KPS News 

On Tuesday, May 31, masks will become optional for KPS students at school. 

The Loy Norrix Forensics team took a trip to Mackinac Island on the weekend of May 21st to compete in the Mackinac Spring Tournament.  The team took first place in their division in total, with finalists in the Mini-Multiple category and Elias Nagel-Bennett who won the impromptu Marvel Movie Quotes event. 

On Friday, May 20th, Loy Norrix track and field athletes competed in regional qualifiers. The men’s 4×800 team (seniors Hank Perkins and Nolan Tribu and juniors Samuel Allen and Oskar Wiedenhoeft) and the men’s 4×400 team (senior Hank Perkins and juniors Samuel Allen, James Rocco and Trevor Watts) both qualified for states which will take place on June 4th. 

On Wednesday, May 25th the Loy Norrix women’s soccer team took on Lansing Everett in the first round of districts and won with a score of 1-0. They will move on to play Portage Northern on Tuesday, May 31st. 

Local News

The Kalamazoo Pride festival will be taking place in person on Friday, June 3rd, and Saturday, June 4th at Arcadia Creek Festival Place.  More information and tickets can be found here.   

On Friday, June 3 and 4, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts is hosting their 71st annual Art Fair in Bronson Park. According to the KIA, there will be over 125 vendors selling their art. 

The vintage market is starting back up again in downtown Kalamazoo on the mall.  The next market is on June 11th, and more information can be found here.  

Students walked out of Galesburg-Augusta High School on May 20 in support of several teachers whose contracts weren’t renewed by the school district. 

State News  

A storm traveling through the Midwest caused a tornado on May 20th that swept through Gaylord, Michigan.  Two people died,  44 were injured and many businesses and homes were destroyed.    

On May 25, the New York Times reported that “Two top Republican candidates for governor in Michigan are in danger of being denied a spot on the primary ballot.” Both candidates had thousands of signatures invalidated by the Michigan election bureau, and according to the “Times, “many of the names had been forged and were collected by fraudulent petition circulators.”

National News 

On Tuesday, May 24, a gunman entered an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 2 teachers and 19 children. According to AP News, “Investigators did not immediately disclose a motive but identified the assailant as Salvador Ramos,” an eighteen year old. This shooting now is the third deadliest school shooting since 2007, according to AP News. 

On May 22 a mass shipment of baby formula arrived in the United States from Germany, a shipment authorized by president Biden. According to PBS, “It is the first of several flights carrying infant formula from Europe expected this weekend to relieve the deepening shortage in the U.S.”

Incumbent Neil Rafferty won the Democratic Primary for Alabama State House District 54. This race was widely covered because Rafferty and one of his opponents, Brit Blalock, are both part of the LGBTQ+ community and the race has created “a rift in the party,” according to NBC news. The controversy of this race lies in Blalock’s challenge of Rafferty as an incumbent. Patricia Todd, the vice chair of the Alabama Democratic Party said, “I think she’s a great candidate. I think that we need more women to run, but I wish people would be considerate of running against an incumbent that is good on our issues.”

International News:

On Monday, May 23 U.S. President Joe Biden announced the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework trade deal. It was made with twelve Asian nations to lessen the effects of the pandemic and the current Russian/Ukrainian War, according to AP News. 

According to AP News, President Biden reaffirmed his plans to protect Taiwan militarily if China threatens its sovereignty. 

Following the Russian capture of the port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that once Russian forces retreat back to their borders then negotiations to end the war may begin. The three month war has begun to threaten grain exports, as Ukraine has had its grain exports blockaded in the Black Sea, according to AP News.

Deaths are on the rise in Haiti as gang warfare has erupted in the capitol, Port-au-Prince. The gangs have killed hundreds and kidnapped dozens for ransom according to AP News. These troubles became present after the assassination of Haiti’s president in Jovenel Moise in July of 2021, according to AP News.