Winter Sports Roundup

February 27, 2019 The Hawk Leave a comment

Boys Hockey

Despite a strong season, the team bowed out of tournament play in the D3 South quarterfinals. With a record of 16-2-2, Hanover earned top seed going into tournament play. They received a first round bye and beat 16th seed Nantucket 4-2 on March 1 to advance to the quarterfinals. In a tough contest March 2 against 9th seed Ashland, who finished the regular season 13-5-3, Hanover lost 2-0.

It was a disappointing finish a year after making it to the D3 State Final, but the season had a lot to cheer about. Senior captain Lucas Lanagan helped lead the team, and senior Kevin Chandler was solid in the net.

Girls Hockey

Seeded 20th in Division 2 South tournament, the team suffered a heartbreaking loss in the first round to end the season. Up against 13th seed Bishop Fenwick on Feb. 26, the squad trailed until midway through the third period before tying it up with two goals within a minute. The game went into double overtime before Bishop Fenwick pulled off the 3-2 win.

Boys Basketball

Some observers never expected Hanover, which graduated several key seniors, to be a contender this year. But the team played relentlessly all season, compiling a 17-3 record and winning the Patriot League Fisher Division title on Senior Night. Seeded 3rd in the Division 2 South tournament, Hanover kicked off the post-season with a nail-biting win over 14th seed Milton on Feb. 28. The game came down to the final minutes, when Hanover pulled ahead 56-53. Junior Pat Damon had 21 points, while senior captain James Clarkson added 15.

In the quarterfinals March 3, Hanover hosted 6th seeded Scituate, a tough competitor in the regular season. In front of a standing room only crowd, the teams fought hard, exchanging their hold on the lead until Scituate pulled away late in the 4th quarter. Scituate took the game, 62-56.

The team was led by Clarkson, the Patriot League MVP, who also was named a league All Star along with Damon and seniors Michael Simon and Steven Simon. Clarkson also captained the team with seniors Joe Clinton and Andrew Carroll.

Girls Basketball

Led by a strong roster of returning players, Hanover played with heart all season but fell short of making the tournament. The team was led by senior captains Erin Flynn, Janey Devlin and Kathryn Fallon. While the team will be graduating five seniors, sophomore starters Clare Connolly and Emily Flynn, as well as two freshmen who made varsity, help lay a solid foundation for next year.

Swimming & Diving

Senior diver Lauren O’Sullivan ended the season as the undefeated Patriot League Champion. Led by captains O’Sullivan, Danielle Taft, Dan Greene and Olivia Reddish, the team sent several swimmers to the Division 2 State meet. The 200 Free Relay of senior Danielle Taft, freshman Caris Mann, sophomore Kelly Taft and junior Sarah Gavin finished 14 in the 200 Free Relay and 19th in the Medley Relay. Mann earned 9th place in the 200 IM and 25th in the 100 Breast. Danielle Taft finished 27th in the 100 Back.

Gymnastics

For the second straight year, the team won the Patriot League Championship. They defeated a tough Pembroke/Silver Lake team in their final meet of the season for the title. At the championship meet, sophomore Kayleen Boutin placed first on the vault, third on bars and first on floor. Paige Leigh, a junior, tied for third on beam. Junior Sydney Thai tied for second on floor. Sophomore Delaney Condon finished fourth in the All Around competition. Team captains were seniors Julia Leskow and Abby Stone.

Wrestling

The team earned MIAA Educational Athletic Awards for Community Service on Feb. 1.

Senior Matt McLeod broke the school record for career pins while also earning his 100th win. He finished 6th in the D3 Divisional Meet in the 160 lb. weight class and earned a trip to All States. McLeod also led the team as a captain, along with senior Pat Brown. Jack Long, a junior, won the South Sectional championship in the 195 lb. weight class. Jack is only the second sectional champ in recent years.

Dance Team

The team hosted youth dance clinics and performed at home basketball games all season to perfect their routine before competitions began. The hard work paid off, with a first place finish at the Braintree Winter Invitational on Feb. 16. The state competition takes place March 5 at Weymouth High School.

Indoor Track

Senior captain Alyssa Nee was voted MVP of the Patriot League. At the Division 4 All State Meet, she finished 7th in the 1000m with a time of 3:08.36. Sophomore Chris Pacino finished 13th in the mile with a time of 4:46.75

Ski Team

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hanover Ski Team (@hanoverskiteam)

This team seems to fly under the radar every year, but its members don’t seem to mind. They’re having too much fun on the slopes. This year’s captains were seniors Mathew Meads, Harry O’Brien, Haraden Bottomley and Mikayla Chabot.

Sports

Patriots Capture 6th Super Bowl Title

February 6, 2019 The Hawk Leave a comment

By Andrew Carroll

Going into Super Bowl LIII, many people expected the matchup between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams to be a high-scoring shootout. But the Pats’ 13-3 win over the Rams on Sunday ended up being a defensive battle instead.

With the score only 3-0 at the half, many were starting to question what was going on with both offenses. On the Patriots’ first drive, they moved the ball well until an ill-advised throw by Tom Brady led to an interception by Cory Littleton. But the Rams went nowhere with the ball and had to punt it away. On the second drive, the Patriots moved the ball well again and got within field goal range only to have Stephen Gostkowski miss a 46-yard kick to keep the game scoreless going into the second quarter. Gostkowski eventually returned to get the Patriots on the board with a successful 42-yard field goal kick before the half ran out. The Rams punted on their first eight possessions of the game, while the Patriots were able to move the ball with Julian Edelman, who caught every pass that came his way. He could not be covered the entire game and finished with ten catches for 141 yards and the Super Bowl MVP.

In the second half, the Rams finally moved the ball into field goal range and Greg Zuerlein nailed a 53-yarder to tie the game at 3. The rest of the third quarter was back and forth, without a lot going on. But in the fourth quarter, the offenses started to move the ball and make plays. The Patriots brought pressure in the fourth quarter to make Rams QB Jared Goff think faster, and when he did, he struggled. The Pats sacked Goff four times and he was either pressed or hit on most of his throws.

When the Patriots got the ball with about 9 minutes left in the fourth quarter, they needed a vintage Brady drive to score a touchdown to take the lead. The drive started on their own 31-yard line, and Brady hit Gronk on an 18-yard touch pass to get the drive going. After that, Brady went to Edelman on a 13-yard catch over the middle for another first down. You could see that Brady and the Pats started to figure out this Rams defense and Brady found his rhythm. A few plays later, on Tom’s best throw of the night, he hit Gronk down the seam for 29 yards on a perfect pass that landed the Pats on the two-yard line. On the next play, Sony Michel punched it into the end zone for the first touchdown of the game, making it 10-3. The Rams got the ball and moved it all the way to the Patriots’ 24 yard line. On 2nd and 6, the Pats brought a blitz and when Goff tried to throw it up to Brandin Cooks, he was intercepted by Stephen Gilmore. It was the play the Patriots needed to close out the game.

After the pick, the Patriots got two huge runs by Rex Burkhead and Michel. Both went for 26 yards leading to a Gostkowski 41-yard field goal to make the score 13-3. After a last attempt by the Rams, the Patriots got the ball back, and Brady took the snap, kneeled down and won himself his 6th Super Bowl. It is the most titles by any one player in NFL history, and tied the Pittsburgh Steelers with most wins by a franchise. This team was doubted all year long. I never shied away because as long as they have Brady and Belichick, they are always going to be in it.

Entertainment, Opinion

Super Bowl Halftime Show Fizzles Out

February 4, 2019 The Hawk Leave a comment

By Lexi Rynning

I was very disappointed with Super Bowl LIII’s Pepsi halftime show, featuring Maroon 5, Travis Scott and Big Boi. I went into the show with such high expectations and it did nothing for me. There was a lot of flash for very little substance. The song choices, which included Maroon 5’s hits “This Love” and “Girls Like You,” could have been better. I was bored. I wanted to jump around and sing along but I couldn’t because it was so unexciting. I hated the outfit choice of Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine as well. It was a poorly executed halftime show with very little storyline, nothing to get me engaged. Yeah, sure, fire is cool, but if you don’t have anything backing it up, it’s pointless to include it in the first place.

I think that Travis Scott, best known for “Sicko Mode,” did a decent job but I feel like he should have cut out the curse words in his songs to make it a family-friendly concert. With all the words being bleeped out, you could hardly recognize the song. I was very upset with Big Boi’s performance. This is more of a personal gripe because when I heard he was performing, I got very excited to hear his hit song “All Night.” He didn’t even end up singing it.

I think the stage setup was very boring and static. With the huge budget they most likely had, the producers could have utilized more technology and maybe even some auto tune. Overall, I think the halftime show didn’t live up to the hype, and many critics agreed, using words such as “bland” and “underwhelming” to describe it.The Atlantic magazine called it “designed to be forgotten.”

Entertainment, Opinion

Gillette Ad on Toxic Masculinity Causes Controversy

February 1, 2019 calliagilligan Leave a comment

By Callia Gilligan

Gillette, a well-known Boston-based razor company, has recently put out a new commercial that does not feature razors. Instead, it draws attention to the idea of toxic masculinity.

If you haven’t already seen the video, watch it here.

What is toxic masculinity? While there are many different ways to describe the idea, at its root it is the notion of what it means to be a “real” man. This could mean not showing emotions, having a belligerent nature or having dominion over things. It is often believed that because the idea of being a “man” is so important, men act hostile or extra aggressive and repress their emotions. The Gillette commercial featured this idea and went into depth about how toxic masculinity influences societal norms for men.

There are many opinions on this commercial. Some say it was a way to call out men and make them feel ashamed. Others argue that it perfectly addresses a serious problem in our culture. Some are angry at the fact that the ad focuses on politics instead of razors. While everyone’s opinion is valuable and deserves to be heard, I’d like to share mine.

I personally thought the commercial was well-done and addressed issues that we as a country face. It talks about how society often uses the phrase “boys will be boys” to excuse aggressive or inappropriate behavior. Not only did it address toxic masculinity, but I thought it did a great job of addressing topics like victim shaming. People, specifically women, go through a lot to avoid getting sexually harassed. We are taught to not walk alone at night, to not wear suggestive clothing, to train ourselves so we’ll be able to defend ourselves if ever needed. This commercial reversed that by making the point that behaviors such as cat-calling make people feel the need to protect themselves. It drew notice to the fact that this behavior will always be the attacker’s fault, never the victim’s. I also though the commercial did a really could job of addressing the societal norms that men and women are expected to uphold. I feel like some feminists can get a little to obsessed with the adversities that women face and ignore the fact that men can face similar ones.

Many people say that the commercial was unfair because it pointed fingers at men and made them feel poorly of themselves. While I do see where this point was coming from, I would like to draw attention to the decades of commercials that have sexualized or objectified women. Rather than exposing the problems with those conventional ideas, those commercials gave into them, making women feel poorly of themselves.

Overall, whether you liked or disliked the commercial, I think it deserves thought. I feel it calls attention to behaviors and norms in society that shouldn’t exist. It’s important to ask yourself: do you ever see, participate in or experience this behavior? If so, what are you going to do about it?

I congratulate Gillette for acknowledging the power of its media presence. They took a risk, making a commercial they knew might anger some, in order to spark a conversation — and maybe even a change — in society.

News

Mrs. McCusker: Reading is Key to her History

January 28, 2019 tsullivan20 1 Comment

By Tim Sullivan

Mrs. McCusker’s love for books goes beyond simply reading in her free time. When she was a student in high school, she had her own personal “library” and would lend books to her friends! She went to Apponequet High School in Lakeville, a place she says has nothing but “farmers and cranberry bogs.” She spent most of her time in high school playing field hockey, basketball and softball.

Mrs. McCusker didn’t always want to be a teacher. She originally thought she wanted to do something directly related to books, majoring in business at Syracuse University. She worked in retail after graduation and eventually went back to school to get her Master’s degree in history and library science. After working as a librarian in Newton, she had a connection in Hanover and became the librarian for Center/Sylvester Elementary School. She was the Hanover High School librarian for many years, and then became a history teacher. Currently, she teaches junior World History and senior Humanities.

Along with her love for books, Mrs. McCusker loves history. She enjoys reading and speaking about it, and wakes up every day excited to share her passion with her students. Instead of focusing on facts and figures alone, she would rather make connections through history and create an environment in her classroom where students feel like they can “communicate and share ideas (and) voice their opinions.” She wants her students to leave her class prepared for college, skilled in taking notes, writing, synthesizing information and identifying main ideas.

Mrs. McCusker is married to a Curry College professor and has two children. She spends a lot of her free time on the sidelines watching her children play sports and she loves it, especially soccer. Her favorite television show is called “Men in Blazers,” a British broadcast of soccer highlights. She loves to travel with her family and usually starts her summers off that way. Both she and her husband don’t “do well” with summer, she said; they like having a schedule. After they travel, visit with family, and make a few trips to the Museum of Fine Arts, they get pretty bored. Mrs. McCusker tries to take a new class each summer as she believes it’s important to keep learning as you are teaching. Last year, she studied Islamic Art, and the year before, it was Colonial Africa. She takes pride in knowing the World History classes she teaches today touch on a wide range of places and not just the European and American history she learned in high school.

One of her favorite days of the year is September 1st, right before school begins. She thinks it’s sort of like a “second New Year’s Day,” another opportunity for a fresh start; most jobs don’t come with this luxury. Over the years, she’s found inspiration from her close friend and colleague, retired English teacher Mr. Hopkins, admiring the way he always sees the positive in everyone and believes every day is a new day. Mr. Hopkins would never say a bad thing about anybody, Mrs. McCusker said, and that is how she wants to live her life. She also pointed out that even though he taught a lot of the same material for over 30 years, he would never complain about reteaching the same book, instead, he saw the best in it and found something new about it every time.

Sports

Patriots Strive for Another Super Bowl Win

January 28, 2019 The Hawk Leave a comment

By Andrew Carroll

The Patriots are back in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in the last five years, and for the ninth time in the Brady-Belichick era. Many thought the Patriots wouldn’t get there this year, but their 37-31 overtime win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship clinched the spot. If you ever doubted Brady and Belichick, then you were wrong. Since 2001, this has been the most dominant dynasty in sports history. Nine trips to the Super Bowl, five wins, and now a chance for their sixth Lombardi Trophy, which would tie the Pittsburgh Steelers as the winningest franchise in the NFL. No sports team in the salary cap era will ever be able to replicate this. The way the Patriots have been able to compete for the Super Bowl year in and year out is unlike anything ever seen before. Belichick is arguably the greatest coach in the NFL, and Brady is the best player in league history.

In Super Bowl LIII next Sunday, the Pats will face the Los Angeles Rams, who defeated the New Orleans Saints in overtime for the NFC Championship. The Rams are led by a 33-year old head coach Sean McVay, fourth-year quarterback Jared Goff, running back Todd Gurley (an MVP candidate), and Aaron Donald, one of the best defensive players in the league. No strangers to the game, I believe the Patriots will not be impacted by all the “Super Bowl distractions” this week. But the Rams, on the other hand, will be dealing with media day, an extra week of practice, and an extended halftime — all of which could all be a factor in the game. In an early prediction, I am going with the Patriots because of their outstanding play of late. But the Rams, who definitely have the firepower to shut down the Patriots, should not be counted out.

Side Note: The Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams in the 2002 Super Bowl, 20-17, which started this unbelievable run.

Entertainment, News

YEAR IN REVIEW: Tea Time with Tim

January 16, 2019 tsullivan20 Leave a comment

By Tim Sullivan

2019 has finally arrived! The new year brings a fresh start for everyone and gives us a chance to reflect on the events that took place last year. There were a lot of memorable moments from the entertainment world in 2018, dare I say, a lot of tea . . .

Famous Births

Arguably the most talked about pregnancy of the year was Kylie Jenner. Although rumors abounded, she and boyfriend Travis Scott kept it a secret right up until their daughter, Stormi, was born. The news was finally broken on Feb. 4, three days after birth. Scott and Jenner are still together.

Across the pond, Prince Louis, the third child of Prince William and Duchess Kate, was born April 23. The royal couple has an older son and daughter.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West also had their third child, a baby girl named Chicago, on Jan. 15.

Famous Deaths

Sadly we lost some of the greats in the last year, from the pioneer of comic books to a critically acclaimed rapper.

Aretha Franklin “Queen of Soul,” 3/25/52 – 8/16/18

Burt Reynolds Actor, Oscar Nominee, 2/11/36 – 9/6/18

Stan Lee Marvel Comics Creator, Appeared in Marvel Films, 12/28/22 – 11/12/18

Penny Marshall Actress, Director, 10/15/43 – 12/17/18

Anthony Bourdain Chef, Televison Personality, 6/25/56 – 6/8/18

Mac Miller Rapper, 1/19/92 – 6/7/18

Stand-outs on Screen

This year’s blockbusters included “Crazy Rich Asians,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Incredibles 2,” “Black Panther,” and, my personal favorite, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” These films crushed the box office, earning anywhere from $200,000 all the way to well over $1,000,000,000. One of the biggest names in TV Shows this year was Sandra Oh in “Killing Eve.” She was also the first Asian-American woman to be nominated for an Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a drama series, according to Vail Daily.

High Risers on the Music Charts

Childish Gambino, Cardi B, and, of course, Ariana Grande released some of the most notable tunes of 2018. These include “I Like it,” “This is America” and my personal favorite, “Thank you, Next.” Artists like Drake, Post Malone, Camilla Cabello, and Shawn Mendes also topped the charts.

Scandals in Entertainment

There was more to talk about this past year than just Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson breaking up; some serious scandals also occurred in 2018.

Tristan Thompson got caught red-handed on video cheating on pregnant girlfriend Khloe Kardashian just as the star was about to give birth. After their daughter, True, was born, the two stars decided to work it out and are still together, healing for the sake of their family.

Roseanne Barr’s reboot of her popular sitcom “Roseanne” was quickly canceled following a racist tweet that Barr sent out about one of President Obama’s former staff members. ABC claimed that her tweet was quite inconsistent with their values and something like that could not just slide by. The show attempted to continue without her by killing off her character.

Demi Lovato, who has struggled with addiction for years and gotten clean several times, almost lost her life this year. After being brought back from overdose with Narcan, Lovato entered rehab and is now well over 90 days sober.

Marriages

The last topic of Tea for 2018 is Marriages, and this past year we had a lot! All of these couples seem very happy and I wish them the best for the future.

Prince Harry and Former Hollywood star Meghan Markle tied the knot in May.

Supermodel Karlie Kloss and Joshua Kushner got married last October.

Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin had a whirlwind love story that ended up with the two married in 2018, exact date unknown.

Just before Christmas on Dec. 23, on-again off-again couple Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth finally exchanged vows.

Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra also got married in December.

2018 was packed with events, births, deaths, and media that rocked the entertainment world! This past year was totally one to remember and no one knows what 2019 will bring. Will the teapot fill with new scandals? Only time will tell.

Featured picture from Kingfisher.agency

Sports

YEAR IN REVIEW: 2019 Sports Predictions

January 16, 2019 The Hawk Leave a comment

By Joe Clinton

The year of 2018 left us with a lot of memorable sports moments that one can only hope 2019 can live up to. The Philadelphia Eagles won their first ever Super Bowl, the Boston Red Sox took the World Series after an 108-win season, and breakout superstar Kylian Mbappe led France to the the World Cup crown. Add in championships by the Washington Capitols, Golden State Warriors, Alabama, and Villanova, and 2018 was a tough year to beat. Will 2019 measure up? Here are my predictions for the new year starting off with a few sports that are already in season.

NFL

Already in the divisional round of playoffs, there is less for me to predict here. But I think the Super Bowl this year will be a contest between the New England Patriots and the New Orleans Saints. It was very hard to resist throwing the Eagles in that mix, as they seem to have that “it” factor to make it through the playoffs as an underdog. But I think that the Saints will top the Patriots, 35-28. The dominant offense of Brees, Thomas, Ingram, and Kamara will be too much for the Patriots defense to handle when it comes to crunch time.

NBA

The question everyone asks is whether there will be a team capable of competing with the Golden State Warriors. Although their 27-14 record so far this season is a rough start by their standards, I still believe there is no one who will be able to top them when it comes to June. My Eastern Conference Championship will be the Boston Celtics over the Toronto Raptors in seven games. The Celtics, of course, have had their issues early on but all that talent and strong coaching will come through during the playoffs. I see the Warriors from the West topping the Houston Rockets in six games and then ultimately winning the NBA Finals in six games as well.

NCAA Basketball

This is always a hard prediction as there are just so many teams out there and so much that can change in the season. I’m going to start off with predicting my Final Four with Duke, Michigan, Gonzaga, and Texas Tech. Teams to still watch closely include Virginia, Tennessee, Michigan State, and Kansas, all currently ranked higher than Texas Tech. I think the defense of Texas Tech will set them apart from the others during the tournament. My championship game will be Michigan beating Duke, 75-70, behind a 25-point outing from Ignas Brazdeikis.

NHL

I don’t know much about hockey so I just took a peek at the standings and saw the Bruins in third place in their division. This is good enough for me to believe they’ll make a run in the playoffs and find their way into the Stanley Cup again. I predict they’ll face off against the Calgary Flames. And sure, why not? I predict they’ll win the whole thing this year simply because I don’t know enough to say anyone else.

MLB

With Opening Day still far off, this discussion really is up in the air. So my ALCS will be a rematch of last year, the Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros. The Yankees will fall short simply because the American League will be such a powerhouse next year. Unfortunately, I do not see the Red Sox returning to the World Series, and predict a matchup between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers. For the Dodgers, it would be their third trip in a row to the title game.

Featured image from nbcsports.com

Entertainment

YEAR IN REVIEW: Music

January 16, 2019 calliagilligan Leave a comment

By Callia Gilligan

2018 was a long, long year that has finally come to a close. While it was a controversial year for, well, pretty much everything, the music world was thriving. The 61st Grammy nominations came out in December, and there isn’t one artist who doesn’t deserve to win on the Feb. 10 awards show. While I don’t enjoy a lot of the music that is mainstream today, I do love music. I wanted to put together a list of the most enjoyed, played and well-received songs by not only the general population of America, but also students in school.

To put together this list I started with the Spotify app’s “2018 Most Viral Songs” playlist. I then looked at the Billboard Hot 100 song list for the week of Christmas. There were 16 songs that appeared on both lists. I paired the songs into groups of two based on the number of weeks it was on the Billboard 100. I wanted to pair songs together based on their release date, so a song from January wasn’t going against a song from June. The one from January could have easily had a bigger following and I wanted to make it fair. I put eight polls on my Instagram story and invited people to vote for the best song of the pairs. With that, I narrowed it down to the eight best songs of 2018. Here they are, in no particular order:

1) “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

Image result for a star is born — Variety.com

This song premiered with the movie A Star is Born featuring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, who also directed. It very quickly went viral, reaching #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in its first weeks. On my Instagram poll, it was up against “Taki Taki” by DJ Snake. It was a close vote but “Shallow” won with 59% of the votes. Both the movie A Star is Born and the song Shallow have been well-received since their release, and both are worth a watch and a listen.

2) “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee

Image result for sunflower post malone — capitalxtra.com

Another song written for a movie, “Sunflower” debuted in October, ahead of the December release of Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. The song peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The song won its poll against Bad Bunny’s “MIA” by a landslide, with 86 percent of the votes.

3) “Sicko Mode” by Travis Scott

Image result for sicko mode — youtube.com

This song was a collaboration with the likes of Drake and many others. It spent two consecutive weeks as number two on the Hot 100 until reaching its peak position at number one. In its poll, it beat out “Beautiful” by Bazzi with 63 percent of the votes.

4) “Better” by Khalid

“Better” has spent a total of 15 weeks on the chart with a peak position of number 29. The low peak showed in the poll. It was a close race, topping Halsey’s “Without Me” by only two percent of the votes.

5) “Close To Me” by Ellie Goulding

A comeback for the British singer-songwriter, “Close to Me” has spent six weeks on chart. Even though it only reached 57 on the Billboard chart, fans loved it. It won its poll against Silk City and Dua Lipa’s “Electricity” with 64 percent of the votes.

6) “Lucid Dreams” by Juice WRLD“Lucid Dreams” reached number one on the Hot 100. However, it barely beat out Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You” in the Instagram poll, winning 56 percent of the votes.

7) “Better Now” by Post Malone

Image result for better now post malone — youtube.com

“Better Now” has spent 35 weeks on the chart, reaching as high as number three. It won its poll against Cardi B’s “I Like It” with 54 percent of the votes.

8) “thank you, next” by Ariana Grande

Image result for thank you, next — youtube.com

How could it not be here? “thank you, next” is one of Grande’s many viral hits this year. It came in the wake of her short-lived engagement to comedian Pete Davidson. The music video had as much success as the song, parodying Grande’s favorite movies. The song references all of her past relationships and is an anthem to moving on. It’s inspired countless memes and prompted many jokes made by none other than Davidson himself on SNL. It won its poll against “Happier” by Marshmello and Bastille with 71 percent of votes.

News

YEAR IN REVIEW: Government Shutdown

January 16, 2019 drewmurphy20 Leave a comment

By Drew Murphy

Happy Holidays! The U.S. government gave thousands of employees what amounts to a lump of coal in their stockings by partially shutting down at midnight Dec. 21. In a normal year, Congress approves a spending budget for each agency of the government for the following year by Sept. 30. This year, Congressional leaders and the President could not agree on a new budget because the President wants $5 billion included to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border; many in Congress oppose the wall. The shutdown is partial because 75 percent of government funding was already approved for the budget year that started on October 1, 2018. Agencies previously approved for funding include Labor, Energy, Defense, Health and Human Services, Education and Veterans Affairs. Some of the agencies affected by the partial shutdown are Homeland Security, Justice, IRS and other Department of Treasury offices. There have been 22 federal government shutdowns in the United States in the past 40 years, including three in the last year alone.

What is a shutdown? A shutdown happens when Congress fails to pass or the President fails to sign legislation to fund the federal government’s operations. In a shutdown, an agency no longer has the money to operate and must stop those activities that are not deemed essential. Many employees of the federal government are then furloughed, which means they are forced to take a leave of absence without pay. It is usually temporary, and once legislation is passed to fund the government, those employees can go back to work. More than 380,000 federal employees face unpaid time off in the current shutdown. This includes almost all of NASA, portions of the Commerce Department, Transportation Department, Treasury Department, Housing and Urban Development and Forest and National Park Service. Congress could pass legislation to pay these workers for any pay missed as a result of furloughs.

Other employees, referred to as “excepted,” have to continue to work without pay because their jobs involve the safety of people’s lives or the protection of property. More than 420,000 federal employees, including workers from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and other law enforcement, must work through the shutdown. These workers are not likely to receive any compensation until it ends, and legislation will need to be passed to pay them retroactively.

Are we at Hanover High School affected by this shutdown? For the most part, we’re not, unless you have a parent or relative that has to work for no pay or is forced to take time off. The National Parks are open, but garbage and waste is beginning to pile up. The Smithsonian Museums and the National Zoo are among the museums and monuments closed; I’m sure the current Hanover 8th graders are glad their field trip to Washington D.C. isn’t happening this month. Additionally, new homebuyers may not get loans they were applying for, delaying the purchase and sale of homes currently on the market in Hanover. If you were planning on keeping tabs on NASA missions and discoveries, you’ll have to wait. Employees that run NASA TV have been furloughed. Additionally, if you were going to buy the next hot initial public stock offering, you’re out of luck as the Securities and Exchange Commission employees are also furloughed.

Hopefully, the President and Congress will do their job in the New Year and come to a compromise so that all agencies and employees can resume their normal operations.

Featured picture from cbsnews.com