Russian Bombers in the United States

by AUBREY REBELO

Staff Writer

On Monday night, two Russian bomber planes flew about one hundred miles off the Alaskan coast, the first time since President Trump took office that Moscow has sent warplanes so close to the United States. The air force base sent American jets up that flew alongside the Russian bombers for several minutes. The Russian planes broke off and headed back to their base in eastern Russia, a Lieutenant reported. Again, Wednesday night a pair of Russian spy planes flew near the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea area staying in the U.S. Air Defense Zone for a couple hours before departing back to their base in Russia. Thursday night, a pair of long-range, nuclear-capable Bear bombers flew near Alaska and Canada staying in the United States and Canada’s air defense zone for hours. Other than the first incident, the U.S. Air Force did not fear their safety and send any fighter jets or airborne warning planes (AWACS). The Russian jets in all three incidents remained in international airspace, due to it not being immediately clear how close they came to mainland Alaska.

Russia now has flown bombers or spy planes near Alaska for four consecutive nights this week, the Russian action came less than a week after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and President Trump said U.S./Russian relations had reached a “low point”. It was confirmed that the last time Russian bombers came this close to the U.S. was on July 4, 2015 when a pair of Russian bombers flew 40 miles off the coast of California.

Safe Sleeping Habits for Babies

by: HANNAH SAUCEDO

Staff Writer

A friend of a woman named Jernica Quinones, experienced the death of her infant with down syndrome by SIDS, on New Year’s Day. This is why Quinones’ 4-month-old son has spent most of his life so far sleeping in a cardboard box.

This mother has taken part in a program in New Jersey that promotes safe sleeping habits education through “baby boxes.”

This is a box that the government gives to expecting mothers who receive a prenatal checkup. It is a box with clothing, blankets, and other supplies.  These boxes include a firm foam mattress and tight-fitting sheet, along with breastfeeding accessories, a onesie, diapers, and wipes. Instead of being a prenatal incentive, it is being used to deliver a postpartum safe sleep message to mothers all around.

Alabama joins Ohio and New Jersey in making free baby boxes available to families all around. Parents will watch videos online about SIDS and then take a short quiz. They then can pick up the box from a local distribution or can have it mailed to them.

States hope to see fewer babies dying now. There are about 3,500 infant deaths a year in the U.S.. Women now have to get a health check before the end of their fourth month of pregnancy. This helped the country have one of the lowest infant mortality rates. The box is a great hook and safe for sleeping education. Making it safer for babies.

Fast Thinking

SARAH SERRATO

Staff Writer

A McDonald’s worker located at Pennsylvania working the drive-thru was alerted of Steve Stephens, the Facebook live killer, and contacted the police once he realized who he was. As the suspect was waiting on his change, he noticed that something was up due to the long wait and the employee was currently calling the police. Once Stephens received his food, he sped out of the drive-thru without knowing the police were close behind him. During the police chase, a trooper rammed into his car and once Stephen saw that he was trapped, he pulled out a pistol and shot himself. The police are very proud of the McDonald employees for making that call and taking a risk in order to save more people.

Fresno Rampage Shooting

By ADAM ESCOBEDO

Staff Writer

On Tuesday, April 18, 2017, 39-year-old Kori Ali Muhammad, went on a rampage in Downtown Fresno. At 9:30 am, Muhammad shot a security guard multiple times at a Motel 6 in Fresno. The 25-year-old security guard, Carl Williams, later passed away in the hospital. Later that day at 10:30 am, Muhammad shot at a PG&E work truck. He shot the employee in the passenger seat; his co-worker drove the passenger to the police station. The passenger died on the way there. Muhammad kept walking and shot at the man, but missed. He reloaded and killed another man at a Catholic Church parking lot. Muhammad ran into an officer who arrested him as he shouted, “Allahu Akbar”.

Fresno has not released who the victims are. The only information that has been released is that the PG&E worker was a 34-year-old man. This was his first day in the field. The family of the second victim has released his name and age. He was 37-year-old Mark Gassett. He was leaving a Catholic Church with a grocery bag. He was a father. Another victim was 58-years-old. Police said he might of been a client for the church. Chief Dyer said he does not believe this was a terrorist attack. He thinks it was a hate crime because all the men Muhammad killed were white. Chief Dyer called the FBI to help with the investigation.

A Contrasting Spot on Jupiter

KOBE HERNANDEZ

Staff Writer

On April 10th, an online report came out from the Geophysical Research Letters that identified a newly detected great mark on Jupiter. It was spotted in the northern aurora in the planet’s atmosphere, and it is believed that the spot is much more cold and is twice the size of Earth.

Coauthor Tom Stallard, who is a planetary scientist at the University of Leicester in England, stated, ¨We can’t be exactly sure how the spot forms. But we are sure it is there because we observed it numerous time.¨

The great spot was detected by a Chile telescope by Stallard and his colleagues. They were analyzing hydrogen ions and mapping the atmosphere of  jupiter when they noticed a sudden drop of 71 degrees celsius while the area around it remained the same temperature. Then, they went to compare the data with the NASA infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii. They discovered that the spot has actually been there for more than 15 years.

Also, another interesting thing that the group of scientists discovered is that the mark remains in the same spot, but changes from being a big spot to other sizes and shapes. Scientists theorize that this occurrence happens because of the abundance of energetic particles in the atmosphere from the Jovian moon showers which help generate the aurora.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler, a Planetary Science Institute researcher in Maine, is baffled by this phenomena because contrasted auroras in planetary systems usually disappear quickly. However, this has lasted for quite some time already. Scientists will continue to plunge into this phenomena to hopefully get some answers.

Cavs vs Pacers

By: MARCUS GARCIA

Staff Writers

The Cleveland Cavaliers took on the Indiana Pacers in a seven game series playoff matchup. The Cavs swept the Pacers in a 4-0 series. The Pacers had a chance to win every game against them, but the Cavs proved to be the team that wanted it more.

Lebron James led the stacked Cavs past Paul George’s Pacers. In what may be Paul George’s final game as a Pacer, he did all he could to save the Pacers season. Lebron took the 2nd seeded Cavs to the second round of the places, and the Pacers headed home to start on next season. The Cavs look to be the favorite in the east, and made a strong statement in the opening round of the playoffs.

Trail Blazers Fall to the Warriors

by COOPER ROSS

Staff Writer

In game three of the series with the Warriors and Trail Blazers the Warriors were missing their former coach of the yea,r Steve Kerr, and the 2014 league MVP, Kevin Durant. Even with this major disadvantage the Dubs still pulled out the win.

Leading the charge for the Warriors was their star two time MVP point guard Stephen Curry scoring 34 points and dishing out 8 assists while also picking up 6 rebounds. The biggest factor for the Warriors on defense is obviously their power forward Draymond Green who picked up 8 boards with 2 steals and 1 block.

For the Trail Blazers leading the team was shooting guard CJ McCollum with 32 points while shooting 10/23 and 6/9 from three. This sadly was not enough to pull out the win when they sadly fell apart at the end of the game and Steph Curry took over.

NBA: Thunder vs Rockets

By: Chris Nava-Romero

Writer Staff

It’s playoff time and both MVP candidates are at it showing everyone who’s better and who deserves the MVP. The Thunder having Russell Westbrook, who made history averaging a triple double for the season, is still doing what he does best and the Rockets have James Harden who is having the best year of his career so far. He is scoring more than most players in the NBA averaging almost 30 points a game. It’s game 4 round 1 of the playoffs and the series is 2-1 Rockets lead but the Thunder winning game 3 seem to be back and playing good again. The first half the Thunder came out ready to play leading the whole time and not letting the Rockets get easy buckets. James Harden only had 4 points at the end of the first half while Westbrook already had a triple double with 17 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds and leading by four 58-54. It would be a close game the whole second half going back and forth all the way until those last seconds. Both teams fought hard trying to get this win to either tie the series or making the series 3-1. The Thunder at the end just couldn’t get good looks and the Rockets took over making free throws and wrapping game 4. The Rockets made the series 3-1 winning game 4 113-109.

Redwood Bounces Back After Taking Their First WYL Loss

By ZACHARIAH MCCORVEY

Staff Writer

The Redwood Rangers battled a hard fought high scoring offensive game, winning 12-6 through 7  innings.The game was a duel of the sophomores as the Redwood Rangers pitched sophomore Sam Bower. Sam gave up 6 runs to the Miners as Brent Vasquez hit a 3 run shot in left field for an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Parker Boswell pitched for the Miners and the Rangers came right back in the game answering back with 3 also, so at the end of the first it was tied up. The Rangers came back with 4 in the second and the Miners could not capitalize any more as the Rangers seemed to hit every strike the Miners had. Nolan Montgomery also had a home run late in the game.  The Miners need to win one and have Redwood lose to win WYL. The Miners are now 3-2 in league and play The Lemoore Tigers on Wednesday, April 26 at El Diamante.

El Diamante beats Redwood for their first loss in WYL

by JUSTIN RIVERA

Staff Writer

The El Diamante baseball team beat the Redwood Rangers for their first loss in WYL and the second loss of their entire season.

The Miners pitched senior ace Mason Garispe in the win. His ERA for the game was 3.32 giving him his first win in WYL. Garispe also struck out 3 batters pitching the majority of the game through 6 innings. The Rangers Ace Vincent Pratti pitched a total of 4 innings and Vincent Cervantes closed for the Rangers.

Sophomore third baseman, Parker Boswell, had a batting average of 1.000 as well as having 2 runs batted in. Another sophomore with the name of Brent Vasquez also had 2 RBIs in the game.

With this win the Miners have a record of (5-1) in WYL and the defending Valley Champs have a record of (6-1) in WYL.