An Update on the War in Ukraine

What is new in Ukraine

Juan Fuentes, Staff Writer

It has been over a year since Russia began its unjust war against Ukraine and a lot has happened. For starters, the U.S, U.K, Poland, Germany, France, and several other countries agreed to send M1 Abrams, Challenger, and Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Along with the Abrams tank, the U.S is also ramping up production of artillery shells in order to provide more aid monthly to Ukraine. Poland has said that it is willing to send modern aircraft.

Along with Poland, President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv (the capital of Ukraine) and announced that the United States intended to continue to support Ukraine. The President has said there is no reason for the U.S to send any F-16s to Ukraine. The main reasoning for why President Biden has been against sending any modern aircraft to Ukraine is that he does not want to provide Ukraine with any weapons that would allow for Ukraine to take the fighting into Russia. The amount of time that would go into training each pilot and the twenty-five man engineer team that would have to go with each pilot. Despite this, Ukraine maintains that the whole basis of why they need the F-16s is to ensure

Venice, Italy: The Sinking City Is Venice drowning?

Anna Beth Burleson, Staff Writer

that they have complete air superiority. Despite not sending any aircraft to Ukraine, the U.S and its allies do plan to continue supplying Ukraine with more military aid.

The ramp up in support comes as many believe that Russia is planning on another massive spring offensive. Russia recently closed a massive pipeline to the rest of Europe in response to the sending of tanks. The latest news has surrounded the impending fall of the city of Bakhmut. The city has been the site to incessant fighting and recent reports state that there are roughly 100 Russian casualties each day. If the city falls, it would be the first in 8 months; however, the fall of the city does not necessarily mean that the tide of the war is shifting. The city, after seeing intense fighting since the beginning of the war, is almost completely evacuated and has been decimated by shelling and with the previously stated reports of Russian reinforcements. Many in Ukraine believe that it would be best to retreat from the city and regroup at another point.

The History of Easter Eggs When did eggs roll into Easter?

Mack Rudder, Staff Writer

While Easter eggs were never mentioned directly in the Bible, they have been used as a symbol in Christianity since the early 13th century.

This eventually spread to other denominations and people began to dye the eggs different colors too. Each color was said to represent another part of

The city built over 1200 years ago is now under threat to be under water as soon as 2100. Venice was built on a muddy lagoon with an unsturdy foundation. The ground beneath the historic city is being compacted with mud. This plus the ground water being pumped from under the city and rising sea levels has caused Venice to gradually sink.

The whole purpose of why Venice was built on top of the lagoon was to provide protections to the original settlers who were in need of. If action is not taken soon flood levels will rise, and what had once been for protection will be the great cities’ downfall.

Saint Mark’s Square is the lowest point in the city so it frequently is flooded by rising high tides. Due to climate change the Mediterranean Sea is estimated to rise about 4 feet in the next century. If preventions for global warming are not set in place, it could be a main reason why Venice will end up underwater.

Since 1872 there have been 324 intense floodings. In the past 30 years more than half of those floods have occurred. This is a tell tale sign that Venice is going under. The Venetian government has recognized this issue and has put in place MOSE to help slow and stop the issue. MOSE is a system of moveable walls protects the city from detrimental high tides, but these walls are also damaging the marshes in the lagoon. the Easter story.

Climate change is a mounting issue in today’s time, but it is neglected and pushed to the side for other things. Venice is a city full of art, people, and culture, and it would be a true shame for it to be visible no longer.

In many early Orthodox churches at the end of the Paschal Vigil, which happens the Saturday before Easter Sunday, the priest would bless eggs and give them to the church-goers. They believed the egg represented the resurrection of Jesus Christ, with the eggshell representing His tomb, and the cracking of the egg representing His actual resurrection. They also used to dye the eggs red to represent the blood Jesus Christ shed on the cross.

Most early Eastern Christian churches also observed Lent, which is a forty-day period of fasting and prayer said to represent the forty days Jesus Christ spent enduring temptation and fasting in the desert. During Lent, eggs were among the foods that were though. It also brought the dyeing and decoration of eggs into people’s households and out of just the church, as people began to dye and decorate the extra eggs they could not find a way to eat. forbidden during this fast. Due to eggs being forbidden during this fasting period, people could no longer eat the eggs their chickens produced during these forty days. This led to families hard-boiling the eggs produced during this time and is also why many traditional Easter recipes include eggs as their main ingredient.

Easter eggs have slowly become a deeply-rooted Easter tradition in Christianity over time. Starting in early Eastern churches as a symbol of resurrection, then dyeing them became a way to not waste the surplus of eggs after Lent, and now decorating them has become a fun tradition for families to partake in each year.

This surplus of eggs did not only lead to new egg-focused recipes,