Latest news with #BellevilleHighSchool
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
Schools, authorities sound alarm over 'Chromebook Challenge' TikTok trend
A growing TikTok trend challenging users to insert hazardous objects into laptops, with some sparking fires or resulting in evacuations, has school districts and fire departments across multiple states sounding the alarm to parents, students and the general public. In a May 8 letter shared with "Good Morning America," parents and students at Cooperative Middle School in Stratham, New Hampshire, were warned about the trend, which some have nicknamed the "Chromebook Challenge," referencing the laptop brand many schools issue for student use. According to the Exeter Region Cooperative School District, the letter was sent by the Cooperative Middle School Principal Drew Bairstow. Similar letters were sent to parents and students at other schools across the district. "In the past three days alone, the [Exeter Region Cooperative School District] has seen at least 15 incidents where students have intentionally inserted conductive objects -- such as lead from mechanical pencils, paperclips or push pins -- into the charging and/or usb ports of their Chromebooks," the letter read in part. "This has resulted in devices overheating and becoming completely unusable. This action voids the warranties on devices." School staff warned that students who are caught participating in the challenge would face a financial penalty but also warned that doing so could put lives and the health of students and staff at risk. "This is not only a matter of property damage -- these actions present a serious toxic smoke and fire hazard, both at school and at home," the letter continued. TikTok is full of ADHD advice, but nearly half of it is misleading, study finds At Belleville High School in New Jersey, a student tried the "Chromebook Challenge" out of curiosity, leading to a Chromebook lithium-ion battery to swell up and start smoking inside a classroom on May 8, according to Belleville Fire Department Capt. Chase Hamilton. "They gave it a try, and sure enough, it worked. The battery swelled up. It got hot," Hamilton, an investigator with Belleville's arson investigation unit, told "GMA." "The odor was very heavy when I made my way into the school to do the investigation." TikTok rolls out new safeguarding features to protect teens Hamilton said lithium-ion batteries that are tampered with can experience an issue called thermal runaway, where batteries go into failure, become damaged, explode, catch fire or expel toxic fumes. "Any kind of smoke is really no good for you. But, this specific kind of thing is definitely not something that you want to be breathing in," Hamilton continued. Hamilton said no injuries were reported in the Belleville High School incident, but he said he hoped the event would still serve as a warning for students and parents. "We're talking something that could seriously injure people," he said. "These batteries can be extremely unsafe when mistreated … someone very easily could get hurt." When reached by ABC News, TikTok said it has removed content that violates its "Dangerous Activities and Challenges policy," and a search for "Chromebook Challenge" currently redirects users to a safety message that reads, "Some online challenges can be dangerous, disturbing, or even fabricated. Learn how to recognize harmful challenges so you can protect your health and well-being," along with a link to a resource page with additional information. Schools, authorities sound alarm over 'Chromebook Challenge' TikTok trend originally appeared on
14-05-2025
Schools, authorities sound alarm over 'Chromebook Challenge' TikTok trend
A growing TikTok trend challenging users to insert hazardous objects into laptops, with some sparking fires or resulting in evacuations, has school districts and fire departments across multiple states sounding the alarm to parents, students and the general public. In a May 8 letter shared with "Good Morning America," parents and students at Cooperative Middle School in Stratham, New Hampshire, were warned about the trend, which some have nicknamed the "Chromebook Challenge," referencing the laptop brand many schools issue for student use. According to the Exeter Region Cooperative School District, the letter was sent by the Cooperative Middle School Principal Drew Bairstow. Similar letters were sent to parents and students at other schools across the district. "In the past three days alone, the [Exeter Region Cooperative School District] has seen at least 15 incidents where students have intentionally inserted conductive objects -- such as lead from mechanical pencils, paperclips or push pins -- into the charging and/or usb ports of their Chromebooks," the letter read in part. "This has resulted in devices overheating and becoming completely unusable. This action voids the warranties on devices." School staff warned that students who are caught participating in the challenge would face a financial penalty but also warned that doing so could put lives and the health of students and staff at risk. "This is not only a matter of property damage -- these actions present a serious toxic smoke and fire hazard, both at school and at home," the letter continued. At Belleville High School in New Jersey, a student tried the "Chromebook Challenge" out of curiosity, leading to a Chromebook lithium-ion battery to swell up and start smoking inside a classroom on May 8, according to Belleville Fire Department Capt. Chase Hamilton. "They gave it a try, and sure enough, it worked. The battery swelled up. It got hot," Hamilton, an investigator with Belleville's arson investigation unit, told "GMA." "The odor was very heavy when I made my way into the school to do the investigation." Hamilton said lithium-ion batteries that are tampered with can experience an issue called thermal runaway, where batteries go into failure, become damaged, explode, catch fire or expel toxic fumes. "Any kind of smoke is really no good for you. But, this specific kind of thing is definitely not something that you want to be breathing in," Hamilton continued. Hamilton said no injuries were reported in the Belleville High School incident, but he said he hoped the event would still serve as a warning for students and parents. "We're talking something that could seriously injure people," he said. "These batteries can be extremely unsafe when mistreated … someone very easily could get hurt." When reached by ABC News, TikTok said it has removed content that violates its "Dangerous Activities and Challenges policy," and a search for "Chromebook Challenge" currently redirects users to a safety message that reads, "Some online challenges can be dangerous, disturbing, or even fabricated. Learn how to recognize harmful challenges so you can protect your health and well-being," along with a link to a resource page
CBS News
17-04-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Michigan QB Bryce Underwood surprises his former high school security guard with new car
University of Michigan freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood is one of the biggest names in college football. A 6-foot-4, five-star recruit and the consensus No. 1 overall ranked high school football player in the nation, Underwood is a local celebrity in Belleville, Michigan. After leading the Belleville Tigers to a pair of MHSAA Division 1 state championships, a 50-4 overall record over four years and garnering several personal accolades, Underwood made headlines late last year after shocking the sports world when he decommitted from LSU and signed with Michigan. Before he officially dons the Maize and Blue this fall, Underwood wanted to give back to someone he formed an unlikely relationship with: Belleville High School security guard Mike Darty. Underwood invited Darty to Belleville High a few weekends ago, telling him he would be conducting an interview about their close bond. But Darty would soon learn he would be leaving the school for a different reason in a different car that day. CBS News Detroit was with Underwood when he gifted Darty a new Chevrolet, which was made possible through Underwood's NIL deal with the Feldman Auto Group. "Just how awesome of an opportunity is it as a 17-year-old to be able to give back to someone who means a lot to you," Underwood said. "Honestly, I feel like that's God's blessing; he put me on this earth to give back to the people that I love." Underwood and Darty say that throughout Underwood's time at Belleville High School, the two would talk between classes, at the beginning of the school day, and anytime either of them needed an ear. "I feel like a lot of the athletes just need someone who they can just come talk to," Darty said. And for Underwood, it was an amazing opportunity to be able to help someone who's always been there for him. "Nothing but excitement coming from me, you know he really didn't know how to react, so it was just like a blessing, a dream come true, honestly just being able to give back to the people that didn't even ask for anything out of me," Underwood said. Darty says that this act of kindness is just emblematic of who Underwood is as a person. "That means I had an impact on somebody who's had an impact on so many people already. Like he's had an impact on our entire community, and to know that I had a big impact on him, where he was willing to do something like that for me, it makes me feel good as a person," said Darty.
Axios
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
How Black Detroit artists shaped techno
Black artists in Detroit in the early 1980s ventured into the future to create a transformative global genre: techno. Why it matters: Their legacy of experimentation and liberation, built on futuristic themes, shows how innovative Black storytelling has influenced Detroit's and America's cultural and economic history. Driving the news: An MSU Museum exhibition in downtown East Lansing is exploring the rise of techno and its connections to Afrofuturism, through April 30. The exhibition also reflects how techno caught on internationally so rapidly that its origins in the Motor City have been obscured for some by a narrative of the genre as a white trend born in Europe. Context: Many locals contributed to techno's rise, but experts consider the founders to be Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May and Eddie Fowlkes. The first three met at Belleville High School and shared an interest in a variety of music, including artists with sci-fi and robotic themes, like Parliament and Kraftwerk. They linked up with Fowlkes, a DJ and producer who became known for his distinct techno soul sound. Their new sounds spread across Detroit, including through clubs and underground parties, among Black youth and through local TV shows like " The New Dance Show." They grew into an international scene from the 1980s through the 1990s, influenced by locally based labels like the revolutionary collective Underground Resistance. For techno's Black DJs and producers,"it was a music of hope, of living in a better time, because music transcended us into a time where people are coexisting together," legendary DJ and music producer John Collins tells Axios. It also reflected the times they were living in. Collins, who is the community curator for the MSU exhibition, started DJing in Detroit part-time to supplement his main income around 1975-76. Though he never intended it to become a career, it did, and he played a monumental role in shaping techno. Zoom in: One 1980s club Collins worked, the famed Cheeks on Eight Mile, was one of the first clubs to play techno. Other Cheeks DJs Jeff Mills and Stacey Hale evolved the city's dance music scene alongside Collins. The club's diverse clientele, Black, LGBTQ+ and white, were more open to progressive sounds than just radio hits. Reality check: Some outside commentators see techno as telling a dystopian story in Detroit, amid population decline and auto industry layoffs, contrasted with a free, post-Cold War utopian narrative in Europe, according to MSU English professor Julian Chambliss. The difference highlights how race and location factor into the perceived narrative. But Chambliss, curator of the East Lansing techno exhibition, says: "They're not talking about dystopia. They're talking about transformation. They're talking about freedom. They're talking about destroying a power structure that failed …. The people making the music have a bright future in mind." Considering different worlds The raw and transformative beats of Black Detroit techno artists are integral to the legacy of Afrofuturism. State of play: "Afrofuturism" as a term was coined in 1993 by cultural critic Mark Dery, according to the Met, though the concept existed long before that. It describes practices that speculate on futures of Black liberation, working against oppression. Techno was among the sounds used to represent Afrofuturism, MSU's Chambliss tells Axios. "You have this sound that is completely new, innovative, original, and it's attached to worlds or spaces where people are looking for inclusion, community, liberation," he adds. The machine-made music's innovations also recall musical traditions like blues and jazz. There's also influence from Motown, gospel and house. Context: Afrofuturism continues growing in mainstream prominence — from Parliament-Funkadelic and Sun Ra to sci-fi novelist Octavia Butler and Marvel's " Black Panther." Amid the evolution of socially conscious sci-fi storytelling, Detroit electro-techno duo Drexciya envisioned a mythology around an alternate world under the sea starting in the early '90s. The metropolis was populated by the aquatic descendants of pregnant African women who had been forced onto slave ships. As written in liner notes for Drexciya's "The Quest": "Are Drexciyans water breathing, aquatically mutated descendants of those unfortunate victims of human greed? Have they been spared by God to teach us or terrorize us? … Are they more advanced than us and why do they make their strange music?" The latest: Techno and its Afrofuturist themes created a bedrock for later waves of both musicians and community action. Bryce Detroit, a self-described Afrofuturist artist and activist — who was exposed to techno in skating rinks growing up, and whose first career was as a record producer — tells Axios that these forces helped shape him. They fused into both his identity and his social justice work, which includes helping Black youth define their own futures. "[Afrofuturists] design the now," he says. "We behave and act in the now based on what we want to see in the future." The bottom line: "Detroit techno influenced my sonic vocabulary from a child all the way to a producer as an adult … this is my lifetime's Motown Records," he says. "It reinforces that Detroit, in our soil, in our DNA, is the invention of sonic forms and languages."
USA Today
08-02-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
NJ school district investigates if staffers wore 'Gulf of America' shirts
NJ school district investigates if staffers wore 'Gulf of America' shirts Show Caption Hide Caption Mexican President condemns Google for Gulf of Mexico name change Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum sent a formal letter to Google opposing its decision to comply with Donald Trump's order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America". unbranded - Newsworthy A group of Belleville High School employees are being investigated by district officials for reportedly wearing t-shirts with the words 'Gulf of America' — the name change to the Gulf of Mexico suggested by President Donald Trump. In a letter sent to parents and staff this week, interim Schools Superintendent Nicholas Perrapato said a 'small group of staff members wore coordinated clothing' that offended some students and employees. About 73% of the 1,500 students are Hispanic, according to enrollment data from two years ago. Perrapato said in his Feb. 4 letter that he was unable to share many details because it is now a 'personnel matter.' 'We recognize that political dialogue can be especially charged,' he wrote. 'We encourage thoughtful actions and respectful conversations among our students and staff.' No photos or video have surfaced on social media of the staffers allegedly wearing the shirts. first reported the incident saying the shirts were worn as part of a dress-down day on Jan. 31. Some New Jersey school districts have policies forbidding any type of political paraphernalia in schools except for teaching purposes. Staff dress codes are sometimes written in union contracts. In a Jan. 20 executive order titled "Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness," Trump wrote that the Gulf of America will be printed on official government maps, contracts, communications, and other documents. About a week later, Google announced that it would change the name on its maps. The order prompted merchandise sellers to create "Gulf of America" products from globes to t-shirts. The area of water bordering the southern United States and eastern Mexico has been named the Gulf of Mexico since at least the late 1600s. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum has said the United States cannot unilaterally change the name of an international body of water.
