many people going to the show multiple times to see it again. This musical, developed by Disney’s theatrical production team, is based on the famed book of the same name by Mary Rodgers and the three previous movie adaptations. 

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Hammond’s Green Fest

By Lynn Phillips

Staff Writer

Hammond High school is hosting its annual Green Fest hosted by Hammonds green team. The event will be held on April 30th at Hammond in the cafeteria. It will start at 10:00am and end around 1:00pm.

The Green Fest is a great way to get involved with the community because it will give you a chance to connect with the community, because anyone can come from all ages. Mrs. Niland, the Green team sponsor, talks about how the purpose of Green Fest is to expose the community to local groups that they might not be aware of, and what they do that pertains to the environment. “Green Fest and Green teams goal is to help people make better environmental choices in their everyday life,” Mrs. Niland explains. The Green Fest is a fun event which will have crafts hosted by the students on the green team as well as a couple of games too. 

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Howard County To Open High School #13

By Kevin Barry

News & Managing Editor

We’re about a year and a half away from the grand opening of Howard County’s 13th high school, so let’s go over everything we know about it so far. 

The new school is set to open off of Mission Road in Jessup, Maryland by the start of the 2023-2024 school year. Construction began in April of 2020.

The school will be designed to have the largest capacity in the county at 1,658. Since HCPSS purchased the property back in September of 2019, the county has set aside a budget of 135.4 million dollars for the construction of High School number 13. The property was initially acquired to allow “…for the new placement of a new high school as well as a future Elementary School.”

According to hcpss.org, there has been no further mention of the Elementary School at this date.

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Hammond Students Walk Out In Protest of Anti-Queer Legislation

By Uma Ribeiro, Kevin Barry, Lydia Jensen, and Leaana Khan

Editor-in-Chief, News & Managing Editor, Editorials Editor, and A&E Editor

Pictured above: Hammond students gathered on the stadium stands for the walkout while SAGA members deliver speeches

On Friday, March 11th, student members of Hammond’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) club led a school walkout in order to protest the anti-queer youth attacks occurring in Florida and Texas, including the “Don’t Say Gay” bill passed in Florida and Texas Governor Greg Abbott publicly stating that trans-affirming healthcare for minors is “child abuse”.  

Many staff and students decked out in rainbow clothing, showing their support for the LGBTQ+ community, and there was a huge turnout, with the majority of the school walking out to learn more about the injustices being protested. 

Several speeches were given by SAGA club members, informing students and staff of what is occurring in these states as well as ways they can take action toward seeing these injustices come to an end. 

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Winter Varsity Cheer 2022: A Season to Remember

By Lily DeBlasio

Features Editor

Pictured above: Hammond Varsity Cheer at the state championship competition

Hammond Cheerleading just wrapped up the winter season after an incredible few months of perseverance and impressive accomplishments. The winter cheer season began in November, with the start of winter sports, giving the team around 2 months to prepare for their county competition in January. The winter season came with its challenges though; the loss of girls, less practice space, inflexible schedules, and a COVID-19 outbreak. 

Like the fall season, the team fell victim to the several other indoor sports that needed practice space in the school. Between having to yield to other sports practices and county regulations suspending most athletics, there was very little time for the team to be able to practice safely. Despite their underdog status and external hardships, the girls pulled through in their performances. 

Due to the start of competition season for girls on all-star teams outside of school and other spring sports starting, Hammond Cheer had to compensate for the loss of a lot of girls. Because of this, head varsity coach, Katie Charnok, thought it best to reduce the size of girls competing, resulting in the nine girls who “made mat.”

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Mask Mandate Lifted in Howard County Schools: Hammond Community Comments

By Uma Ribeiro, Kevin Barry, Lydia Jensen, and Leaana Khan 

Editor-in-Chief, News & Managing Editor, Editorials Editor, and A&E Editor 

Pictured above: One of the new posters on display throughout Hammond following the lift of the mask mandate last Tuesday. 

On February 24th, the HCPSS Board of Education voted to make mask-wearing optional. The option to no longer wear a face mask was made effective on Tuesday, March 1st, with the majority of board members including Christina Delmont-Small, Yun Lu, Peter J Banyas (the Student Member of the Board), Antonia Watts, Chao Wu, and Vicky Cutroneo voting to pass the motion and board members Jennifer Mallo and Jolene Mosley voting against the option to remove face coverings within schools. 

Students can now choose to wear or not wear masks in schools and on their school buses while masks remain required in the health room. The indoor mask mandate was lifted throughout Howard County on February 1st, though “Howard County Government buildings and facilities, and public transit, including the RTA, will still require masks. Businesses and organizations may still require masking at their own discretion.” The mask mandate for government buildings was then lifted a few weeks later.

Such decisions, including the decision to lift the mask mandate in schools, were based on Covid rates and vaccination rates within the county. 

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The Popularity of Video Essays

The Modern Day Documentary

By Joseph Lee

Backpage Editor

Image source: Studiobinder.com

With the onslaught of free time resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been noticeably more bored. With this boredom, there’s been a reliance on our phones and the popular apps that help distract us and waste our time. More content can be created and viewed as people start to share their common interests.

Through the rise of TikTok specifically, we see an embrace toward trends and personal interests. Not only do these trends cycle through more quickly, but it represents the growing pattern in society of regurgitating the same ideas in different forms. Clothing trends as a society usually cycle through in a decade or so, but we see fashion trends cycle through TikTok almost biweekly. Dancing trends involve similar or repeating moves for different songs that grow popular. Even documentaries, which are still popular, have evolved into a more accessible form that embraces more niches. 

Through another social media platform, YouTube, anyone can watch and listen to a documentary-style commentary about their favorite interests. From movies, video games, and even the popularity of beauty marks, we see these topics come to life, exploring them through the youtuber’s lens and narrative. There are even educational and personal videos these creators make which often speak to more people. 

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You Are Now Listening To….

By Jariah Nash

Staff Writer

The Weeknd’s album, Dawn FM, was released January 7th, 2022. Since then the album has debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 148,000 album-equivalent units, calculated from 173.04 million on-demand streams and 14,000 pure album copies. Even though the album itself has a dark and twisted edge to it, it is also an album that you can dance to and put on repeat over and over again. 

The album features contributions from the likes of Tyler, the Creator, Lil Wayne, Quincy Jones, Oneohtrix Point Never, and actor Jim Carrey.

Originally from Toronto, Canada, The Weeknd’s name is a tribute to the time when he and his best friend dropped out of high school at seventeen, took a mattress, and left one weekend, never to return home. 

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