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Nicolet High School students take third prize award in C-SPAN video documentary contest

Nicolet High School students take third prize award in C-SPAN video documentary contest

Yahoo28-03-2025

Three Nicolet High School students have a cash prize to split and recognition for their work in a national documentary contest.
Caitlin Reindl, Alexander Schmelzling and Brody Weiss took third prize and $750 for their video "Shots Fired, Your Message to the President." The video, created as a class project and later entered in the contest, explored what can be done to reduce gun violence. It was among over 1,700 entries from 42 states and Washington, D.C. The three Nicolet students were the only Wisconsin students to receive any prize award for their work.
"Of course, we always had it in the back of our minds, like it would be cool to win this thing, but we never thought it would get that far, especially being the only team from Wisconsin to be named," Schmelzling said.
Social studies teacher Katherine Romanesko advised the team, who credited her with answering their questions, providing input, proofreading, helping with research and wording interview questions in a nonbiased manner.
"She was a huge help in taking a look at those questions and making sure that the information and the requests of that information were coming off as clearly as possible," Schmelzling said.
"Research skills definitely were improved through this because we had to find reputable sources, go through a bunch of things, what's fact and what's not really true, so I guess there was a lot that was learned through this," Reindl said.
Both Schmelzing and Weiss said they learned how to conduct a formal interview.
"That formal interview process and formally asking what could be difficult questions and making sure your questions are non-biased from a journalistic perspective was something I feel like I gleaned," Schmelzling said.
Among the people the students interviewed for their project was Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson. Schmelzling said they didn't expect to get the interview; Johnson's office initially said he wouldn't be available until after the contest submission deadline. But Schmelzling persevered, telling the mayor's office the students would still appreciate his voice, and pressing to get the interview earlier because of the deadline.
Johnson's office responded by offering an interview the next day.
"That was probably one of the coolest things we've done," Schmelzling said.
C-SPAN's annual contest focuses on encouraging students in grades six through 12 to use critical thinking about issues affecting their communities and the nation. This year, the channel asked students to create a five- to six-minute documentary video on the theme "Your Message to the President."
The most popular topics among entries were climate, environment and land use; K-12 education policies and the cost of college; health care and mental health; gun violence, school safety and firearm policies; and inflation, taxes, government spending and the economy, according to a news release.
The three Nicolet students were among 32 third-prize winners that C-SPAN selected nationwide. C-SPAN also awarded a grand prize, four first-prizes, 16 second prizes and 97 honorable mention prizes. The winner of the grand prize and $5,000 was Dermott Foley, a 10th-grader from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, for his video "Teens, Social Media and the Fentanyl Overdose Crisis."
The contest was divided into middle and high school categories. High school students competed regionally in three divisions, while middle school students competed nationally. C-SPAN chose the grand prize winner among both the high school and middle school levels nationally, C-SPAN's news release said.
To view the prize-winning videos, visit www.studentcam.org/studentcam-2025-prize-winners/.
Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Nicolet students recognized for C-SPAN documentary

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E-2 Hawkeye Replaces USAF E-3 Sentry, E-7 Cancelled In New Budget
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E-2 Hawkeye Replaces USAF E-3 Sentry, E-7 Cancelled In New Budget

A seismic shift has occurred in the Trump administration's new defense spending plan that is just emerging when it comes to the USAF's airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) predicament. The service's E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft are dwindling in number and rapidly aging into unsupportability. The proven and in-production E-7 Wedgetail, based on the Boeing 737 and serving with multiple allies, was supposed to bridge the gap between the E-3's retirement and pushing the sending part of the mission to space-based distributed satellite constellations. You can read all about this here. Now, if the administration gets its wish, that won't happen. The E-7 will be cancelled and the E-2D Hawkeye, currently flown by the U.S. Navy, will step in to fill the gap. This major turn of events came to light today as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Air Force Gen. 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Again, the E-3 fleet [is] barely operational now, and I understand the intent to shift towards the space-based – you call it the 'air moving target indicators' – but my concern is that you've got a situation where you're not going to be able to use more duct tape to hold things together until you put this system in place. And, so, how we maintain that level of operational readiness and coverage, I'm not sure how you make it.' 'You know, the E-3 and the E-3 community have been really important to us for a long, long time, and I'll defer to the Comptroller, but I you know the Department has a bridging strategy through investing in some additional airborne platforms in order to gap fill while the space-based capabilities come online,' Kane replied in response to the senator's question. This is where the E-2D comes in. 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‘Resist in this moment': With Trump protests roiling Los Angeles, Chicago leaders continue tough stance
‘Resist in this moment': With Trump protests roiling Los Angeles, Chicago leaders continue tough stance

Yahoo

time41 minutes ago

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‘Resist in this moment': With Trump protests roiling Los Angeles, Chicago leaders continue tough stance

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Aldermen advance measure allowing Airbnb bans in Chicago precincts
Aldermen advance measure allowing Airbnb bans in Chicago precincts

Chicago Tribune

time2 hours ago

  • Chicago Tribune

Aldermen advance measure allowing Airbnb bans in Chicago precincts

Aldermen took a step Wednesday toward giving themselves the power to ban Airbnb's and other short-term rentals from opening in their wards. The City Council's License and Consumer Protection Committee advanced the ordinance that would allow aldermen to unilaterally block new short-term rentals one precinct at a time. It could now face a final vote by all aldermen as soon as next week. Sponsor Ald. Anthony Napolitano, 41st, called the city's current ordinance made a decade ago 'extremely sloppy.' The existing law allows short-term rentals to be blocked only when 25% of a precinct's registered voters sign a petition calling for it. 'This is the only ordinance written in the city of Chicago where, when there is a problem in the industry, the onus is put on residents to fix it,' Napolitano said. The Far Northwest Side alderman's ordinance seeks to reverse that, allowing aldermen to block short-term rentals in a precinct on their own. It would then give companies the chance to overturn the ban by collecting signatures from 10% of the precinct's voters. Most aldermen in attendance backed the ordinance in a voice vote. Several cited issues in their ward with disruptive parties at short-term rentals, a problem Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, said is 'on steroids' in dense downtown high rises. 'The guests are taking over common areas, pool decks, lobbies, fitness rooms,' he said. 'With the late night parties and noise complaints, et cetera, God help you if you own a condo next to one of these nightly rental units.' Napolitano argued the ordinance will not hurt short-term rental companies, but instead simply gives aldermen a tool to advocate for residents when issues arise. But Airbnb is strongly opposed to the proposal. 'Alderman Napolitano's ordinance amendment is an over-broad and misguided violation of Chicagoans' property rights, which would punish responsible homeowners and local businesses who rely on the income from travel on short-term rentals — especially in neighborhoods outside of Chicago's traditional tourism hubs,' Airbnb spokesperson Jonathan Buckner said in a statement Wednesday. Mayor Brandon Johnson is continuing to not take a side on the issue. Asked where he stood on the ordinance at a Wednesday morning news conference, he said he wanted to 'continue to ensure that we are building a safe, affordable city.' 'This particular measure, quite frankly, I'll have to look into a little bit deeper,' Johnson said. 'But I know that there are a number of alders who mean well and are trying to show up for their particular pocket of the city.' Several aldermen noted the absence of staff from Johnson's Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, adding that they wished someone could answer questions about how bans could affect tax revenue. Alds. Matt O'Shea, 19th, and Bill Conway, 34th, voted against the measure, with O'Shea noting taxes on the rentals sent around $4 million to fight domestic violence. 'Have we thought of how we are going to replace that?' O'Shea asked. 'It's been my experience working with Airbnb that when a problem is identified, it's addressed.' Ald. Marty Quinn, 13th, used the city's current process requiring residents' signatures to ban short-term rentals from every precinct in his Southwest Side ward. The whole-ward ban took 12,000 signatures and seven years to complete, he said. The ward is '95% single family dwellings,' and short-term rentals 'would have an adverse impact on our quality of life,' Quinn said. Asked what he thinks of Airbnb's argument that the ban is similar to historic racist efforts to keep Black and Latino people out of certain neighborhoods, Quinn called it a 'desperate statement from a company who got exactly what they wanted' when the original ordinance passed. 'I'm not saying that Airbnb isn't good in some parts of the city,' he said. 'It's just not good in the Bungalow Belt, and I have 12,000 signatures that would suggest that.' Aldermen also Wednesday advanced a measure to crack down on illegal pedicabs with potential impoundments.

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