The invasion of Ukraine over 250 days ago has come to a standstill. In July, Lysychansk, the fi nal Ukrainian holdout in Luhansk fell to Russian
states that Ukraine will not give up any land in the Do netsk region thanks to the he roes who are fighting there.
As the dreary winter nears, the people of Ukraine begin to hunker down with out heat, electricity, and water. In the city of Kyiv over 1,000 heating points
sian artillery strikes caused power outages. Many ex perts in the nuclear com munity are worried that a nuclear meltdown is waiting to happen. Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned that “it can’t go on like this. I have repeat edly called for the urgent establishment of a nuclear safety and security protec tion zone around the Za porizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant to prevent a nuclear accident. We can’t afford to lose any more time.”
forces. However, Russia was not able to make any significant gains in Donbas.
In late August, the Ukrainian Army launched a counterattack into Kher son reclaiming Izium, which was a major Russian logistics hub, and much of northeastern Kharkiv.
According to CNN, Ukrainian President Volody myr Zelensky announced that the Russian forces “suf fer extremely large-scale losses, but their order has not changed - to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk region”. Zelensky
have been installed but of ficials fear that this may not be enough for the city of nearly 3 million people.
Due to Russian attacks on Ukrainian electrical in frastructure all across the country, energy facilities are undergoing repair work to restore power to about 4 million Ukrainians in 14 different regions. A major ity of the affected regions are on a schedule of 12 hours of power cuts a day. The recently recaptured Za porizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe, has been restored after Rus
In Kherson, Russian troops retreated from the area causing the largest setback in the nearly nine month war for Russia. How ever, many Ukrainian of ficials fear that it may be a trap for Ukrainian soldiers. The southern Kherson re gion, Ukrainian units are working on liberating the area by strengthening their positions and preventing the potential of Russian forces taking over the south. Ac cording to Zelensky, “work continues to restore normal life in the liberated areas. Only in the past day for example, in two districts of the Kharkiv region, gas and electricity have been restored to more than a thousand households.”
Overall the balance of the war seems to be tip ping towards a Russian failure, but the war contin ues with no end in sight.
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By: Addie Cook-Gibbs L’OT News Reporter and Sanaj Kapur LO’T News Editor
After a long day at the polls, most election results are finally in for the count. With a shocking turn of events for many, this elec tion has turned into a very close one, putting members of both parties on edge. While many election pro jections showed republicans sweeping the floor in a “red wave”, of both the house and the senate this Novem ber, the democrats seem to be holding their own.
As of November 14, the democrats are projected to hold on to their majority in the senate with a fifty to forty nine lead (two of the democratic seats are held by independents that are caucusing with the party) thanks to Nevada finally calling incumbent Sena tor Cortex Masto’s victory on November 12th. Even though election polls have long closed, races are still happening across the coun try. Certain states such as Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, and Pennsylvania have a history of being swing states, meaning they could
swing in support of either party.. Pennsylvania sen ate race was called pretty early in the game much un like Georgia who, due to the very narrow margins, now has to head to a runoff election. A runoff election occurs when a candidate does not reach the required fifty percent majority. The top two candidates will then enter a runoff election on a separate date to decide the winner. The runoff elec tion between Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R) for Geor gia’s sen ate seat is projected
to be scheduled for De cember 6th according to CNN. The Democrats overall have picked up one seat in Pennsylvania with John Fetterman (D) defeating Dr. Mehmet Oz by four and a half percent.
In the House of Rep resentatives, on the other hand, Republicans lead two hundred and twelve to two hundred and four. However, nineteen races still have not been called which could easily affect The House or Senate. Of the nineteen uncalled seats, six seats are likely democratic, five are likely republican, and eight are tossups. Places like Arizona and Califor nia are seeing increas ingly narrow results within their district races. Overall
Democrats have flipped five seats while Republicans have flipped seventeen. The California house elec tion currently has ten seats not finalized. This is due California relatively easy access to voting and their relaxed restrictions on due dates for mail in ballots. In California every registered voter receives a mail-in ballot and their votes still count even if they come in after polls close as long as they are postmarked for Election day. This leads to a very long counting process often ending weeks after Election. San Diego Coun ty Registrar, Cynthia Paes even said that California elections “are no longer in an Election Day model, we are in an election month, or
even six to eight weeks, be cause of the time that elaps es between when ballots go out and when we have to certify. Elections are not a one day event anymore,”. In the gubernatorial race, Republicans have control of twenty six states while Dem ocrats control twenty three. Democrats have flipped Maryland and Massachu setts while republicans have flipped Nevada. In Arizona there was a tight race be tween candidates Kari Lake (R) and Katie Hobbs (D) Hobbs defeated Lake with a mere 50.4% of votes. . Here locally we have had some tight elections as well. For Rock Island County Sheriff democratic candi date Darren Hart (D) has been elected over his op ponent Patrick Moody (R)
by nearly eight percent. Illinois district 17 house race between Candidates Eric Sorensen (D) and Es ther Joy King (R) were in a fierce battle that ended with Sorensen taking the seat by three and a half per cent. Incumbent Illinois Senator Tammy Duck worth (D) will also be re turning to the hill after a landslide election against Kathy Salvi (R) by four teen percent. Another re turning guest in Illinois is Incumbent Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) who won the position in a sweep against opponent Darren Bailey (R) by eleven percent.
Voting is a key fac tor in American democ racy and every election cycle is important to en courage the will of the people. This country is for the people and elections such as these are increas ingly important to uphold true American democracy.
As November’s election day passed by, like many, you may feel a sense of relief as campaign commercials and political discussions leave your cable, social media, and news outlets. I think it’s safe to say that we are all thankful it’s over, but perhaps we should spend a little more time thinking about our current state of government. This year’s midterm elections have been monitored very closely because political scientists have noted an increase in polarization. According to Pew Research Center, polarization refers to “the vast and growing gap between liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats.”
Studies conducted by many different organi zations and universities such as Pew Research Center and Brown University have found that polarization has increased in the last 25 years of American politics. This trend isn’t a secret, as many Americans can see this through so cial media posts and the increase in political violence such as the insurrection of our na tion’s capital building on January 6th of 2021.
And when the media discusses polariza tion, it often leaves a sense of fear that our democracy is falling apart; but that simply isn’t the case. Though polarization is a “prob lem” and does stifle the democratic process, it is is a normal problem in all functioning democracies. Although, there is no denying that polarization can bring about negative ef fects on politics, it isn’t the real problem. The real prob lem is about the ability (or lack thereof) to compromise.
For more context, the polarization of the Ameri can political parties at a federal level makes legislative compromise extremely difficult and slows the process down even more. As the two parties become more fo cused on destroying the other’s agenda, politicians and citizens lose sight of the importance of bipartisanship.
Other trends show that polarization is causing Amer icans to lose trust in the democratic process and the op posing party. For example, many citizens no longer trust elections, and during the 2020 election, many republicans believed there was a severe rise in voter fraud. Though there wasn’t a lot of evidence to support those allegations, thse types of concerns are valid considering how politi cians and media outlets often support claims like this to gain more attention and thus readership. While this ex ample focused on the republican party, but it is important to remember that polarization is not a problem for one party or the other; both parties are guilty of the division.
Some people tend to argue that it is one party’s fault more than the other, but this argument pours gasoline on the fire, which contributes to the separation of the parties.
Like James Madison warned in Federalist Paper No.10, factions are a part of human nature, but these factions may work against the public interest. Madison recognized early that compromise and unity fuel an ef ficient democracy. Madison foresaw that income inequal ity and religion would become the main points of con
parties more distinct in their values, giving voters a clearer idea of what they are supporting. The main concern is that Americans are more polarized than ever, and therefore crippling any chance for progress due to the failure to com promise. But polarization itself is not lethal to democracy.
tention and would lead to “alliances” that with too much extremism in ideology could cause more harm than good.
To be clear, not all polarization is bad. The party system is designed to make sure no one group is completely in power, and it can create the opportunity for a very effec tive and balanced government. Polarization also makes the
Because of the two-party system in which our govern ment operates, the loop of polarization and depolarization tends to repeat itself throughout history. One period of polarization in America is famously known as the Civil War. Don’t worry, this does not mean that po larization will cause a war, rather it means that nations can heal and change from disunity. It is a reminder, however, that conflict between different groups can cause great damage. We as a nation have a responsibility to pre vent that from happening. Now more than ever, bipartisanship is necessary. It’s not a myth- bipartisanship has led to several sig nificant changes in American history, such as The Civil Rights Act (1964) or the Ameri cans With Disabilities Act (1990). The parties working together is extremely possible but requires a lot of debate and bargaining, but is that not what politics is all about? The Found ing Fathers deliberately created a government that could evolve with society, but in order for this to take place, Americans need to put in effort to find a middle ground. Improve ment is an ongoing process that entails an endless discussion. Our differences in beliefs shouldn’t stall advancement but should ignite the meshing of ideas. Rather than stubbornly defending your party no matter what, we should all try having open conversations about opinions and points of view. Every individual can take steps to improve political under standing. Regardless of if someone is a republican and a democrat, everyone is first and foremost, an American.
Netflix’s new series, “Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” has received major backlash as questions regarding the consent of the victims’ families and poten tial legal issues arise.
Dahmer made Netflix’s top ten for a while and has been widely referred to on social media, but the familial consent factor of validating the creation of the TV show has been brought to the surface.
While Dahmer may be interesting and popular amongst the show’s viewers, it is not fair for victims’ families to suffer as the tragedies of their loved ones resurface and bring attention and notoriety to their murderer. Personally, the Dahmer series has brought me a few chills as the show depicts multiple instances of gore, but the story behind the notorious serial killer remains petri fying.
According to The Daily Utah Chroni cle, victims’ families were not informed about the Netflix show. In fact, one of Dahmer’s victim’s family members, Rita Isbell, commented that she received no notification about the show and goes on to state that Netflix is only profiting from the victims’ tragedies and forcing the family members of the victims to go through the pain of their murder again.
Furthermore, Isbell asserts that it feels harsh that the show has not benefit ed the victims’ family members in any way, and Netflix is just being greedy.
In The Hollywood Reporter, Isbell states,“When I saw some of the show, it bothered me, especially when I saw myself — when I saw my name come across the screen and this lady saying verbatim exactly what I said,” wrote Isbell in an essay for Insider. “If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought it was me. Her hair was like mine, she had on the same clothes. That’s why it felt like reliving it all over again. It brought back all the emotions I was feeling back then.” She discloses that she only watched the episode where she was depicted, for she had lived the rest of the show.
In this case, one part of Isbell’s life is on display for Netflix viewers, even though she never agreed to having her story depicted on the screen. Netflix
completely crossed the line reagrding consent, for Isbell wasn’t even contacted for having her character portrayed on Netflix.
A few weeks after Isbell expressed her viewpoint, Ryan Murphy, the creator of “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” declared that he and his team contacted over 20 victims’ families and friends during the three to four years it took to compile research about Dahmer, but none of them responded, causing Murphy and his team to rely on a group of researchers to uncover the truth about Dahmer’s victims and take control of his story.
likeness, Murphy and his team continued their research.
As a viewer of the show, I can see how families who have been affected by Dahmer’s actions have been plunged into despair as Dahmer makes an infamous ap pearance in their lives again without their consent, which is unfair given that their lives are depicted on screen.
The issue with the depiction of Dahmer’s case also lies within legality. From a legal viewpoint, Jamie E. Wright of the Wright Law Firm contends that Dahmer’s court re cords are public, so Netflix is able to create a show about his life, but getting consent, however, would have saved Netflix from legal controversies.
As a matter of fact, Tre Lovell, a manag ing attorney at Lovell Law Firm, states that “The only obligation Netflix has to victims is to be accurate and factual and not to use anything about the victims that may be pro tected by privacy laws,” for manipulating the truth would damage Netflix’s credibility. Since Murphy and his team did not get the approval of victims’ families and friends, I agree that the least they can do is be honest throughout the show.
Recently, The News International report ed that Lionel Dahmer, Jeffrey Dahmer’s father, decided to take legal action against Netflix. Dahmer’s father was offended because Netflix did not consult him while acquiring tape recordings from Dahmer’s case. Lionel’s caretaker has also made a statement that “Lionel was not contacted about either of these shows on Netflix.”
Moreover, Deadline divulged that Murphy and his team felt that they “did [their] due diligence” by contact ing around twenty victims’ family members and friends Despite the fact that the family members and friends didn’t respond or provide consent to their names and
With that being said, Lionel and his lawyer are work ing to build a lawsuit against the production team of the show as well as Netflix. The fact that Dahmer’s own father was not contacted engraves a serious issue of autho rization because the serial killer’s father should have a say in whether or not his son’s life should be exposed.
Line O’Type is the official school-sponsored paper of Moline High School. The paper is published by the students under the supervision of faculty advisors for the Moline High School community. The staff will strive to accurately report school, local, state, and national news that affects high school students. Line O’Type Signals is also a forum open to students, faculty and administration to encourage the airing of opinions respresenting all sides of an issue.
All submitted material must be signed, due to a code passed by the school board. All responses or questions regarding editorials should be directed to your Editors-in-Chief, Sophia Brockway and Siri Chintala and faculty advisors, Heidi Norcross and Heather Breidenbach.
Overall, the widely-popular Netflix show has been discredited by many true crime fans as problematic regarding the notifica tion of victims’ families, as well as correct representation of their stories, and finally, a legal perspective is exposed which identifies ethical flaws surrounding the show.
At the end of the day, however, diehard crime fans like me, may also visit a common ground, knowing that not all disreputable se rial killers deserve attention or our money.
Ultimately, we must question if we want to be a part of the problem or solution.
The Student Hunger Drive is an annual com petition between par ticipating schools in the local area to see who can donate the most cans of food to the River Bend Food Bank. Even though it is a competition, the Hunger Drive means so much more to students and citizens in need.
In the United States, 13.5 million families suf fer from food insecurity, and in Illinois alone, 1 in 9 children are faced with hunger. Students can help minimize that number and gain a new perspective on aiding the community. By helping distribute over 400 hunger-relief part
ners to people from the Food Bank’s 23-county service area, they sup port the community through philanthropy.
Each year, students involved in Interact Club find new and excit ing ways to try to raise donations for the Hunger Drive. A new event that was added this year was “Moliween”, where mem bers of Interact Club dec orated classroom doors and had elementary stu dents trick or treat at the doors. Students donated canned goods upon entry.
Senior Chelsey Highly says, “Everyone puts so much hard work into the Hunger Drive and all the events that go along with that, so it’s always awesome to
see it all come togeth er and be amazed that we were able to help!”
Interact Club members find many different ways to raise donations for the River Bend Food Bank. When asked about her favorite part of the Hunger Drive, Ms. Harding said, “It’s just a really cool thing for all of our students to be involved in something that is going to really help and impact our community.” Students in every aspect of the school can get involved and support the cause.
This year’s Hunger Drive ended on November 10th, but the Interact Club invites stu dents to get involved in next year’s campaign!
National Honor Society tries new things this year by hosting the first Empty Bowls in two years!
“Empty Bowls is a Moline tradition that brings so many of our community members together for the com mon goal of ending hun ger in our community,” says Ms. Salinas. Empty Bowls is a fun event where people of the com munity can come to the high school and socialize while eating soup. From this event, they can also receive a bowl made by the pottery department.
This year, NHS was able to raise $1,600, which goes directly to the Riverbend Food Bank.
However, NHS had to overcome many obstacles in order to make Empty Bowls a success.
“Covid shut the event down for two years so we really had to start all over again,” says Mr. Joel Delp, the pottery
teacher.
When NHS tried to host Empty Bowls in 2021, they couldn’t get enough restaurants to donate, so they had to cancel it. This year, they dealt with a similar issue.
“We had a list of almost 100 businesses; nearly all of them didn’t donate because the event was under different man agement and didn’t hap pen for a while,” says Graham Crippen, the vice president of NHS.
In the end, NHS was able to receive some pastries from Hy-Vee as well as some soup from Culver’s, Fresh Thyme, and a few others. The rest of the soup had to be made somehow.
Ultimately, members of NHS had to make their own soup in order to get the quantity needed for the event. The members had to bring their soups in crock pots, which were then each plugged in in the cafete ria and served from.
“Transporting the soup was an endeav
or,” says Graham, “des ignated tudents drove their personal vehicles to restaurants and students’ houses to collect dona tions; some students even had 6 crock pots in the car at once!”
Prior to the event, Mr. Delp has his pottery classes create 1-2 bowls for their first project. He also hosts community bowl-making nights in the pottery studio, where any members of the com munity create bowls to be given at the event. He also has artists from the community donate professional bowls to be sold at the event .“Empty Bowls is a Moline tradi tion that brings so many of our community mem bers together for the common goal of ending hunger in our commu nity.” Empty Bowls is a fun event where people of the community can come to the high school and socialize while eat ing soup. Each participant must donate $5 to attend but the impact on the community is priceless .
During the month of November, join in the cel ebration of rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans and learn about the contributions of indigenous peoples in all of the North American continent. The ancestry and traditions sustained by Native Americans are important to appreciate, as culture equals identity. When a culture disap pears, so does its people. Things such as language, family recipes, traditional dances and music, as well
as social customs can be completely lost. This is why it’s very impor tant to recognize Native Americans during this month.
The past is reck oning; many indigenous were removed from their homeland, as they did not view land as something that could be owned, says nyc.com. “Native Americans today make up less than two percent of the total American population. Keeping their culture alive remains a struggle.” says a blog post from nativehope. com. Promoting cultural
identity is a very impor tant thing during this month, as young Native Americans are encour aged to be more engag ing to their identities as well knowing that they have a place in this world. Several states have desig nated Columbus day as Indiginous People’s Day, but just one whole day isn’t enough for indige nous representation. This is why it’s important to many of the indigenous people of North America to have a whole month. It’s the importance of conitnuing culture, diver sity, and complexity.
Gamers have had to wait all year for “Modern Warfare II” to finally come out, which happened on Oc tober 28th.
This is the nine teenth “Call Of Duty” game published by Activision.
The release of “Modern Warefar II” was anticipated by many play ers, and in Febraury of 2022, Activision stated a sequel of the game would be released. Therefore, fans have been waiting in anticipation for a long time.
It was no doubt
people were excited for the release because in no time it became the fastest selling “Call of Duty Game” with 1 bil lion dollars worth sold in just ten days according to Fortune.com!
We all know one of the most exciting parts about a new Mod ern Warfare is the cam paign, which has always been held at a high stan dard.
If you are inter ested in this game, get ready to dive into the new campaign, which you play as task force 141 and team together
with well known characters such as Captain John Price and Sergeant John ``Soap” MacTavish.
Together you will work to take down Al Qa tala forces and the cartel all the way from the Middle East to Mexico. Although everyone was mostly look ing forward to the cam paign, the multiplayer has given a whole new experi ence of gameplay as well.
Featuring all new guns and maps, the multi player was a big hit for the beta version to give every one a sneak peak of the new gameplay. Although many good things have been said
about this game, one thing people haven’t been very fond of is the price in crease of $10 costing $70 overall for just the base version! And that’s not all; if you wanted the better version with skins and the battle pass with free tiers, it costs $100. Who knows how much Activision will continue to raise the price for games to come
Considering this game has sold for over 1 billion dollars, clearly many people think its worth the price. Overall
I would rate it a 4 out of 5 stars and would recom mend you buy it.
The recent release of “Black: Panther: Wakanda Forever” has been highly anticipated since “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman passed away in 2020. This tragic event left fans wondering who would take over the mantle of the “Black Panther’’ in this release, since Marvel announced that Boseman’s character would not be replaced by another actor but instead by another character.
The movie was released on November 11th, and according to Rotten To matoes, it had the “biggest November opening ever.”
After viewing it, I was extremely happy to see the
return of Wakanda and its people defending their land and materials against the world.
The movie starts off with the grieving royal family of Wakanda mourn ing the loss of their King and picking up the pieces.
The main focus of the movie is Shuri, the late King’s sister, and her process of recovery from the death of her brother and monarch. Shuri’s mother, Ramonda takes over the throne as Queen of Wakan da, giving the viewer an insight to the political chal lenge faced by Wakanda by opposing countries as they guard their sacred material, Vibranium.
Tenoch Huerta assumes the role of Namor, the main antagonist of the film and the king of his people and
his underwater nation of Talokan, a place inhabited by water-breathing humans. The citizens of Talokan evolved to survive the Spanish Conquistadors and their diseases during the conquest of South America.
Namor is viewed as a god by his people and pos sesses the ability to fly and use superhuman strength, along with the skill of water breathing combined with normal air breathing.
Over the course of the movie, Wakanda led by Shuri and Queen Romanda and Shuri, along with Talo kan led by Namor, work to defend Vibranium from the outside world and to keep it in the right hands.
Vibranium, being one of the strongest materials in the universe and the stron gest on Earth, is native only
to Wakanda and Talokan making both nations a large target for the other coun tries of the world trying to hold power over them.
I would rate the film a four out of five stars overall and found it to be a great addition to the Marvel cinematic Universe.
The movie did a fan tastic job of dealing with the passing of Chadwick Boseman in a respectful and smart way throughout the film, paying homage to the amazing actor.
The film was amazing, and I would highly recom mend going to theaters this month to give the return of Wakanda a watch.
I can’t wait to see what Marvel dreams up for its next installment of this phenominal series!
Recently, wellknown public figure Elon Musk completed a $44 billion deal to own the social media app Twitter. Most users as sumed this would have little to no impact on the actual app experience, but it seems they’re wrong--and they’re not very happy about it.
Musk began his reign by laying off large chunks of Twit ter’s workers, and ac cording to The Guard ian, he plans to fire about 50% of the staff, including most of the board and its chief ex ecutives. His goal is to minimize spending; however, it is not a good look in the eyes of the Twitter community.
And speaking of clearing out, he has also
come under fire for sev eral permanent suspen sions taking place of accounts made to parody Musk himself. While this isn’t against any rules or terms set up by Twit ter, people have called out that his actions seem contradictory to his origi nal intention of making Twitter a place for free speech for all. It also has a greater impact that most accounts parody ing Musk can only do so because they are verified, meaning they are popular and well-known users.
Verification is another aspect that Musk plans to makes changes to in the near future. Soon, verifi cation will be a premium service that can be pur chased by any user, not just celebrities or popular users. Through “Twitter Blue” Musk claims he’s giving back power to the
people by giving them the option for verifica tion at $8 a month. This is his solution to what he describes as an unfair caste system between the popular and unpopular. Once again, this has not garnered positive atten
tion and rather, people have found it confus ing and unsustainable.
He also garnered at tention very recently when he sold almost $5 billion worth of shares in another well-known company of his, Tesla.
He also pulled several Tesla technicians to come and work at Twitter in his new team of associates.
While Musk will al ways have supporters rallying behind him, his recent ownership has re ceived much more hate
than love. Whether Twit ter users will eventually adjust to the changes over time, or Musk decides to revert back to the origi nal Twitter format, we’ve yet to see. But as of right now, it seems the power is not with the people.
By: Natalie Rotramel L’’OT Feature Co-Editor
Many Americans cele brate Thanksgiving, a hol iday surrounding family and giving thanks every autumn. But the day that follows, Black Friday, is popular for a different reason. Every year stores like Walmart, Target, and many others offer sales on tons of different items, bringing in savings,
and in the past, chaos.
When Black Fri day first originated, it wasn’t too far off from the camp-out buddy system--or everyone for themselves--shopping spree we’ve seen, but it wasn’t nearly as popular. In the 1950s, it simply referred to the gray area after Thanksgiving when shoppers would flock back to stores, creating
large crowds, traffic jams, and the potential for theft.
It wasn’t until 2001 that Black Friday took the crown for “busiest shop ping day of the year,” trumping Christmas Eve. But while it’s a day firmly embedded in American culture, the pandemic has certainly resulted in a pull back from both shop pers and stores, many of which have decided to
not open Thanksgiving Day like they have in pre vious years. Instead, the pandemic opened door’s for Black Friday’s close relative, Cyber Monday, a day of online sales, to rise in popularity. So, will you and a friend venture out to stores this Black Fri day, or will you cash in on deals online from the comfort of your home?
By: Abby Comp LO’T Feature Editor
A brand new coffee shop called “Vibrant Cof feehouse & Kitchen” opened in Moline next to the new Vibrant Credit Union Headquarters in the former Sam’s Club.
The coffee shop has an alluring industrial feel that creates a warm environment, perfect for any oc casion.
The brick walls, tall, black ceilings, and concrete floors contrast with the wall of windows, skylights, and unique light fixtures to generate a perfect, cozy atmosphere.
Vibrant Coffeehouse & Kitchen also incorporates multiple different seating options to ensure everyone can find somewhere comfortable to sit. There are hard chairs and tables, leather chairs, and fun green couches.
If you want to enjoy the weather while also drink ing your coffee, there is a large seating area outside decorated with charming hanging lights. This area is perfect to relax and breathe in the fresh air.
If you prefer your coffee on the go, you’re in luck because Vibrant Coffeehouse & Kitchen also has a drive-through. Because of its location, it’s easy to get in and out quickly.
They are open from 6am to 8pm on weekdays, 7am to 8pm on Saturdays, and 7am to 5pm on Sundays. Their long hours allow for an early morning coffee run or a late night study session.
Vibrant Coffeehouse & Kitchen’s menu has a wide range of choices including: house-roasted coffee and espresso drinks, teas, signature energy drinks, smooth ies, all-day breakfast, salads, sandwiches, soups, and desserts. Anyone who goes, even if they’re not a cof fee lover, will be able to find something to enjoy.
Additionally, Vibrant Coffeehouse & Kitchen of fers an amazing perk to anyone with a Vibrant card. If you use your Vibrant card to pay, you’ll receive 20% off your total amount!
When I visited, I tried an Iced Lavender Honey Latte. The latte was absolutely delightful, and it was one of the best lavender flavored lattes I’ve had in the area. The floral lavendar flavor was strong and sweet, which balanced the bitter coffee nicely.
By: Anandi Hoogheem LO’T Feature Editor
Overall, I was definitely impressed with Vibrant Coffeehouse & Kitchen; and, I highly recommend it. I’ll undoubtedly be back very soon
Scorpio season is upon us, with Sagittarius season soon to begin! This is (probably) a transformative period for many signs, especially after the November 8th lunar eclipse.
Aries, a new period of frustration with your current hairstyle will come about. However, if you change your hair, a scaly man will kidnap you.
Taurus, you’re spending too much on Shein. Go crazy at the Goodwill, but leave some for the rest of us! Gemini, Kick Serve, Atomic, or Starbucks three times a day is a bit excessive. At least be sure to tip well! Cancer, be a metaphorical ant and start collecting food for the winter so you can hibernate. If you don’t you may turn into a grasshopper!
Leo, you’ll follow in the footsteps on Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen and finally have a clean split with that certain someone.
Virgo, stalk your old relationships like Kanye; your kindergarten boyfriend won’t be your husband.
Libra, make up your mind! Start focusing on your future and stop focusing on that certain someone (and the new Taylor Swift album).
Scorpio, even though you may feel unmotivated like a blobfish, you’ll soon be successful like the Rainbow Fish.
Sagittarius, your next fortune cookie will be true. Pay attention!
Capricorn, you’re turning into Plato! Some very philosophical thoughts are headed your way.
Aquarius, it’s time to become social just in time for the holiday season! Friends and family will be the highlight of the coming months.
Pisces, you’ve made some unfortunate decisions, and it is time to mend them. (This applies to your fashion choices, obviously).
As fall sports have now come to an end, it’s time for a wrap-up of the season.
The Moline Boys Soccer team had one of its highest finishes this season, ending with a 6-1 record in confer ence play, earning them a first-place finish in the Western Big 6 Conference. They also beat the number one seeded team, Minooka, 3-2.
In addition, one of Moline Soccer’s seniors, Saiheed Jah, was selected to play on the All State Team. Two-time lead ing MVP Saiheed scored 40 goals this season, and recently signed his National letter to play Division 1 soccer at Drake University. The team also had three all-sectional players, Collin Ducey, Owen Gault, and Jacob Remaly. The team accomplished their goal of winning conference with a final record of 16 wins, 4 losses, and one tie.
“It was overall an amaz ing season with a great group of guys. It was an honor for me to be able to play with older players who helped guide me to success. We were able to accom plish our goal of winning a conference and regional championship with a record of 16-4-1,” Sophomore Dil lion Baker stated.
Moline’s Football wasn’t one to let down either. On Oct. 21, they played Geneseo in their last
conference game, win ning 42-13. Their efforts earned them a perfect 7-0 conference record and a 9-2 overall record. The team was named confer ence champs.
Unfortunately, they lost in the second round of the playoffs against Yorkville, only losing by three points in 4 over times. Despite the loss, Moline players still had some amazing stats this season.
Quarterback Grant Sib ley had over 1,000 passing yards and 13 touchdowns. Senior Riley Fuller cemented himself as one of the best running backs in Moline’s program with an average of 171 yards per game. He was also the Western Big 6 leader in rushing yards and touch downs.
Coach Morrisey com mented, “We are all very proud of how our players have represented our pro gram, school, and com munity this fall. They’ve committed to being great teammates and set high goals for themselves both individually and as a team. They’ve continued to set a high standard for what our expectations are as a program on and off the field.”
The Girls Volleyball team had a successful season winning confer ence with an undefeated
record of 14-0 and an overall record of 26-10. The team managed to make it all the way to sectional championships where they unfortunately lost in two sets to O’Fallon. Though this loss was disappoint ing, this year’s team made it further in sectionals than the program had been able to go in 17 years. Moline Volleyball also landed Caylee Brandes, Sammi Veto and Megan Depoorter. on the Western Big 6 all conference first team,
On Oct. 13, Cross
Country ran their Western Big 6 Conference meet at Empire Park. The team ran 3 miles that day and performed well.
For the men’s division, Moline scored 116 points, coming in 5th place. The Moline Girls team followed suit, earning 5th place with 105 points. Runners Hunter Toye and Brooke Medinger both placed in the top ten. Toye finished with a time of 16:17.8 and Medinger finished with a 19:51.5.
At regionals, Moline Boys’ scored 276 points,
finishing 9th. The Girls’ were also able to place 9th, scoring 243 points. Sopho more Harry VanVooren comments, “The team did good all around and we all put in the work and tried our hardest and left it all on the course.”
Overall, the Cross Country team had a good season and hopes to reflect and improve for the upcom ing years.
The girls swimming and diving team won their fifth WB6 title in a row while also being undefeated in conference. Freshman diver Daria DeLille and 200 free relay (Skyler Chandlee, Addie Ketner, Hailee Mes serly, Olivia Gustafson) earned a ticket to the state championship meet.
Struggles that were faced this season include waking up in the morn ing and getting used to the swing of morning practices but ultimately, with these morning practices, the girls were able to achieve their
goals this season.
Coach Roche looks forward to the same core group of girls coming back stronger than last season. Senior Diya Vishwakama said “The season went great and the girls achieved a lot while creating strong bonds with each other.”
The girls tennis team took a rough loss this year after successfully making it to state. However, they won the conference and had a blast spending time with each other.
Sophomore Karenna Zemek says “Some of my favorite moments were winning the conference and celebrating with my teammates and doing my cheer ritual after a win with Coach Mellinger.” The girls are looking forward to another year of team bonding, Jimmy John’s after meets, and some great wins.
Congratulations to all the fall sports! We already can’t wait for next year.
Moline is excited to announce that five student ath letes will advance their academic and athletic careers and have just signed their National Letters of Intent to Divi sion 1 schools! The athletes are as follows:
Owen Freeman and Brock Harding signed to play basketball at the University of Iowa.
Megan Depoorter signed to play volleyball at South ern Illinois at Edwardsville.
Saiheed Jah signed to play soccer at Drake University
And finally, Hunter Warren signed to play baseball at Wright State University.
Congratulations on this great accomplishment!
As the winter season begins, coaches and ath letes are excited for the winter sports to start.
Back to the mats, wrestling season begins! The Moline High School wrestling team has high hopes for this season. They hope to bring back their success from last year, so they can’t wait to get back to practice. Last year, Moline had three wrestlers win state titles (IWCOA State Series).
Coach Reuttiger is very excited about the up coming season as he looks forward to how the team continues to get along and cheer each other on. He told LO’T reporters, “We spend a lot of time together on the road.” I believe the team will get along well, it’s been a joy to watch them all get in each other’s corner and cheer on their teammates the past few years, I do not see that changing.”
As wrestling continues to grow, Assistant Coach Ventris explains, “Next year we are planning to start a separate women’s wrestling program.” Senior Noah Tapia is a very successful athlete and will bring a lot to the mat this year. He is currently ranked #2 in state. Moline is proud of his accomplishments and we can’t wait to see what he brings this year. Tapia says, “We have a fairly young team and we plan on developing the young team members on th team to take over and help our team excel in years to come.”
The Moline High School Boys Basketball coach ing staff have high expectations for how the team will play this year, especially against rival schools such as UT and Rock Island. Head Coach Taylor says, “Those games are so much fun to be a part of. Partly because those teams are really talent ed but more importantly because our superfans make such a significant impact in those games.”
Last year, the boys basketball team placed sec ond in the Western Big 6 Conference. The team also hopes to place first in conference this year, as they came up in a close second last year against Quincy High School. Coach Taylor says, “Our goal is to get better each day both individually and collec tively. If we can do that, then we will put ourselves in the best position to play our best basketball.”
Along with improving each practice, the team
State-bound athletes Megan Mierzwa and Geayden Bogguess pose after advancing to state for bowling Photo in courtesy of Coach VanHerzeele
looks forward to spending time together as a team. They had great team chemistry last year, so they look forward to strengthening that bond with both the new and former players. Coach Taylor is excited to see how Seniors Brock Harding, Grant Welch, Owen Freeman, Jasper Ogburn, and Maddux Dieckman will be able to bring their skills to the table and guide the younger players as the team goes about the season.
Along with boys basketball, girls basketball is ready to shoot into their season. Coach Ritichie comments, “As Head Coach, my ultimate goal every season starts with winning the State Tournament. Winning the con ference is also a goal every year. Our conference is always very strong, and to win or do well is always a great achievement. After that, our everyday goal is to get at least 1% better every day in the gym together.”
“Throughout the season, the hope is to be play ing our best basketball and let the chips fall where they may.” Last year, the Moline girls placed third in the Western Big 6 Conference with a 9-5 record. Their overall record was 18-15. The team hopes
to improve their performance this year and really give it their all on the court.
With the girls swimming season soon coming to close, we are excited to see a new beggining for the boys season. Al though the boys have a pretty small team, they have some swimmers that can leave it all in the water! Junior Josh Whalen says, “I think this season is gonna be a lot hard er knowing the seniors have graduated. I hope our JV team improves, I want to see the team try harder mentally and physi cally. It all comes down to who wants it bad enough to get it.” Head Coach, Mi cheal Roche is looking forward to great season with the boys and hopes to see a lot of improvement both in and out of the pool. The boys on the team are looking to gain speed and personal improvement but to also create friendships that will last a lifetime. We hope to see some fast swims and improvements throughout the season.
The girls bowling team is also ready for an exciting season. The girls will make lots of memories along with some great strikes. Senior Niveena McCoy states, “I’m look ing forward to always having a bond with my bowl ing frends and creating new bonds; I also want to prove a lot throughout the season and make lots of strikes”.The girls are excited for a successful season.
Special Olympics has some great athletes, too. Se nior Megan Mierzwa is advancing to state for bowl ing. In addition, the first ever pair of unified partners, Geayden Bogguess and Lynnmarie Bracamontes, are also advancing to state. Moline’s other unified team, Isiah Berberich and Elle Spence, finished second. The Special Olympics team will be competing in Peoria on December 3rd and are very excited to do so.
Coach VanHerzeele comments, “I am super pround of these guys and have seen the posi tive impact it has had on my atheletes when their general education peers come to support them.”
So as the temperature gets colder, Moline will con tinue to heat up for this next round of sporting events.
Students are able to find information about differ ent games and events online or at the Athletic Office.
Good luck to all MHS winter athletes and teams!