The Echo: Front Page-- April 2012

Local News

    The students of Southern High School have been hard at work preparing for the Ohio Graduation Test, which will be given mid March. This year to prepare students the school is offering Study Island. Study Island is a program designed to give students small practice tests in sub topics. To encourage participation on study Island Mr. Otto has set up an incentive plan. The top three students weekly with the most answers correct (Minimum of 50 questions answered a week) are announced at the beginning of the week. The first time your the top student you get the wear your hat all week, and receive free frosty certificate. Next time you get the hat, and frost, plus you get a pop all week. The third time you receive all of the above plus one free tardy. After the fourth time you revive a free absents. The top one each week with the most correct answers will get a parking spot or the week in front of the school. If that person does not drive or has no parking permit , it will go to the next highest person that does. At the end of the incentive program. The top students overall with the most questions answered (Minimum of 450 questions attempted) will get $50 for first place, $40 for second place, and $30 for 3^rd place. An incentive program is also set up for once the O.G.T. Is passed. Students will receive one tardy pass for each section passed. Students who pass will not have to show up the next year until after testing is completed for the sections they have passed. Students with advanced or accelerated scores will be permitted to miss the whole day the following year for sections of the test that the scored this high on. Last, Students who pass all sections with at least three advanced scores and rest accelerated will not have to take any semester tests. Also as a school if 80% of Sophomores pass all five parts of the O.G.T., they will be treated to a movie. If the school's Performance Index is above 90, the school will have a games day. Good luck to all those who will be taking the O.G.T. this spring!

– Emily Ash

World News

 

    The Grand Old Party (GOP) Has four candidates running for office, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul. As of now no ones sure who's going to win the debate season. It's close between Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich. The last debate was in Arizona and the main topic was the issue with immigration. Polls show that Romney has a god lead in Arizona but his home state of Michigan shows a close race between him and Santorum. An NBC News-Marist survey released on February 22, showed that 37 percent of likely voters in michigan say their backing Romney, and 35 percent back Santorum. The up coming primaries and caucuses on Super Tuesday Are Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia.

No Really's?

Swedish man lasts over a month trapped in a car

In Stockholm a Swedish man was being treated in hospital Sunday after being dug out alive from his snow-buried car in which he had survived for two months with no food, according to police and local media. The 45-year-old from southern Sweden was found on Friday, emaciated and too weak to utter more than a few words. The temperature in the area had recently dropped to -22F (-30C). He was found not far from the city of Umea in the north of Sweden by snowmobilers who thought they had come across a car wreck until they dug their way to a window and saw movement inside. The man, who was lying in the back seat in sleeping bag, said he had been in the car since December 19.

Man walks into Walmart naked and buys socks

A southeastern Pennsylvania man is behind bars after police say he walked naked into a Philadelphia-area Walmart and stole a pair of socks. Verdon Lamont Taylor, 32, was arrested Wednesday night after police say he stripped off his clothes in the parking lot of the Exton store and went inside. Police said that surveillance footage shows the 6-foot-4, 300-pound Downingtown man walking around the store wearing nothing but a pair of socks he had stolen there. The video also shows shoppers avoiding Taylor. Authorities say they used a stun gun to subdue Taylor after he refused to comply with officers' orders and spat in an officer’s face. Taylor was arraigned on charges including aggravated assault and indecent exposure, local media said. He's being held on $50,000 bail at Chester County Prison.

Online court records do not list an attorney for Taylor, according to The Associated Press.

A fugitive runs out of gas , and calls sheriff for help.

A 59-year-old fugitive is back behind bars after he ran out of gas in Wyoming and called the local sheriff's office for roadside assistance. The Wyoming Highway Patrol said Tuesday that Richard Vincent of Prineville, Ore., was wanted in Georgia for violating parole on a murder and escape conviction. Vincent called the Uinta (YOO'-ihn-tah) County Sheriff's Office sent state troopers to help him out. When they learned that Vincent had an outstanding felony warrant from Atlanta, he was taken into custody. Vincent is now being held for Georgia authorities pending extradition.

– Emily Ash

School Board

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