PHOTO CREDIT: NASA Johnson via Flickr

Your Summit Weekly Briefing

By Ashwath Vimal, Angela Hwang and Ethan Ignatovsky

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:

Check out these articles from Summit Prep!

Read this piece by Staff Writers Angela Bustos Sanchez and Kimberly Sandoval on rent prices increasing in the Bay Area and how it has been affecting locals, with Summit Prep student and teacher perspectives.
Read this piece by Staff Writers Evan Lipa, Juan Lona and Michael Wynne on the redevelopment/redesign of Sequoia Station, a shopping center located in Redwood City, with perspectives on why this could be a negative and/or a positive thing for the city and its residents.

General News:

SpaceX will be losing 40 of its satellites after they launched 49 satellites on Feb. 3 (to join 2,000 already deployed ones) due to a weather phenomenon known as a solar/geomagnetic storm. This is occurring because the atmosphere where the satellites are is dense enough (due to the storm) that the satellites were not able to get to their assigned destination. While we do not know the specifics of how much money will be lost from this, we do know that they are “well” below $1 million each, meaning the losses are nevertheless high. However, the losses will not include other satellites, as the lost ones should not make an impact with them and will disintegrate before they are a threat to people. The unusual aspect of this situation is in spite of weather trackers and GPS data warning them of the storm, Spacex still decided to go ahead with the launch.
A 12-year old girl was about to participate in a swimming competition in Wisconsin before she was disqualified for wearing a swimming suit with the words “Black Lives Matter”, This girl is Leidy Gellona, who was inspired to put this phrase on a black swimsuit along in with her her mother Sarah Lyons after 22-year-old Amir Locke was killed by a Minneapolis police officer while they were carrying out a search warrant. Gellona was disqualified after an official dubbed her swimsuit as “political” and against USA Swimming regulations. Eventually, the decision was overturned by the vice president of the YMCA where the swim meet took place with help from local officials from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). While Gellona was allowed to participate in the end, NAACP official Classie Dudley said she was disappointed that none of the people in attendance advocated for Gellona, but only offered apologies and solidarity. The official who made the ruling was a volunteer and has been banned from future events in Duluth, Wisconsin.

Covid-19:

California Gov. Gavin Newson signed a new bill Wednesday, which requires workers to receive up to two weeks paid sick leave if they contract Covid-19 and work for a company with 26 or more employees.
Johnson & Johnson has millions of doses of the covid-19 vaccine in their inventory, but the company announced that they won’t be making any more. The move was done as the J&J Vaccine has fallen out of favor in the developed world due to the blood-clotting debacle, and proven worse performance than Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s vaccines. This move is a huge deal for the continent of Africa though, as many countries on the continent rely on the J&J vaccine.

Politics:

Samuel Bickett is an American lawyer who intervened to stop a beating of a teenage commuter by another man wielding a baton in December 2019. The attacker turned out to be an undercover police officer and Bickett was charged with assault on the police officer and was sentenced to four months and two weeks in prison. Bickett appealed the conviction, claiming the officer not only failed to identify himself as a police officer, but also claimed he was not an officer and was committing an unlawful act when he intervened. Hong Kong High Court Judge Esther Toh rejected Bickett’s appeal on Tuesday, noting the incident occurred “at the height of the 2019 unrest” when all police officers were “subject to verbal and physical attack”, as NBC reports.
When Biden was running for president, he promised to end blank checks for Egypt. However, he has not followed through on the promise so far: last week, the State Department the sale of weapons to the Egyptian government. While the U.S. has condemned foreign governments’ “assaults and threats” to American citizens, they continue to supply money and weapons to regimes that are repressive.
The Ohio Supreme Court rejected a new district map, citing constitutionality. The Ohio Constitution requires the districts to be drawn in a way that reflects the state’s Democratic and Republican proportions, which is about 46% blue and 54% red. The rejected map would have given Republicans 58% of the vote. The decision was not unanimous. Justices Pat DeWine and Sharon Kennedy argued some of the other Justices had “commandeered the redistricting process” and will only accept a map that they want. They went on, “At this point, one must wonder which seven-member body is the true redistricting commission—the constitutionally named officers or this court?”
Snippet: French President Emmanuel Macron met with Putin and claimed they reached an agreement that Russia would not “deteriorate” or “escalate” the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border, but Putin denies his claims.
Snippet: The Palin vs. N.Y. Times Co. lawsuit trial has begun. Information and implications were in a previous briefing; updates will continue to be posted.

Sports:

NBA:

The NBA All-Star game reserves and injury replacements have been revealed. The reserves for the West are: Devin Booker (SG-PHX), Luka Doncic (PG-DAL), Rudy Gobert (C-UTA), Donovan Mitchell (SG-UTA), Chris Paul (PG-PHX), Karl Anthony-Towns (C-MIN), and Draymond Green (PF-GSW) who was replaced by Dejounte Murray (PG-SAS) due to Green being out with an injury. The reserves for the East are: Jimmy Butler (SF-MIA), Darius Garland (PG-CLE), James Harden (SG-BKN), Zach LaVine (SG-CHI), Khris Middleton (SF-MIL), Jayson Tatum (SF-BOS), and Fred VanVleet (PG-TOR), LaMelo Ball (PG-CHA) will also be joining the All-Star game as an injury reserve for Kevin Durant, this will also promote Jayson Tatum into a starter role.
The NBA trade deadline is fast approaching, here’s some of the biggest trades we’ve seen so far:
1. The Cleveland Cavaliers acquire Caris LeVert and a 2022 second-round pick via Miami from the Indiana Pacers for the injured Ricky Rubio a 2022 lottery-protected pick, and two 2022 second-round picks via Houston and Utah. LeVert gives the Cavs another scoring option as they chase a championship.
2. It’s the beginning of a new era in Portland, as the Trail Blazers send CJ McCollum, along with Larry Nance Jr, and Tony Snell to the New Orleans Pelicans for Josh Hart, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Tomas Satoransky(Walker and Satoransky were both later traded to the Jazz and Spurs), Didi Louzada, a 2022 first-round pick and their 2026 and 27 second-round picks if they are better then the Blazers pick. It’s an unusual move for the team like the Pelicans who should be looking at the future and aren’t near the level of a team that can fight for a ring.
3. The Indiana Pacers Rebuild is in full effect as they send Domantas Sabonis along with Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb and a 2023 second-round pick to the Sacramento Kings for the young, high upside Tyrese Haliburton who joins the pacers with Buddy Hield, and Tristan Thompson, but it seems like there is a good chance Thompson won’t play for the Pacers.
4. Ben Simmons will play this year… for the Nets. James Harden is the other headline piece in this deal and he will head over to the 76ers with Paul Millsap. Along with Simmons, the Nets will receive the sharpshooting Seth Curry, a good backup center in Andre Drummond and a 2022 and 2027 first-round draft pick. This is a big deal that will affect two major contenders in the East, it’ll be very interesting to see how it plays out.
5. Kristaps Porzingis never worked out for the Dallas Mavericks, and now he is being shipped to the nation’s capital along with a second-round pick for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans. This is arguably the weirdest trade of the whole deadline and has left many scratching their heads as it just doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Mavericks.

MLB:

The MLB lockout is still in effect, but Commissioner Rob Manfred has announced that a Draft lottery and Universal Designated Hitter have been agreed to.

Entertainment:

This Tuesday, the nominees for the Oscars were announced, with the drama “The Power of the Dog” leading with 12 nominations. Popular films such as “Dune”, “King Richard”, “Belfast”, “West Side Story”, “Nightmare Alley” and “Don’t Look Up” also appear a multitude of times in the nominations. The 2022 Oscars will also be the first of its kind to include a deaf male actor, with Troy Kotsur being nominated for his performance in “CODA”. Additionally, Lin-Manel Miranda has the chance to be one of 17 entertainers to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award for his song “Dos Orgultas” in Disney’s latest animated film “Encanto”. The 94th Academy Awards Ceremony (Oscars) will officially be held on March 27 at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, Los Angeles and will celebrate films released between March 1 and Dec. 1 during 2021.
Chris Evans seems to be moving from one superhero role to another. After putting down the shield as Captain America, he will be the lead voice actor in the upcoming Pixar animated film “Lightyear”, voicing, of course, Buzz Lightyear, which will be in theaters on June 27, 2022. This movie will be a prequel to the “Toy Story” films, telling the origin of the iconic character. The main trailer was officially released this Tuesday, with the animation looking top-notch and the humor looking on point for child audiences, which is usual with Disney films. It seems like a majority of the movie will take place in space with a lot of action.
The BRIT Awards, a music awards ceremony run by the British Phonographic Industry took place on Feb. 8 this year at O2 Arena. Adele headlined the night, winning artist of the year, song of the year and album of the year. While this was the BRIT awards, American artists also won awards. Billie Eilish won best international artist and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” won best international song. However, the biggest surprise was the fact that a YouTube star, Olajide Olatunji who is also known as KSI, had two songs nominated for song of the year, showing that delving into different industries is a very possible thing to do amongst celebrities.

Weather:

Atlas and Sierra (Seattle): Highs will spike then fall this week: 53℉ on Thursday, 54℉ on Friday, 55℉ on Saturday, 58℉ on Sunday, 51℉ on Monday, 48℉ on Tuesday and 50℉ on Wednesday. Lows will follow a similar pattern: 40℉ on Thursday, 38℉ on Friday, 35℉ on Saturday, 39℉ on Sunday, 38℉ on Monday and 39℉ on Tuesday and Wednesday. It will be partly cloudy all week but it won’t rain.

Summary: Highs in the low-to-mid 50’s, lows in the upper 30’s, partly cloudy.

Olympus (Tacoma): Highs will spike then fall this week: 52℉ on Thursday and Friday, 51℉ on Saturday, 55℉ on Sunday, 52℉ on Monday, 48℉ on Tuesday and 50℉ on Wednesday. Lows will rise this week: 39℉ on Thursday and Friday, 34℉ on Saturday, 38℉ on Sunday, 42℉ on Monday, 37℉ on Tuesday and 38℉ on Wednesday. It will be partly cloudy all week, but it won’t rain.

Summary: Highs in the mid 50’s, lows in the upper 30’s, partly cloudy.

Denali (Sunnyvale): Highs will rise slightly this week: 76℉ on Thursday and Friday, 77℉ on Saturday, 78℉ on Sunday, down to 75℉ on Monday, 69℉ on Tuesday and 72℉ on Wednesday. Lows will hold pretty steady this week: 47℉ on Thursday and Friday, 49℉ on Saturday, 47℉ on Sunday, 46℉ on Monday and Tuesday and 45℉ on Wednesday. It will be mostly sunny all week.

Summary: Highs in the mid 70’s, lows in the mid 40’s, mostly sunny.

Everest and Prep (Redwood City): Highs will stay relatively steady this week before falling: 71℉ on Thursday, 70℉ on Friday, 71℉ on Saturday, 72℉ on Sunday, 69℉ on Monday, 65℉ on Tuesday and 68℉ on Wednesday. Lows will fall this week: 50℉ on Thursday, 49℉ on Friday, 46℉ on Saturday, 48℉ on Sunday, 47℉ on Monday, 48℉ on Tuesday and 45℉ on Wednesday. It will be mostly sunny this week.

Summary: Highs in the low 70’s, lows in mid 40’s, mostly sunny.

K2 (El Cerrito): Highs will stay relatively stable this week: 68℉ on Thursday, 69℉ on Friday, 70℉ on Saturday and Sunday, 68℉ on Monday and Tuesday and 71℉ on Wednesday. Lows will fall this week: 51℉ on Thursday, 50℉ on Friday, 46℉ on Saturday, 47℉ on Sunday, 48℉ on Monday, 49℉ on Tuesday and 46℉ on Wednesday. It will be mostly sunny this week.

Summary: Highs in the low 70’s, lows in the upper 40’s, mostly sunny.

Tam (Richmond): Highs will stay relatively stable this week: 66℉ on Thursday, 67℉ from Friday to Sunday, 66℉ on Monday, 68℉ on Tuesday and 71℉ on Wednesday. Lows will drop this week: 50℉ on Thursday, 49℉ on Friday, 45℉ on Saturday, 46℉ on Sunday, 47℉ on Monday, 49℉ on Tuesday and 45℉ on Wednesday. It will be mostly sunny this week.

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

Shasta (Daly City): Highs will fall this week: 71℉ on Thursday, 70℉ on Friday, 71℉ on Saturday, 70℉ on Sunday, 66℉ on Monday, 64℉ on Tuesday and 67℉ on Wednesday. Lows will also fall this week: 54℉ on Thursday, 51℉ on Friday, 47℉ on Saturday, 49℉ on Sunday, 47℉ on Monday, 49℉ on Tuesday and 46℉ on Wednesday. It will be mostly sunny this week.

Summary: Highs in the low 70’s, lows in the upper 40’s, mostly sunny.

Tahoma (San Jose): Highs will rise slightly this week: 74℉ on Thursday and Friday, 75℉ on Saturday, 77℉ on Sunday, 73℉ on Monday, 70℉ on Tuesday and 74℉ on Wednesday. Lows will stay relatively steady this week: 48℉ on Thursday, 46℉ on Friday, 44℉ on Saturday, 48℉ on Sunday, 47℉ on Monday, and 44℉ on Tuesday and Wednesday. It will be mostly sunny this week.

Summary: Highs in the mid 70’s, lows in the mid 40’s, mostly sunny.

Cooking: Apricot Chicken

By Erica Walker on Favorite Family Recipes

Serves 6

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
1 cup apricot preserves
1 cup Catalina salad dressing (or Russian dressing)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 ounces dried onion soup mix

Instructions:

Cut chicken breasts in half or into serving-sized portions.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine apricot preserves, Catalina dressing, onion soup mix, and Dijon mustard. Mix well.

Baked Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375-degrees. Place chicken in a greased 9×13 baking dish. Pour apricot mixture evenly over chicken and bake 40-45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Slow Cooker Instructions:

Place chicken in slow cooker. Pour apricot mixture over chicken and cook on high for 2-3 hours or on low heat for 4-6 hours. Serve as whole pieces or shred.

Pressure Cooker (Instant Pot) Instructions:

Put 1/3 c. water in the Instant Pot. Place chicken in the water and then pour the apricot mixture over the top. Place lid (make sure release tab is set to “sealing”) and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes and allow to natural release for additional 5 minutes.

Grilled Instructions:

Place chicken in a large sealing freezer bag. Place half of the apricot mixture in a bowl and set aside. Pour the rest of the apricot mixture in the bag with the chicken and place in refrigerator for 2-3 hours. Remove chicken from bag and discard marinade.
Grill chicken over medium-high heat for about 5-6 minutes on each side or until chicken is completely cooked through (internal temp of 165-degrees), brushing with remaining apricot mixture while grilling.

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.

In light of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has been heating up recently, here are some things you can do to help Ukraine in its time of crisis.

Donate to the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund, which is managed by the United Nations. They allocate funds to different “partner organizations” that are on the “front lines of response”.
Donate to the Ukraine Crisis Appeal which provides aid programs to people in Ukraine such as veteran programs and medical training

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/.