Roxy Neset
Staff Reporter

This is the first of a series of columns dedicated to providing a condensed version of the most important current news stories.

What is impeachment?
The goal of impeachment is removing the president from office. The process begins in the House of Representatives, the lower tier of the legislative branch. The Speaker of the House may declare a formal impeachment inquiry, and if there is adequate supporting evidence, the president is tried. The trial is overseen by the chief justice of the Supreme Court acting as the judge, and the upper tier of the legislative branch called the Senate acting as the jury. Two-thirds of the senators must vote to convict and dismiss the president for the impeachment to pass. If the president were to be impeached, the vice president would fill the open position.

Athletics and the Brain
A recent study showed interesting results for researchers world-wide: over-exercising your body leads to long term mental detriments. An example is less activation of the prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain that makes day to day decisions, causing more impulsive behavior. This study also showed that both extreme physical training and extreme intellectual stress cause similar results. Study website: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)31104-2

Current Unemployment Rates Down to 3.5 percent
A recent report on unemployment showed our national rates have dropped to a notable 3.5 percent, our lowest percentage in around fifty years. A low unemployment rate can benefit our country by creating a stronger economy and increasing supply and demand for jobs. With this economic growth comes the risk of creating too much demand for jobs, without the human resources needed to fill the positions.

Heatwave Makes its way through the South
This week, a record-breaking heat wave swept through the south. Temperatures in the high 90s broke records for places like Chattanooga, Tennessee, where a record high for October was set with a remarkable 100 degrees. Temperatures are predicted to decline in the upcoming week due to an incoming front. The expected rain and lower temperatures are a great relief to southerners experiencing the unusual heatwave this week.

Nobel Prizes
The Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine was given out to a group of scientists for new and intriguing findings on how cells can adapt and respond to changes in oxygen levels. These findings will help researchers everywhere develop cures for life threatening diseases that affect the general populous, such as stroke and different forms of cancer. To read more about the individual awards, go to https://www.nobelprize.org.

ACT Policy Change
The ACT has released a significant change in its retake policy; test-takers will soon be able to retake individual sections of the test. This will go into effect September of 2020 and is greatly anticipated by students nationwide. The makers of the ACT have also reported their decision to allow test-takers to take the ACT online, giving them the capability to access their scores in about two days. An average ACT taken on paper takes about three weeks for the score to be returned to the test taker.