2020 timeline

2020 Timeline 6. The Confederate emblem has been present on the flag of Mississippi for 126 years. The flag has been under review for the past few months because of recent Black Lives Matter protests occurring. According to the New York Times,in early June, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed into law to remove the emblem saying, “It should be the people who make that decision, not some backroom deal by a bunch of politicians in Jackson.” However, in a 2001 ballot, the majority of Mississippi voters wanted to keep the Confederate symbol on the flag. Senior Kira Williams said, “I think it’s a step in the right direction. The Confederate flag is a symbol of hate and makes a lot of people feel unsafe. It was long overdue.” The House voted 91-23 to remove the symbol while the Senate voted 37-14. Legislation mandates that it must be removed within 15 days. Hopefully, a new flag design will be included on the November ballot 7. The storming of the Bastille by an angry mob took place on July 14, 1789 during the French Revolution. Bastille Day, or La Fête Nationale, has been a national holiday commemorating the event that took place on July 14 in France for over 100 years, according to the History website. Despite the Coronavirus pandemic, the citizens of France were determined to celebrate Bastille Day. Celebrations included a fireworks display from the Eiffel Tower and the annual Bastille Military Parade. The Bastille Military Parade has been held every since 1880, except when the Nazi’s occupied France. The first event during the parade was when President Emmanuel Macron arrived to inspect the troops. Next, there was a tribute to the president and the French acrobatic patrol airplanes flew over the parade. Then, the foot troops commence followed by the motorized and mounted troops.

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Sengalese-American singer and songwriter Akon has made plans to build a $6 billion sustainable city in Senegal according to Business Insider. The city plan is 2,000 acres consisting of a luxury resort, condos, offices, a hospital, a stadium, and an artificial intelligence data center. The city has been described as a “futuristic metropolis.” Akon intends for Akon City to be a hub for business and tourism. The monetary system planned in Akoin, which is a type of money invented by Akon.

In recent years, the singer/songwriter has launched various projects in Africa, such as Akon Lighting Africa, a solar-power project. Akon wants to emphasize black power in teenagers through his city, especially in Africa.

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For six weeks, the National Hockey League announced that they had zero positive COVID tests. According to National Post, from August 30 to September 5, there were 2,534 tests administered. Connor Bastian, sophomore, said, “[NHL] took appropriate safety measures. Players were all sent to Canada and they played only in two rinks...They were all forced to quarantine for two weeks in Canada in hotels... The NHL ended up calling it the bubble because [the players] had restrictions on where they were allowed to go once play started. Overall, they did it in a very safe way.” Each player and faculty member of the traveling teams were tested daily. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman stated that the daily testing of each 52 member team cost millions of dollars, but it was worth it to create a safe environment for the players. Just two weeks before, there were 4,644 tests administered in under a week. The numbers continued to drop as teams were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

On October 22, 2020, the third and final presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden occurred. The debate took place in Nashville, Tennessee at Belmont University. The event was moderated by Kristen Welker of NBC News. The second presidential debate, set to be on October 15 in Miami, Florida, was canceled due to Trump’s recent diagnosis of COVID-19. He then rejected the idea to host the debate virtually. According to CBS News, each candidate had two minutes of uninterrupted speaking time during the discussion due to the amount of interruptions that took place during the first presidential debate. However, to enforce this rule, the candidate who was not speaking had their microphone muted for the two minutes. There were six topics and each topic was allotted 15 minutes of discussion. The topics were fighting COVID-19, American families, race in America, climate change, national security, and leadership.