Your Summit Weekly Briefing

By Ashwath Vimal, Lia Bhas and Angela Hwang

Staff Writers

Disclaimer: Though the Weekly Briefings are no longer tagged in the Opinions section of Summit News and we try to remain as unbiased as possible, our opinions may show through in this article, especially in the “Actions” section.

Summit:

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break and is doing their best to integrate back into school! As PSAT/NSMQT scores start coming out in the next week for juniors, we call upon all 11th graders (and even freshman and sophomores) to really think about their future outside of high school and whether or not college is a part of it or not; if it is, we encourage you to start researching! And for seniors, we hope that you were able to turn in all your college applications that were due on Nov. 30. We wish you the best of luck with getting into those colleges!

General News:

It seems American scientists have built robots that can reproduce — but not in a way you would know about it. The robots, called xenobots, are created from the stem cells of an African clawed frog. When you separate a frog’s cells from its embryo, they adapt to a different environment by figuring out a new way to reproduce and develop, which is how these robots were created. The xenobots only replicated in specific circumstances through kinetic replication. A lead professor of the study, John Bongard, said that, yes, you could consider it a robot, but at the same time it is an organism as well. Unlike robots, however, they do not have any actual uses, but in the future could do things like collecting microplastic in the ocean and be used in tasks related to regenerative medicine.
In honor of World AIDS Day, Pres. Joe Biden has promised to end the HIV epidemic by 2030, with one of the biggest aspects of his plan being to overcome racial and gender disparities that have affected HIV outcomes for decades. Of course, his goal cannot be achieved without money, with Pres. Biden planning a $670 million budget for it. He also highlighted the need for states to annul laws that facilitate discrimination towards the HIV community. Other goals include preventing further HIV cases, making sure people who have HIV can be as healthy as possible, and making a more organized effort to deal with the epidemic.

Covid-19:

There is a new strain of COVID: the Omicron strain, which the W.H.O. has called “a variant of concern”. There isn’t a lot of information about this strain right now, but it looks likely that this strain would be more contagious than the Delta variant, especially as it carries mutations that may allow it to spread to the vaccinated. However, it is important to note that these are still the early days and further research is needed to evaluate the threat. There are three cases of this variant in the U.S.
Pres. Biden’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers has been blocked. Judge Terry A. Doughty expanded a previous block on the mandate, which was only applicable to 10 states. In the injunction, he wrote that only Congress has the authority to mandate a vaccine, but even Congress might not have that authority under the Constitution.

Politics:

New York City may soon allow non-citizens to vote in city elections. Legal residents were able to vote in school board elections until they were abolished in the early 2000s, but this new legislation, which City Council is expected to approve on Dec. 9, would allow them to vote on everything regarding local elections. These privileges would not extend to federal or state elections. Supporters of this measure argue those that are legal immigrants should have a say in who represents them; opponents argue it would erode the voting rights of citizens and immigrants would no longer have the motivation to become citizens. To put this in perspective, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Arizona and North Dakota have passed ballot measures that specify non-citizens may not vote in state and local elections, while cities in Maryland and Vermont have passed measures to allow some non-citizens to vote in some local elections.
In Hong Kong, China appears to have censored a “Simpsons” episode that ridiculed the censorship of the Chinese Communist Party. The other episodes are still available on Disney+, but episode 12 (“Goo Goo Gai Pan”) is not. Hong Kong was a former British colony that was handed back to China in 1997 after gaining the promise that it would have 50 years of civil liberties. However, after the national security law was enacted last June, Hong Kong has lost many of those liberties.
Congress passed a funding bill Thursday night to stave off a government shutdown. The deal would keep the government running until Feb. 18 and set aside $7 billion for Afghan refugees. For much of the day, whether the deal would pass was questionable as some Republicans wanted to vote on defunding the vaccine mandate first. The Democrats allowed that vote to be a simple majority, but it failed because two Republicans were absent.
Snippet: A Chinese province ramps up efforts to track journalists and international students.

Sports:

Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry and Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant are the two early candidates for Most Valuable Player. They were named the first NBA Western and Eastern Conference players of the month. Curry shot 45.2% from the field and 41.2% from 3-point range during that span. Durant led the Nets to an Eastern Conference-best 15-6 record in the first two months of the season and averaged a league-leading 28.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 53.9% shooting from the field.
Cleveland Browns Chief of Staff Callie Brownson was named U.S. Women’s tackle football national team coach. She will coach this summer at the world championships in Finland. It’s a dream job for Brownson, who won two gold medals while playing on the U.S. team.

Entertainment:

Pop-music superstar Adele has had her recently released album “30” (Nov. 19), break the charts by being 2021’s fastest-selling album in the U.K. and U.S. The artist sold over 660 thousand in audio and video streams and individual track sales. The album’s most popular song, “Easy on Me”, reached number one on the U.K. and U.S. singles chart for multiple weeks while also breaking the British record for most streams in a week. Adele albums have been known to sell many hard copies, with 67% of her British sales being physical and 560 thousand of her sales in the U.S. being physical.
Throwing us back into the last century, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” really brings nostalgia to its fans by telling a new story through the teenage descendants of the original crew, played by Finn Wolfhard and McKenna Grace. With improved visual effects that are a call back to the original movie, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” also ties back its lore to the original one as well. Allowing kids to connect with their parents and grandparents, this movie is not the greatest, but does its job in delivering a movie that anyone can enjoy.
This year, Bad Bunny once again got the most streams as an artist on Spotify, with Taylor Swift, BTS, Drake and Justin Bieber following respectively. Among the most streamed songs of the year, Olivia Rodrigo dominated the top five, taking number one (“drivers license”) and number four (“good 4 u”), with “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” by Lil Nas X, “STAY” by Justin Bieber and The Kid LAROI and “Levitating” by DaBaby and Dua Lipa all the in the top five as well. Olivia Rodrigo’s album “SOUR” was also the most-streamed album of the year, with Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran and Doja Cat having albums in the top five as well.

Weather:

Atlas (West Seattle): Highs will drop this week: 41oF on Friday, 43oF on Saturday and Sunday, 46oF on Monday, 46oF on Tuesday and 45oF on Wednesday. Lows will follow a rise then fall: 37oF on Friday, 36oF on Saturday, 36oF on Sunday, 46oF on Monday, 46oF on Tuesday and 45oF on Wednesday. It will rain every day except Sunday.

Summary: Highs in the mid 40’s, lows in the high 30’s to mid 40’s, rain and clouds.

Olympus (Tacoma): Highs will drop this week: 43oF on Friday, 43oF on Saturday, 41oF on Sunday, 41oF on Monday, 46oF on Tuesday and 48oF on Wednesday. Lows will rise then fall: 36oF on Friday, 36oF on Saturday, 34oF on Sunday, 39oF on Monday, 37oF on Tuesday and 36oF on Wednesday. It will rain on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. The rest of the week will be cloudy.

Summary: Highs in the mid 40’s, lows in the high 30’s, rain and clouds.

Sierra (Seattle): Highs will fall this week: 43oF on Friday, 43oF on Saturday and Sunday, 46oF on Monday, 46oF on Tuesday and 46oF on Wednesday. Lows will rise: 37oF on Friday, 38oF on Saturday, 39oF on Sunday, 41oF on Monday, 43oF on Tuesday and 44oF on Wednesday. It will rain on Friday, Monday and Wednesday. The rest of the week will be cloudy.

Summary: Highs in the mid 40’s, lows in the low 30’s, rain and clouds.

Denali (Sunnyvale): Highs will drop overall this week: 68oF on Friday and Saturday, 70oF on Sunday and Monday, 64oF on Tuesday and 66oF on Wednesday. Lows will hold pretty steady: 46oF on Friday, 48oF on Saturday and Sunday, 45oF on Monday, 46oF on Tuesday and 48oF on Wednesday. It will be partly cloudy most of the week, except Sunday when it will be sunny.

Summary: Highs in the upper 60’s, lows in the upper 40’s, partly cloudy.

Everest and Prep (Redwood City): Highs will fall this week: 68oF on Friday, 61oF on Saturday, 64oF on Sunday and Monday, 63oF on Tuesday and 64oF on Wednesday. Lows will rise then fall this week: 46oF on Friday, 52oF on Saturday, 48oF on Sunday and 46oF from Monday to Wednesday. It will be sunny most of the week.

Summary: Highs in the mid 60’s, lows in the high 40’s, partly cloudy.

K2 (El Cerrito): Highs will fall this week: 63oF on Friday, 59oF on Saturday, 63oF on Sunday, 63oF on Monday and 61oF on Tuesday and Wednesday. Lows will rise then fall this week: 45oF on Friday, 46oF on Saturday, 48oF on Sunday, 46oF from Monday to Wednesday. It will be partly cloudy all week

Summary: Highs in the low 60’s, lows in the mid 40’s, partly cloudy.

Tam (Richmond): Highs will rise then fall slightly this week: 63oF on Friday, 59oF on Saturday, 63oF on Sunday, 66oF on Monday and 61oF on Tuesday and Wednesday. Lows will hold pretty steady this week: 45oF on Friday, 46oF on Saturday, 47oF on Sunday, 45oF on Monday and 45oF on Tuesday and Wednesday. It will be partly cloudy all week except Sunday when it will be cloudy.

Summary: Highs in the mid 60’s, lows in the mid 40’s.

Shasta (Daly City): Highs will fall this week: 64oF on Friday, 57oF on Saturday and Sunday, 59oF on Monday, 61oF on Tuesday and Wednesday. Lows will hold pretty steady this week: 45oF on Friday, 48oF on Saturday, 46oF on Sunday, 47oF on Monday, 48oF on Tuesday and 49oF on Wednesday. It will be mostly cloudy all week.

Summary: Highs in the low 60’s, lows in the upper 40’s, partly cloudy.

Tahoma (San Jose): Highs will fall this week: 70oF on Friday, 64oF on Saturday, 70oF on Sunday and Monday and 66oF on Tuesday and Wednesday. Lows will rise then drop this week: 46oF on Friday, 45oF on Saturday and Sunday, 46oF on Monday, 50oF on Tuesday, and 46oF on Wednesday. It will be partly cloudy all week except Sunday when it will be cloudy.

Summary: Highs in the low 70’s, lows in the lower 40’s, partly cloudy.

Cooking: Orange Chicken

By John Kanell on Preppy Kitchen

Serves 6

Ingredients:

Chicken:

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts cut into bite-size pieces
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Cornstarch
1/2 cup Flour
Oil for frying

Orange Chicken Sauce:

1 cup Orange Juice fresh
1/2 cup Sugar
¼ cup Rice Vinegar or White Vinegar
3 tbsp Soy Sauce use tamari for a gluten-free dish
1/2 teaspoon Ginger
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder or 2 garlic cloves finely diced
1/2 teaspoon Red Chili Flakes
1 tsp sesame oil
Orange Zest from 2 oranges
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch

Garnish:

Green Onions chopped

Instructions:

For the sauce:

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce except the corn starch in a bowl and set aside. Mix the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water or orange juice in a small bowl and set aside.
Pour the sauce into a large skillet and place over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once the sauce is bubbling, stir in the cornstarch slurry and continue cooking until thickened about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside until the chicken is fried.

For the chicken

Fill a Dutch oven or large skillet with about an inch of oil then place over medium high heat. Monitor temp with a thermometer, you’ll want it to be 350F when you start frying.
Crack eggs into a bowl and whisk together and mix the chicken pieces in the egg.
Whisk the flour and cornstarch together in a large bowl. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour mixture and set aside on a plate or paper towels.
Fry the chicken in batches. Cook until golden brown (2-3 minutes) then flip over and fry on the other side. Once golden transfer to a plate lined with paper and continue frying the remaining chicken in batches. Keep the orange sauce warm on a low heat while frying the chicken.
Add the fried chicken to the warmed orange sauce and toss to cover then sprinkle with green onion and serve over rice.

Actions:

Editor’s note: The “Actions” section includes petitions to sign, prompts and scripts to write officials with as well as other opportunities to engage in your local, national and global communities.

On Dec. 1 66 years ago, Civil Rights Activist Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger while on a bus. While it may not seem like much, many of you know this was one of the acts that helped propel the Civil Rights Movement and sparked a 381-day bus boycott led by Martin Luther King Jr.

Part of this action section will honor what happened that day in 1955.

Donate to the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute, who strives to “carry on the lifework of Rosa Parks in youth development and civil rights education/advocacy”.

Dec. 1 is also World AIDS Day and this second half of the actions section will be in honor of it:

Visit hiv.gov to learn more about AIDS and HIV through multiple different resources and mediums.

And, as always:

Watch or listen or listen to this playlist. All advertisement revenue goes to Black Lives Matter. Do not skip the ads, the donations will not go through otherwise.
Watch or listen to this video. All advertisement revenue goes to various aid organizations easing the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Please note it is blocked on school-issued Chromebooks due to being in the “Entertainment” category
- Learn more about the crisis at www.monareliefye.org/.