Bear Essential News September 2020, Phoenix Edition by Bear Essential News

Bear 40 YEARS!

September 2020 • Phoenix Edition • www.bearessentialnews.com

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In This Picture: Find a hot dog, a microphone, a coffee mug, a fall leaf, a pencil, BALLOT, a balloon, a magnifying glass, a wrench, a superhero’s mask and the letters USA.

FEATURE

NEWS

R ace for the White House Movie Theaters O pen! Girls W ho Code Key moments of voting rights Pages 8 & 9

Spotlight on Chadwick Boseman News Highlights page 3

& more news kids can use Scoops pages 5, 12 & 14

FAMILIES

CONTEST

Cheese S ticks Halloween Costume? A fun & easy recipe! Back Cover

Enter Bear’s virtual contest Page 11

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September 2020

Valley Metro’s 2020

Cool Transit STUFF

ART CONTEST Open to all 3rd graders!

smile /smil/ noun 1. a pleased, kind, or amused facial expression, typically with the corners of the mouth turned up and the front teeth exposed.

Keep smiling and wear your mask because you care!

t may be a little tougher to see smiles these days, but they are still abundant around our community. Even under a face-covering, you can see that twinkle of a smile. Smiles are simple, free, and powerful. With just a curve of your mouth, you make yourself, and others feel good. We could all use miles of smiles.

At Valley Metro, there are smiles for miles: on the riders traveling on city buses and light rail trains, on the transit operators getting people from here to there, on the maintenance workers, and the smiles from random acts of kindness. For the time being, please only take essential trips, but you can start your family smiling as you plan your future transit trip!

Valley Metro FUN The online Valley Metro Fun page has something for everyone. There are coloring and activity pages to make you smile! They also help you to learn about Valley Metro services, the benefits of using public transportation, and how to use Valley Metro safely. Safety is a shared responsibility we all need to practice. Please check it out and keep coming back for more cool stuff in the series.

https://www.valleymetro.org/ valley-metro-fun

Please visit

valleymetro.org or call

602.253.5000

for all the latest updates.

September 2020 •

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News Highlights

Modified Mosquitoes May Be the Answer! A whopping 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes are going to be released in Florida. Yes, 750 million. And yes, genetically modified. Sounds like something out of a science fiction book or movie, right? It’s true and is actually being done intentionally! Local officials in Florida have approved the release of the modified mosquitoes. The goal of this is to reduce the local populations of mosquitoes that carry diseases which can infect people. Male mosquitoes actually don’t bite people—they feed on flower nectar. Female mosquitoes are the ones who bite people and require blood to produce their eggs. So the plan in Florida is to release the male, modified mosquitoes and let them breed with the wild female mosquitoes in the hopes that only the males will survive to pass on the genes. The plan is to release the mosquitoes next spring in the Florida Keys. While some people are optimistic about the goals of the release, others have questioned the plan. These people have expressed concern about dam-

age to ecosystems and the potential for creating a mosquito that is more RESISTANT to insecticides. For most people, mosquitoes are just a minor annoyance that can leave short-term itchy spots on the skin. Unfortunately, mosquitoes also carry a wide variety of diseases, including malaria, yellow fever, West Nile virus, and Dengue fever. There are more than 3,000 species of mosquitoes in the world and about 200 of those species live in the United States! In Arizona, mosquitos are most abundant between March and October, but they can be active year-round in parts of our state. There are a few simple things you can do to help minimize your exposure to these pesky bugs. Mosquitos are weak fliers, so an oscillating fan can be an effective tool in keeping them at bay. Minimizing the standing water around your home and empty buckets and containers is a good idea, as is removing the unnecessary junk and waste if you have a yard. Things that you wouldn’t even expect, like old tires, can be sneaky hiding areas for mosquitoes.

udios © disneyst

may not be the biggest movie of the month if Disney has its way. “Mulan” is now streaming on ulan Disney+. For i Liu as M e if Y s s e Actr $30, viewers can access the Premier Access feature to watch “Mulan” as often as they want as long as they subscribe to Disney+. “Mulan” was originally supposed to premiere earlier in the year, but its release was delayed because of the pandemic that required theaters to close. Disney has not yet announced whether other movies will be released directly to viewers to watch from their living rooms or whether this will be a one-time type of distribution. There are still some places where the movie is being released in theaters. In places where theaters have been able to reopen and Disney+ is unavailable, like China, Disney is releasing the film to the big screen.

Black Panther Actor Boseman Dies at 43

Movie Theaters Are Ready to Reopen! Big movies are coming back to the big screen… and your living room. For many people, summer includes swimming to stay cool and checking out the latest movie at the local theater for some popcorn and frosty air conditioning. This summer certainly looked different for a lot of people as COVID-19 shut down theaters and film companies for most of 2020. The good news for movie fans is that theaters are reopening and moviemakers are coming up with new ways to get films in front of audiences. Harkins Theaters reopened all of its Arizona locations on Aug. 28. They will be showing a mix of some older movies and new releases and using strategies to help moviegoers stay safe that are becoming more familiar to all of us: requiring face masks, offering sanitizing stations throughout the theater, and requiring reserved seating to ensure social distancing. Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas and FatCats have also opened their auditoriums in recent days, and AMC reopened all 12 of its Arizona theaters on Sept. 3. Like Harkins, these theaters are all taking precautions to help keep customers safe. AMC’s reopening date coincides with the release date of a blockbuster PG-13 movie, “Tenet.” But that

BEAR 40 YEARS

Chadwick Boseman, known to millions as Black Panther, died of cancer Aug. 28 at the age of 43. Boseman portrayed real life American heroes and legends like Jackie Robinson, James Brown and Thurgood Marshall, but he will forever be remembered for his DIGNIFIED role as a fictional African king and superhero. Boseman was born Nov. 29, 1976, in Anderson, South Carolina. He graduated from Howard University and started working in television and film. His breakout role was in the movie “42” as baseball legend Robinson. He earned critical acclaim in the film, which showed Robinson’s struggles as the first Black athlete to play on a Major League team. MLB tweeted, “His transcendent performance in ‘42’ will stand the test of time and serve as a powerful vehicle to tell Jackie’s story to audiences for generations to come.”

Chadwick Boseman FACTS: • Born Nov. 29, 1976 • Graduated from Howard University in 2000 and returned to deliver commencement speech in 2018 • Attended British American Drama Academy at Oxford

“Captain America: Civil War” was the debut of Boseman’s Black Panther in the Marvel Studios universe. After learning of his co-star’s death, Chris Evans posted, “Chadwick was special. A true original. He was a deeply committed and constantly curious artist. He had so much amazing work still left to create.” As King T’Challa, Boseman led a “Black Panther” cast that smashed box office records and won Best Cast in a Motion Picture at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The crossed-arm salute and rallying cry “Wakanda Forever” became a universal message. Boseman was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016, but he kept the news private and continued to work in between surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy. He died at his home near Los Angeles with his wife and family by his side. Spider-Man actor Tom Holland posted a photo of one of Boseman’s visits to meet a fan in the hospital. Holland wrote, “Chadwick, you were even more of a hero off screen than on. A role model not only to me on set, but to millions of others around the world. You brought joy and happiness to so many and I’m proud to have been able to call you a friend.”

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September 2020

Smile! It’s Back To School Time!

A BIG Thank You to All the Teachers, Administrators and School Support Staff!

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Join the Club—Girls Who Code by Reporter Travis Cooper, Sequoia Choice Arizona Distance Learning Girls in 6th-12th grades are invited to join a free “Girls Who Code” club hosted by Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) at UArizona. This year the club will meet online, so girls anywhere can join. “Students with all levels of coding experience are welcome, though the program is designed as a first introduction to coding,” explained Amanda Bertsch, the Lead Facilitator of the club. Girls Who Code is a global, nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the tech gender gap with more than 8,500 club chapters in the United States, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom. The UArizona Girls Who Code club aims to spark girls’ interest in technology careers. But the program can enrich students regardless of their professional goals. “Computer science skills are incredibly valuable— whether you want to be a programmer or a scientist or an artist selling your own work,” said Bertsch. The club has led some students to big opportunities in technology and research. “This summer I worked with researchers at the University of Maryland to develop a neural network,” said Portia Cooper, an 11th grader at Sequoia Choice Arizona Distance Learning, who was selected to participate in a competitive, national AI program. “I joined Girls Who Code when I was 12, and I

found out that I love coding. I kept coding on my own and took programming classes,” said Cooper, who now volunteers at the club. Through Girls Who Code, Bertsch hopes to give students early exposure to tech skills. “I was lucky enough to grow up with computer science as a part of my life; my mother is a software engineer and introduced me to coding at an early age,” said Bertsch. “I think everyone deserves access to the kind of resources that I had.” An online Open House for the club will be held on Saturday, Sept. 12 from 10 a.m. to noon and can be joined at http://bit.ly/ua-gwc-meeting. If possible, students and their parents should join the meeting from different devices, as separate activities are planned. Bertsch can be reached at abertsch@email. arizona.edu to answer any questions about the club.

Keeping the Light Rail Rolling Is a Big Job! by Elite Reporter Athena O’Brien Think you know everything there is to know about light rail? Think again! Late last year, I went on a tour of the Valley Metro Operations and Maintenance Center, guided by Debby Thacker, assistant manager of Rail Operations. My first glimpse of the OMC was from a conference room with a huge glass window looking down on a giant mechanics shop. I was so amazed to see a whole train inside the building, along with a lot of fascinating machinery that does many incredible jobs. There are a total of 50 light rail trains. Each train costs $6.3 million. The trains can last for 50 years depending on the quality of the maintenance they are given. That is why the Operations and Maintenance

Center is so important. It is where the light rail trains are repaired and touched up. The Operations and Maintenance Center covers 39 acres. The light rail system has 43 stations and 28 miles of light rail track. One of the many amazing machines at the OMC is called a truing machine. I got to see a train wheel being trued. Truing is how the wheels are fixed. Light rail trains have steel wheels, but occasionally these wheels get flat in places. The wheels are made round again using the truing machine. The machine straightens the wheel by shaving metal from it. The metal pieces fly out into a bin and are recycled. The pieces of steel that come off of the truing machine are very sharp. I also got to see a train getting a new paint job. The updated paint scheme is purple and looks like the buses. MORE VALLEY METRO, page 12 ➧

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News Stories Written by Kids— for Kids Students Learn About Human Anatomy at Midwestern University by Reporter Paige Kerr Apache Elementary Last school year (before the COVID shutdown), sixth-graders went to Midwestern University on a field trip to study the lungs, heart and brain. We got to actually touch donated hearts, lungs and brains and do an ultrasound on our wrists. My favorite part was getting to interact with all the body parts—getting to hold them and talk about how they are all used in the human body. We got a close look at all the pathways in the heart. For the lungs, we compared the size difference between the left and right lungs. We examined the brain and learned the ways it works and helps us do everyday activities. To make this experience better in the future, students need to move around more instead of just sitting at a table. Maybe we could have different stations for all the body parts instead of one station. Overall, it was an amazing field trip and I recommend everyone visit Midwestern University if they can! Adviser: Tara Woodward

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September 2020

Volume 42 • Issue 1

Editor & Publisher

Sales Director & Publisher

Stephen B Gin

Nancy Holmes

City Editor

YR Coordinator

Copy Editor

Art Director

Mike Loghry

Gary Shepard

Renee Griffith

Julie Madden

Bear Essential News for Kids®

is published monthly by Kids’ View Communications Corp. to educate, enrich and entertain children and their families. Content of this newspaper is designed to promote reading and writing skills as well as creativity. Classroom educators are welcome to reproduce any portion of this newspaper for their students. Call or fax Kids’ View Communications for any additional information on stories. Please Call (480)

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Families, Be Part of the Pack— Scout Me In Day Is Sept. 26! Coming to a park near you from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26: SCOUT ME IN DAY! Families with kids in grades K–5 can go to a park to enjoy a fun and fabulous Cub Scout activity and learn what their neighborhood Cub Scout Pack has to offer all while steps to prevent COVID are being taken. “All of the activities—all the fun they have—

they’re designed to build character and resourcefulness in our youth,” points out Doug Bergman, a District Director for the Grand Canyon Council, which serves the Phoenix metro area and north and also Yuma. Families can go to www.grandcanyonbsa.org/ scoutmeinday to find the nearest Scout Me In park. “Cub Scouts is for both girls and boys from kindergarten to fifth grade,” Bergman points out. “And they can join at any age.” Within a pack, Cub Scouts are divided into boy dens or girl dens of six to eight young people of the same age and grade. “Scouting activities are age-appropriate,” he continues. A first-grader, for example, would be asked to find an egg carton and to create a collection of something, explaining their collection to the family or other Cub Scouts in the den. “By the time they’re a fourth- or fifth-grader, they’re working on activity pins that are closely patterned after merit badges in Scouts BSA, where they’re learning about specific skills. One of them that’s always a fun one is to build a tool box with your parent or group!” Bergman says. And don’t forget other fun stuff that Cub Scouts do like the Pinewood Derby, the Rain Gutter Regatta, Space Derby and STEM activities! Making new friends—sometimes lifelong ones if you’re lucky—is another benefit of being a Cub Scout. “For a lot of folks, the friendships they made in Scouts are still the ones that last today,” Bergman shares. “And it all starts by finding a Cub Scout Pack near you!”

Would you like to join Scouts BSA?

Call 602-955-7747 or find a unit near you at BeAScout.org 8840 E. Chaparral Rd. #200 • Scottsdale

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RACE WHITE HOUSE Page 8

September 2020

FOR THE

Voting for the President Although the seemingly endless TV ads tell us who to vote for, we actually do not vote for president—at least not directly. When voters cast their ballot (election day is Tuesday, Nov. 3), they actually will elect other people to vote for them! This group that votes for president is called the electoral college. National elections draw millions of voters compared to local elections. This national presidential election is really a separate election in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Every state gets electoral votes according to how many seats they have in the House of Representatives plus the Senate. That makes 538 people in the electoral college overall. When we vote for president we are choosing which party gets the most votes in our state. Arizona, like most states, gives all its electors to whichever presidential ticket gets the most popular votes. Ne-

braska and Maine choose two electors by statewide popular vote and the rest by popular vote within each of its congressional districts. The electoral college then votes for president and vice president with each elector casting one vote. The candidate who gets more than half of the electoral votes becomes president. The president will be INAUGURATED on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. But if no candidate gets a majority of the electoral votes (at least 270), then Congress votes to choose the winners, with the House of Representatives getting one vote per state to select the next president, and the Senate voting in the new vice president!

Major Events in American Voting The first national election was held over weeks from Dec. 1788 to Jan. 1789. George Washington won this quadrennial election (happening every four years) and was inaugurated on April 30, 1789. Amendments are a way of making changes to the U.S. Constitution. On Feb. 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment, which made it unconstitutional to deny citizens the right to vote based on their race, was ratified by Congress, and later affirmed by the states. This was only the beginning of giving Black Americans the right to vote since many laws and voter restrictions were still in place. While the Constitution legally opened the voting booth to Black men, they still had obstacles to clear to cast their votes. Some states kept Black Americans from voting using poll taxes, literacy tests, Jim Crow laws and intimidation. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which made it unconstitutional to deny a person their voting rights based on their sex. It took decades of campaigning for women in this country to get the right to vote. Read on to learn more about the CENTENNIAL of the 19th Amendment.

Not Everyone Could Vote Unfortunately the 15th Amendment did not give Native Americans the right to vote—they were not recognized as U.S. citizens at the time. Despite Native Americans being granted U.S. citizenship in 1924, many of them still were not allowed to vote, including here in Arizona! That changed with an Ari-

Help Boomer Bear answer this election question! Circle the correct answer on the game board.

What is the Electoral College? a local college

electric company

part of the voting process

a new music group

Voting rights leaders march from Selma to Montgomery, AL in 1965. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (center)

Before the 24th Amendment was ratified on Jan. 23, 1964, some states required voters to pay poll taxes in order to be able to vote in federal elections. Charging such fees was deemed unconstitutional—it unfairly prevented poorer citizens, which often included Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans from voting. Coming about from the Civil Rights protests and campaigning of the 1960s, the Voting Acts Right of 1965 made several state voting restrictions illegal. Many of these state laws, many in Southern states, were meant to keep certain racial groups from being able to vote. By 1966 a quarter million new Black voters had registered to vote! A year later, only four of 13 Southern states still had less than half of their eligible Black population registered to vote. The 26th Amendment, ratified by Congress on July 1, 1971, changed the legal voting age from 21 to 18. This amendment passed easily—the logic being that if a person at 18 was old enough to be drafted in order to fight for the country, that person ought to be able to vote, too! 2020 also marks the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires that reasonable accommodations be made (including at polling places where you cast your vote) for people with disabilities. Our democracy still has a ways to go before voting is truly representative of the American population. We need to continue moving forward, keep fairness in mind and encourage those eligible to step up and vote.

BEAR 40 YEARS

Page 9

Unscramble the letters below to ﬁgure out the election words and candidate names. Good luck!

STIENEDRP

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

TEVO

__ __ __ __

OJ GEENORJSN

__ __

TERIFADI

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

in Salt Lake City, NV in 1895. Susan B. Anthony (front-center)

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

(Libertarian Party)

WOIHE SKINWAH __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ (Green Party)

FERUAGFS

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

HESPOJ ENBDI

__ __ __ __ __ __

CAT

__ __ __

DANDOL PURMT

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

CENIELTO

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

MEANNEMTD

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

spent decades protesting and demanding the vote. Women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were activists for women’s voting rights, or women’s suffrage, starting in the mid 1800’s in For American women, the right to vote came one America. Suffrage comes from the Latin word sufcentury ago. The 19th Amendment was RATIFIED fragium, meaning a vote or a right to vote. on Aug. 26, 1920. It decreed that “the right of Anthony voted illegally in 1862 and was arrestcitizens of the United States to vote shall not be ed, tried in court and ﬁned $100. She continued to denied or abridged by the United States or by any advocate for women’s suffrage, but Anthony died in State on account of sex.” 1906 so she was never legally able to cast her vote. Before the 19th Amendment, American women In January 1917, women started picketing outside the White House to urge President Woodrow Wilson to support an amendment to allow women the vote. The protesters stood outside the White House gates with their signs and banners, but without speaking and so earned the name the Silent Sentinels. These women waged their silent protest for almost two years. Hundreds were arrested and jailed, some were beaten and some went on hunger strikes. Congress passed the Woman Suffrage leaders at the Rocky Mountain Suffrage Meeting 19th Amendment in June

Women in America Get the Vote

Image: commoms.wikimedia.org

he U.S. Constitution established our country as a democracy and deﬁnes how it shall run. Although our democracy is not perfect, the freedom to choose who leads us—the right to vote— is one of our most important freedoms. While ours is not the only democratic country, many people around the world do not have this key freedom. It is important to know that while just about every adult American is entitled to vote, that has not always been the case here in the United States. Who gets to vote and even the voting age has evolved, and Bear Essential News goes over some of the most important changes that make it so more U.S. citizens can vote.

zona Supreme Court ruling in 1948. “It has ever been one of the great responsibilities of supreme courts to protect the civil rights of the American people of whatever race or nationality, against encroachment,” wrote Judge Levi Udall. A New Mexico court had a similar ruling later that year. Native Americans had to ﬁght for their rights state by state. Utah was the last state to guarantee Native American voting rights in 1962.

•

Presidential Word Scramble

Photo credit: History.com

Have you ever thought about why we vote, or how the whole process even works? Boomer has done some research to help make it easier to understand!

September 2020

__ __ __ __ __

(Democratic Party)

(Republican Party)

1919, but it needed to be ratified by three-fourths of the states to become law. Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify the amendment on Aug 18, 1920. It was certified on Aug 26, and so became the law of the land. In some U.S. territories and states, women were able to vote and hold elected office before the passage of the 19th amendment. Women in Arizona gained the right to vote in November 1912. One of the leaders of the state’s suffrage movement, Frances Willard Munds, was also the first woman elected to the Arizona Senate in 1914. When it came time to ratify the 19th Amendment and give other American women the right to vote, four Arizona women in the state legislature sponsored the resolution to pass the amendment.

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RACE WHITE HOUSE Page 8

September 2020

FOR THE

Help Boomer Bear answer this election question! Circle the correct answer on the game board.

What is the Electoral College? a local college

electric company

part of the voting process

a new music group

Voting rights leaders march from Selma to Montgomery, AL in 1965. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (center)

BEAR 40 YEARS

Page 9

Unscramble the letters below to ﬁgure out the election words and candidate names. Good luck!

STIENEDRP

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

TEVO

__ __ __ __

OJ GEENORJSN

__ __

TERIFADI

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

in Salt Lake City, NV in 1895. Susan B. Anthony (front-center)

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

(Libertarian Party)

WOIHE SKINWAH __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ (Green Party)

FERUAGFS

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

HESPOJ ENBDI

__ __ __ __ __ __

CAT

__ __ __

DANDOL PURMT

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

CENIELTO

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

MEANNEMTD

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Women in America Get the Vote

Image: commoms.wikimedia.org

•

Presidential Word Scramble

Photo credit: History.com

Have you ever thought about why we vote, or how the whole process even works? Boomer has done some research to help make it easier to understand!

September 2020

__ __ __ __ __

(Democratic Party)

(Republican Party)

BEAR 40 YEARS

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• September 2020

Boomer’s Boredom-Busting Activity Page

Birthday On the Way? Did you know that over 17.7 million people celebrate their birthday every day around the world? In the U.S., it’s over 814,000 each day. Bear Essential News readers celebrate more than 8,300 birthdays per month. Guess what? You’re one of them!

Color Boomer’s Birthday Picture!

Boomer Builds a Better Birthday Pizza! Everyone knows that pizza is Boomer’s favorite food! Now, he wants to build his best one ever! Help Boomer choose the perfect toppings for his pizza. Circle the items below that you think would help make the perfect birthday pizza.

pepperoni grapes cheese pickles banana avocado olives peanuts

tomato chocolate onion corn chips jello ham licorice mushroom

Boomer Bear celebrates his birthday in September!

e-mail: boomer@bearessentialnews.com

Growing, Growing,

Strong!

September 2020 •

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Sponsored by

Fun tips on healthy foods, fitness and well being —from our family to yours!

house-turned-ofﬁce with everyone working from home. Whatever your situation may be, it’s more important than ever to stay healthy, happy and feeling well. Part of this means ensuring that your lunches and snacks are nutritious and delicious.

Make Meal Planning More Fun! 1. Include the entire family in meal planning:

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Here are ﬁve points to help you navigate your new normal: meal planning (see tip 1), but we know that our brains become overwhelmed when there are too many options. So keep it simple, and have a couple staple foods available.

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od” to help you eat a balanced meal, which includes vegetables, protein, whole grains and fruit. You should include one food from each group as often as possible. You can ﬁnd recipes at superhealthykids.com

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Pediatric Dietitian at Phoenix Children’s Hospital

4. Limit the options. We are all about including the entire family in

Ask everyone what they would like to have for lunch.

eating. You can offer variations, like carrots or cucumbers; apples or grapes; turkey slices or chicken; pita pockets or whole grain bread.

TIME FOR A SNACK!

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parts of their lunch. Based on their age, kids may be able to gather ingredients, wash, cut, or slice fruits and vegetables and pack them.

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For snacks, avoid offering single food groups or foods with a lot of added sugars. Instead, offer options like an apple and peanut butter or a small bag of goldﬁsh and a cheese stick. It’s about making meal times pleasant and delicious!

VIRTUAL HALLOWEEN

Costume Contest!

Join In the 2020 Virtual Costume Contest! Entering the contest is easy! Take a picture of your child or family in their creative, funny, cute or scary costume. Just follow these simple Instructions: • Email the picture to: Boomer@bearessentialnews.com • In the subject line put: PHX Halloween Costume Contest • In the body of the email please include: Adult name and phone number Age category (for more than one child, submit separate photos and indicate an age category for each photo). Photos will be uploaded to the Halloween Costume Contest Album on Bear’s Facebook page. The photo in each category with the most Votes (likes, loves, etc.) will be the winner.

Contest runs from Sept. 14 to Oct. 25.

Categories for Entries: Ages 5 and under Ages 6-10 Ages 11-Teen Family Entry

Great Phreizes for t

W in n ers!

Winners will be announced Nov. 2 on Facebook and winner pictures will appear in the November issue of Bear.

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his year has been a year of uncertainties; Give yourself some credit, take a deep breath and know that it is OK. You may have dusted off those lunch boxes only to ﬁnd out that you are attending school from your computer; you may have a

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September 2020

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Get the Scoop!

Continued from page 5

More Valley Metro Continued from page 5 There are 18 consists. Consists are trains that have two working ends. This is because light rail has no roundabout, so when the train reaches the end of the line, the driver simply goes to the other end of the car and drives back. Each consist has accordion folds in the middle. I always wondered what these folds were for. The folds help the train curve when it turns so that it doesn’t always have to move in a straight line. This is called articulation. Light rail trains are sustainable because passengers share rides, which reduces emissions. About 50,000 people use light rail every day—that’s over 18 million riders a year! Over 60 million gallons of fuel have been saved and over 19 tons of air pollutants were prevented since light rail began in 2008. Light rail trains are insulated to keep the cool air inside and have reflective paint and window tint. Each train has two five-ton air conditioning units on top. Plus, the car wash that trains and buses are sent through recycles the water, saving 60 percent of fresh water. The water is also recycled when the seats are cleaned. Similar to the car wash, the seats are power washed. The seats are dried on huge racks, which I got to see. There were some seats already on the racks. I never knew that it was possible to take the seats out of the train to wash them. In addition, some platforms are shaded with plants native to Arizona and arranged to have optimal shade throughout the day. As part of my tour I visited the Operations Control Center or OCC. The people who work there are like air traffic controllers for the light rail. There are several differences though. These employees can control the trains in real time. They can also receive messages about disturbances on the trains, and figure out how to deal with them. This helps keep passengers safe. This was very interesting because all 28 miles of light rail track are monitored on screens that cover an entire wall. The screens are basically a bunch of flat screen TVs on the wall, so close together that they look like one screen. If you get very close, you can see that they are not all one screen, but they are still very cool. The screens show all of the information about each train, including who is driving it, what its number is, and how fast it is moving or if it is moving at all. I didn’t know that it was possible to control the trains from a distance, or track their speed and driver. Light rail has a fun program called Ride Like Right. Two cartoon characters named Right and Rong show passengers the rules of light rail platforms. At RideLikeRight.com you can take a pledge to follow the rules of the light rail. It is important to follow these rules for the safety and comfort of all of the passengers. After my tour I received some costume glasses that are just like the ones Right wears. Remember, light rail is important because it reduces emissions and is an efficient way to travel. Why not give riding light rail a try? MORE SCOOPS, page 14 ➧

Black Mountain BMX

We Are OPEN and

RACING!

For Dates and Times, check our website

602-938-1108

www.blackmountainbmx.com

September 2020 •

e-mail: boomer@bearessentialnews.com

BEAR 40 YEARS

It’s a Girl Scout Party—and You’re Invited! It’s a great time to join Girl Scouts, as girls and families can earn badges and start their journey in Girl Scouting from home. Girls in grades K–3 won‘t want to miss the Animal Dance Party, and girls in grades 4-6 are invited to a Robot Building Party. Arizona Cactus-Pine Council has virtual programs and activities that make it easy for any parent, caregiver or volunteer to lead programs at home. Girl Scouts supports virtual learning that helps girls transition into virtual learning environments. At the Animal Dance Party, girls will join online to make friends, learn about animals and get moving with different animal inspired dance moves led by a GS staff member. Girls who participate will receive a

fun patch through the mail. When the dancing is done, families will be invited to a virtual GS information meeting to learn more about GS programs and possibly enroll in a troop or as an independent member. As a Halloween treat, on Oct. 31 girls are invited to wear their costumes to the Animal Dance and Monster Mash themed party! Older girls can be rockin’ STEM stars at the Robot Building Party! Girls will learn about robots and learn how to build a robot using recyclable items they find at home. Participants will make new friends and will receive a fun patch through the mail. The Robot Building Party will also be followed by a virtual GS information meeting. Halloween themed

Girl Scout Daisy Tr oop 3589 in Phoe nix learned about pet care and veterina ry careers while they met on line this summer, earning the PetSmart Char ities Paw Patch!

events will happen on Oct. 24 and 28, when girls are invited to wear their costumes as they build a robot! Register to attend the Animal Dance Party or the Robot Building party for free! Find multiple dates for these 45-minute virtual sessions at www.girlscoutsaz.org/join and on www.facebook.com/gsacpc. For additional information, call or text 602-452-7030. These fun-filled virtual parties are perfect for girls and families who are interested in learning more about the Girl Scout Leadership Experience. What could be better than a party that’s a blast and also a springboard to joining Girl Scouts and finding a virtual troop? So, don’t miss out, RSVP to one of these parties today! Why join? • Girl Scout programming supports education, focusing on four core program areas: STEM, outdoors, entrepreneurship and life skills. • Girl Scout virtual events are a great way for girls to make friends. • Girl Scouts provides girls a sense of normalcy and a community of support during times like these. • Girl Scout programming supports emotional well-being, social skills and lets girls connect with other girls in a safe space designed for them.

Join Girl Scouts today! Visit girlscoutsaz.org Call or text 602-452-7030

@GSACPC

BEAR 40 YEARS •

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September 2020

Get the Scoop!

Continued from page 12

Book Has Multiple Viewpoints by Reporter Isabella Mercado Salvidio Apache Elementary

“Best. Night. Ever.” is told from seven different points of view and it’s about everyone’s night at the dance. It is actually written by seven different authors. A group of seventh graders are in a band and they are performing at their school on live television! The problem is that a girl named Jade is mad that they get to perform on TV instead of her band. So she is going to sabotage them! I thought it was very rude of a girl named Sydney, when she started hanging out with other friends and ditched her BFF, Genevieve, on the day where she performs with the band at the dance! The climax is when the lights go out when the band, Heart Grenade, starts to perform. The theme of the book is to be confident in yourself and stand tall. Overall, the book was interesting and I would recommend it to someone who likes to read about drama.

e-mail: boomer@bearessentialnews.com

September 2020 â&#x20AC;¢

BEAR 40 YEARS

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September 2020

Cast Your VOTE for

CHEESE!

Make a Cheesy-Fun Treat for Your Family! Baked Mozzarella Sticks Ingredients: • 1 (12 – ounce) package reduced-fat Mozzarella string cheese • 1 egg

• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

• 8 tablespoons panko (Japanese) bread crumbs

Makes 6 Servings

Total time: 26 min Prep time: 20 min Cook Time: 6 min

• ½ cup prepared marinara sauce, warmed (optional)

I promise to always be the BEST cheese for YOU!

VOTE for ME! e Cheese! it r o v a F r ou Vote for Y ue qualities, ? s its own uniq vote for 2020 ch cheese ha We know eathese cheeses gets your but which of

Cheddar Swiss Mozzarella

heese

American C

Pepper Jac Parmesan

Instructions: • Position rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. • Line a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. • Remove cheese from packaging and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk egg until foamy. In a small non-stick skillet mix Italian seasoning with bread crumbs and place over medium heat. • Cook and stir bread crumbs until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. • Dip one piece of string cheese in egg until coated and then into toasted

bread crumbs, coating completely. Redip the string cheese in egg and again into bread crumbs, if desired. • Place on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining string cheese and place on baking sheet 1 ½ inches apart. Spray string cheese lightly with cooking spray.

Gouda ate

did Write In Can

• Bake 5-6 minutes or until heated through. (Cheese may melt slightly and lose shape. Simply press it back into place.) Optional: serve with warmed marinara sauce.

Enjoy!