Study finds: Santa Monica is bad for business
Santa Monica is the most expensive city to conduct business in, according to a recent study performed by Claremont McKenna College’s Rose Institute. The study analyzed a set of cost-related factors in 216 cities all across the nation. There were seven sections of the study- business license fee, utility tax, sales tax, minimum wage, average community rent, crime index and housing affordability index. Each city was ranked on a scale and Santa Monica placed the worst within every section of the study.
Teens in crisis: addressing high school mental health
Schools across the country have witnessed an extreme mental health crisis afflicting their students.
According to Mental Health America, 20.17 percent of youth (ages 12-17) reported suffering from at least one major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year.
Even starker, the CDC found that more than 4 in 10 (42 percent) students felt persistently sad or hopeless and nearly one-third (29 percent) experienced poor mental health.
With college applications for seniors coming up, hours of homework a night and extracurriculars becoming overwhelming for high schoolers, there has been a rise in awareness of the pressure brought on students. Mental health is an invisible struggle that many students across the nation go through, although we may not be able to see it, it often leads to students having to struggle alone. The academic standard that students are being held to is becoming unmanageable and anxiety inducing to many.
The end of California legacy admissions
On Sept. 30, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1780, prohibiting legacy and donor preference admissions for private universities in California.
What’s going on around Samo?
Metro expands its “TAP-to-exit” program to Santa Monica, Samo elects new Student Board Representative, and College Fair lets students explore schools
SMRR: the renters’ rights organization pulling the ropes
Santa Monicans For Renters’ Rights (SMRR) has doubled as a renters’ rights organization and the leading voting slate in Santa Monica for the past 40 years.
What’s going on around Samo?
Santa Monica Fire Department welcomes new chief, 2024 Club Row introduces new clubs to Samo, Samo brothers make scientific strides, PBL holds their student government elections, and Waymo: Is the future in safer "hands?"
Samo teachers begin to crack down on phones
Students may have noticed that more of their Samo teachers have implemented cell phone pockets in their classrooms this school year. This practice is one way that teachers can uphold the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s (SMMUSD) electronics policy that students may only use their devices for academic purposes during class.
Smmusd and Malibu finalize school separation agreement
On Sept. 12, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) and the City of Malibu announced they would finally separate, allowing Malibu to become an independent district. The current separation package is ready for public review.