1237, The Magic Number by Kyle Hynes

One thousand two hundred and thirty seven.

This number, no matter how it may seem, is not arbitrary. This is the number of delegates needed to win the Republican Presidential Nomination outright. In other words, before the convention starts, a candidate needs to get 1237 delegates, outright, before the delegates come into play.

First, let me give you some background information. All states, via voting in primaries and caucuses, can choose a winner, who then gets a number of delegates to be bound to that candidate at the Republican National Convention, to be held in July. That number of delegates is directly proportional to the number of registered Republican voters that that state has. So, Florida has 99 delegates, and Pennsylvania has 72. In Florida, then, the winner would get 99 delegates pledged to them at the convention. However, some states allocate their delegates proportionally. In Iowa, where there are 30 delegates, if Mr. Trump had 40% of the vote, Mr. Cruz also had 40%, and Mr. Kasich has 20%, then Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz would get 12 delegates each, and Mr. Kasich would get 6 delegates.

In some states, delegates are picked beforehand and are then pledged to the candidate who wins. In some states, voters pick the delegates and the delegates, in turn, vote for the candidate whom they support. And in still others, candidates pick their delegates. But no matter who the delegates are, the delegates are bound at the convention in July.

So why does all of this matter? Because if by the time voting wraps up in California on June 7, if no candidate has more than half of the 2472 delegates, which is 1237 delegates, than the Republican delegates can vote on their own. Therefore, it can be very important to get every single delegate vote. At this point, with 734 delegates remaining up for grabs, Donald Trump has 845 delegates, Sen. Ted Cruz has 559, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich has only 147. To clinch the nomination, Mr. Trump needs to win 392 out of 734 delegates, or 53.4%. Cruz needs 678, or 92.4%, and it is impossible for Kasich to win without a contested convention.

Obviously, Trump is the only candidate with a real chance. Will he get there, or no? That is going to be a very important issue leading up to the final day of voting in California on June 7. Using a stimulated formula based on polls in all states to vote from here on out puts Trump just barely under the magical 1237 bar, with 1234 delegates. But polls aren’t perfect, and still anything can happen.

Many political experts predict that Trump won’t get there. “Trump won’t win unless a political asteroid falls in California, and even that may not be enough”, says Hugh Hewitt of CNN. “Trump will need 119 of the 172 delegates in California, and he probably won’t even get 100”. Other experts have predicted 1210, which is close but not there.

After California votes on June 7, we will know the answer. But until then, we will not know, and another estimation has put him at 1289. So what will happen?

Next week brings the Indiana primary, and another update on the Donald’s road to 1237.

Musical Icon "Prince" Passes by Matthew Staniar

On Thursday April 21st, a huge music icon died young at the age of 57. He was know to be a great guitarist, and was known for many other instruments such as piano and many others. Along with music he was an actor and a record producer. Many people are are mourning for the music phenomenon .

While people are very sad about the loss, investigators went right onto the case to find the cause of his death. Many signs point to an overdose of pain killing medicine. Another hot topic that people are wondering about is that there was no will found. He was such a rich figure and no one has any idea of who his fortune will go to let alone all his other things.

People are sitting on the edge of the edges of their seats to see what will be determined. The medical examiner says it will take two weeks to determine what caused the death. Everyone is sad to see such a good musician lost.     

Spain Siesta Suspension? by Marie E. Bolton

Do you know what a siesta is? A siesta is an afternoon rest or nap, especially one taken during the hottest hours of the day. In fact a 26-minute siesta is good for your health. According to Newsela the Spanish Government, though, is planning to stop these siestas, ending a long-standing tradition. They want people to work instead of napping. Siestas were originally designed to give farmers a break but critics point out that Spain now depends less on agriculture. Also, most city dwellers work too far away from home to have their afternoon nap. Likewise, for the 5 million people without jobs, siestas also don’t matter. A ban would, however, affect Spaniards in rural areas where it is still common to have a siesta. Should Spain ban these traditional siestas?

Shakespeare Noggin Robbed? by Marie Bolton

Recently a high-tech investigation of Shakespeare's grave at Holy Trinity Church was led by Staffordshire University archaeologist Kevin Colls. The results showed that Shakespeare’s head was missing!  It had been taken and replaced around 200 years ago with the skull of a 70-year-old woman.  Chris Laoutaris, of the University of Birmingham's Shakespeare Institute, is a Renaissance burial customs expert and thinks a close friend or family member might be responsible. They could have taken Shakespeare’s head shortly after his burial and had it buried with them. This would not have been thought strange during this time period as others also did it. For example, think of Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII and England's greatest humanist scholar. His caring daughter, Margaret More Roper, kept and preserved his head after he was executed in 1534. The question historians now face is: should the investigation continue or, with Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary coming up, should we finally let him rest in peace?

Chimp Escapes Zoo in Sendai by Hely Parmar

A chimpanzee escaped a zoo in Sendai, Japan, and made the police chase after him on a two hour long journey. After he got far away, he climbed a telephone pole and tight roped across the lines. After a lot of dancing, the police finally shot the ape with a tranquilizer dart. The chimp was shot, but he was still holding on to the lines. Hen he had given up and fell into a tarp the police had held for him. They quickly transported him to a hospital

Wisconsin Primary by Kueyoung Kim

On April Fifth, Wisconsin held its primaries. In the Democratic Party, Sanders beat Clinton by 13.5 points, although Clinton is still winning the democratic nominee with seven hundred delegates. In the Republican Party, Cruz got first by 13.1 points on Trump, boosting him to only two hundred delegates behind Trump.

    In Republican Party there is now a very strong chance of a contested convention. A contested convention happens when none of the delegates have a majority. The delegates are released from their votes and they can go vote for whomever they want. This will keep going until someone has a majority vote. The last time the Republican party had a contested nomination was 1976. The last time a contested convention led to a winning president was 1932, when Franklin Roosevelt won presidency.

San Francisco Approves Paid Parent Leave by Hely Parmar

San Francisco, California, has become the first city for new parents to have fully-paid time off. The city council passed this law Tuesday, April 5th, which states that the parents will get 6 weeks of paid leave. Originally, the CA state insurance program said that new parents get 55% of their wages for time off for their kids. Now, it requires the employers to pay their workers 100% of what they usually get. The law also says that it’s illegal to fire a worker that took parental leave. This law will start on January 1, 2017 for companies that have 50 or more employees. For places that have 20 or more workers, this law will start on July 1, 2017.

Sanders Wins Wisconsin by Liz Orlova

Bernie Sanders won Wisconsin’s primary last night, with a majority of 56% over Hillary Clinton.  Although this doesn’t sound like a major victory, in the eyes of zealous Sanders aficionados it certainly was.  Considering the amount of support that Sanders had in the first few months of his campaign, he has gone further than anybody thought he could.  This Wisconsin win started his momentum, and with enough turnouts of Bernie supporters, he could definitely have a valid chance of becoming the Democrat nominee, and perhaps even President.  

With that said, Hillary is still ahead in delegate count.  This is mostly because of her pledged superdelegates, but fear not, at this point in the election in 2008, Obama was about as far behind Hillary as Bernie Sanders is right now.  If this Wisconsin Victory is the thing that gets Sanders’s momentum started, then we will all see that number decrease over the next few months.  

Although CNN has passed her off as “the only electable candidate,” and “the only one that can beat the Republicans,” Hillary Clinton could struggle to win against the Republican nominee, whoever they may be.  As much as “Hillary Clinton” is a “name brand,” for deep Southern Democrats, it has the same effect on Republicans.  Arguments against Clinton, include but are not limited to the Bill Clinton Scandal; her failure to do her job in Benghazi; her tight-knit relations with big corporations; history of switching opinions and political stances, and anti-Clinton slogans piled on top of each other.  

The only argument against Sanders is “He’s a socialist,” which has almost run its course with the media anyways.  In fact, many Republicans respect Bernie Sanders because of his consistent history and truthful rhetoric.  If it came down to Democratic Candidate versus Trump, moderate Republicans would probably vote Sanders rather than Trump.

Overall, April 5th’s Wisconsin primary led to satisfactory results for fans of Bernie Sanders, and may be the thing that gets his momentum started.  

FBI Hacks into iPhone Sans Apple by Hely Parmar

The Justice Department took their case about hacking into a terrorist iPhone against Apple back because they had found another way to hack into a terrorist’s iPhone. The solution to get into the iPhone of Syed Farook who carried out, along with his wife, the San Bernardino attack came from an anonymous person. They killed 14 people and injured 22 others. The government needed the code to access only one phone, but Apple said that asking for one code would create a way to get to all devices of that type.

The fact that the Justice Dep. had found another way to get into the iPhone, without Apple’s help, proves that their security isn’t as strong as we think it is. However, Apple says that they will continue to help the government with other criminal investigations that don’t conflict with their customers’ privacy.  

New Supreme Court Justice Nominated by Hely Parmar

On Wednesday, March 16, President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to be on the panel of Supreme Court judges to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. The Republican party had previously said that they would not allow any candidate to pass through to be a judge on the panel. They also said that they would not meet the candidates before he/she is nominated.

Mr. Garland is a sixty-three year old Washington lawyer and jurist. He is the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Garland is from Chicago and graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He is widely respected in the Washington D.C. legal community.