Current Events Activity 2.2 

1) The two possible causes of the Hidden Pines fire in Bastrop might have been an "intentionally set" burn pile or just a "farm accident". At 10:30 am officials let displaced residents who live in the  burn area to return to their properties. The damage the fire has done (which burned 34,000 acres and destroyed 1,600 homes) is estimated to cost around "hundreds of millions of dollars". 

The interviews impacted me reading the story because it shows just how much trauma people went through during the fires and how some people lost basically everything they had.

2) In the Austin area school systems there has been a shift in textbook use, meaning they are being offered online and not in paper form so much anymore. The benefits for this change are they are cheaper and help prepare students for their computer-dependent futures. The Robertson family found a problem with the online textbooks "It's hard to flip between the examples and instructional pages with the problem" he says. So they decided to get a paper copy instead. The opinion teacher Melissa Prepster had on the story was that this is not a super new thing meaning how the digital transition gained momentum about four years ago, with things like videos full of content. What separates the Eanes district from other districts implementing technology on their campus is the Eanes district is one of the few districts that make a device available to each student.
 At McCallum so far I haven't even had to use textbooks outside of class (even though most of them are available online) so I haven't had much experience with this shift, but I know from past experiences with having to carry around textbooks that it was a hassle and sometimes unnecessary weight so having it online would make things a lot easier for for me because I have access to a computer. I do think there is a problem though because other students may not have that access, with this being a debate I would say it would be a good news story for The Shield.

3) The big news outside of Canada yesterday was that the country reclaimed liberal identity with the new prime minister. Justin Turdeau has promised some major policy changes, like legalizing marijuana, dropping out of the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State and deficit spending to pump up the economy and rebuild infrastructure. The relationship between the U.S. and Canada will most likely get stronger because Obama And Turdeau are similar.

4) Alan Guckian is among 25 semifinalists for a Grammy-related award. The award is for the 2016 Music Educator Award from the Recording Academy and the Grammy Foundation. Local inspirational musician SaulPaul said Guckian was an obvious choice for the award. Guckian later says if he won he would have a pizza party with his kids.

5) UT coach Shaka Smart is trying to change the mindset of his players heading into the upcoming season by saying that the pursuit of wisdom is "one of the oldest and most enduring human intellectual enterprises." In order to make this change happen Texas must first get beyond it's confusing, dysfunctional past which appears to be fouling up the present.