Ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas
A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took place on Friday, Oct. 10, marking the first sustained pause in fighting after two years of conflict in Gaza.
Football fights for their spot in playoffs
With one more league game in the season, the Samo football team has a balanced record of 2-2. Samo looks promising going into playoffs and has hopes to make a good run for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Championship. The Vikings have shown growth this season, already doing better than last year’s 1-4 league record.
When war CRITICISM becomes a free pass for bigotry
In just the 3 months after Oct 7, 2023, incidents targeting Jewish people around the world spiked by roughly 361 percent according to ADL (the Anti-Defamation League). Those are not abstract numbers; they are violence and vandalism in synagogues, harassment in public and a constant barrage of threats and hateful messages in comment sections where ordinary family moments are subjected to targets for cruelty. In times of war and political unrest, it's easy to group politics and its relative population together, and even easier to pick a population that has been continuously subjected to unfair stereotypes for centuries.
Congress yet to agree on new budget plan as shutdown continues
The government shutdown is set to enter its fifth week following Congress’s failure to enact a budget plan for October and beyond. While Republicans hold a majority in both chambers of Congress, the party lacks the needed 60 votes for any bill to pass through the Senate, giving Democrats some negotiating power during the shutdown. Democrats and Republicans blame each other for the current government shutdown, with stalled talks and no plans for compromise in sight.
Gov. Newsom signs new housing laws for California
Gov. Gavin Newsom this month signed Assembly Bill (AB) 628 as well as Senate Bill (SB) 79. The bills are part of housing laws that Gov. Gavin Newsom has passed in an effort to provide more housing, lessen homelessness and create more affordable housing for the state.
Girls’ volleyball wins league back to back
The Samo Girls’ Volleyball team has continued to thrive off of their successful start of the season. They are now 16-9 in overall play, and a dominant 8-1 in Ocean League play. On Wednesday, the team secured first place in the Ocean League against Culver City.
Ocean ave. mental health facility cancelled after backlash
On Nov. 4, registered voters will go to the polls and vote on Proposition 50 (Prop. 50), formed by California Governor Gavin Newsom. Prop. 50 temporarily redistricts the state of California, switching five Republican districts Democratic. This was done in response to House Bill 4 (HB 4) in Texas, which flipped five Democratic districts Republican.
Dodgers season overview
The Samo cross country team is now halfway through the season and has been putting in the hours to improve upon where they stood a few months ago. Both the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams are on an upward trajectory and are looking sharp for a chance at state.
Flag football; three years three league titles
With a flawless 7-0 league record, the Samo girls’ flag football team emerged victorious from their game against Inglewood High School, crowning them Ocean League champions for the third year in a row. The game was full of energy with fast-paced runs and throws, showing the team's chemistry on the field.
UCLA Bruins roar to success under new management
The University of California Los Angeles’ (UCLA) football program has been rife with struggles over the past couple seasons. Most recently, UCLA finished 3-6 within the Big Ten Conference after a transition from the Pac-12 Conference, which was first announced in 2022. A lackluster 0-3 start to the program’s second season in the Big Ten culminated in the firing of UCLA head coach Deshaun Foster on Sept. 14. Foster’s departure from UCLA marked an end to a struggle filled era in Bruins’ history, holding a record of 5-10 through his tenure. Tim Skipper, the special assistant to the head coach, was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
California tightens plastic bag ban
On Aug. 30, 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1053, a law that will ban all plastic bags at convenience and grocery stores starting Jan. 1, 2026. After years of failed attempts to mitigate plastic pollution, the new law closes the 2014 bag ban’s loophole to finally eliminate plastic bags in California.
Bewitching Beldams: The horrors of an aging woman
For as long as the horror genre has been around it has relied on the grotesquely supernatural, over the top and barely believable. Witches, vampires and axe wielding psychomaniacs have graced the silver screen for decades, producing gory scenes that commentate on societal issues like race, class and prejudice. However, in recent years the horror genre as a whole has shifted further away from supernatural sugarcoating to instead confronting real-world issues in a more realistic setting, which has made way for the ‘scary old wench’ character to make its return.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s complex commentary on modern america
Paul Thomas Anderson’s long-awaited directorial return, “One Battle After Another,” released on Sept. 26., was a film that starts off sprinting and somehow manages to keep up that pace for a lengthy two hours and 50 minutes.
Free your children: A longer lunch
Lunch is barely a fraction of the overall school day. Should Samo extend the time it allocates to students for lunch?
Starbucks closures open doors for local coffee shops
After years of rapid expansion, the popular coffee chain Starbucks is changing its business approach by closing more than 29 locations across California and approximately 430 nationwide. These closures could potentially shift the coffee scene and allow smaller local coffee shops to stand out.
The sweetest of serenades
The Samo Choir program held its annual Sweet Serenade event on Oct. 18 at John Adams Middle School (JAMS) in Santa Monica. Choir students performed a variety of pop, alternative, and country music from multiple eras. The event is the choir’s biggest fundraiser of the year and is an important source of income for the program.
Fried Chicken: From the south to los Angeles
Fried chicken has become a craze in Los Angeles (LA) over the past few years, with multiple restaurants opening rapidly and big chains expanding their locations throughout the city. However, there’s a rich history behind how fried chicken arrived in Los Angeles.
HOTLB: Whats your go-to study playlist?
With school approaching the halfway mark into the semester, we asked some Samo students what their go-to study music is to listen to when they need to focus on schoolwork. Do people prefer soft, low-beat, classical music to soothe them through their work, or do they need music to be more hype for them to focus? Here is what people around campus had to say about this…
Girls’ tennis brings momentum into CIF playoffs
Samo girls’ tennis continues another successful season. They started off the season with high expectations after winning Ocean League and advancing to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) last year. Now with a strong team and some promising new faces, the Samo girls’ tennis team is living up to their expectations.
Why buy when you can diy?
The art of the creative Halloween costume fuels the spirit of the holiday as a fun and essential tradition that can be enjoyed by all. The individuality that comes from developing an ensemble allows one to bring their vision to life while expressing their interests and ingenuity in a joyous way. The modern day rarity of these do-it-yourself, or DIY, costumes comes with the rise of a commercialized approach to the festivities, forgoing the inventive process of fabricating a costume with the quick fix of buying one online.