National Archives wants volunteers with ‘superpower’ to read cursive
Cursive seems to be a lost art, but there’s an opportunity for history enthusiasts, who also still value the traditional handwriting style. The National Archives is looking for volunteers to transcribe more than 200 years’ worth of documents written in cursive.
It’s for a collaboration with the National Park Service to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday.
The materials include Revolutionary War pension records, immigration documents from the 1890s and Japanese evacuation records.
Cursive writing is traced back to ancient Roman scribes, which eventually evolved into the modern forms of cursive used today.
But since the rise of computers, phones and tablets, handwriting has become less common.
“Reading cursive is a superpower,” the community manager with the National Archives catalog, Suzanne Isaacs told USA Today.
Many states are still teaching cursive to kids. California and New Hampshire were the most recent states to pass legislation making it mandatory.
According to Education Week, 24 states in total require cursive writing to be taught in schools for students K-12.
That’s fewer than half of what was required 25 to 30 years ago.
Meanwhile, some states like Maine and Montana leave it up to the individual school districts to decide whether to require students to learn cursive.
For those interested in helping the National Archives, people can register for a free account online with the National Archives and click on “citizen archivist.”
Then those registered can begin reading available documents that are ready to be cataloged.
Gov. Abbott threatens Texas A&M president’s job over DEI conference
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is determined to enforce the state’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at public universities. Abbott threatened to remove Texas A&M President Mark Welsh after a conservative activist claimed the university may be violating the ban by attending a conference that only allows minorities to participate.
Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, shared a screenshot of an email on X, formerly known as Twitter. The email, sent by a representative from Mays Business School, invited Texas A&M to attend an annual conference hosted by The PhD Project.
Rufo also shared a screenshot detailing the conference’s eligibility requirements. The requirements stated that attendees must identify as Black, Hispanic or Native American.
When a social media user asked if Texas would tolerate such actions, Abbott responded, “Hell, no. It’s against Texas law and violates the U.S. Constitution. It will be fixed immediately or the president will soon be gone.”
Hell, no.
It’s against Texas law and violates the US Constitution.
“Texas A&M does not support any organization, conference, process or activity that excludes people based on race, creed, gender, age or any other discriminating factor,” Welsh said.
The state’s Senate Bill 17 took effect in January 2024. The law bans universities from having DEI offices, requiring DEI statements or training and offering preferential treatment based on race, sex, color or ethnicity. However, the law allows certain DEI-related activities for recruitment and research purposes. Texas A&M’s legal counsel believed that applied to The PhD Project conference.
Despite this, Welsh confirmed that the university would no longer participate in the conference. However, the university had attended in previous years before the law was enacted.
Following the public controversy, other Texas universities, including the University of Texas System, University of North Texas and Texas Tech University, also announced they would not attend the conference.
Parent sues Texas high school football coach after 400 push-up workout
A parent is suing her son’s former Texas high school football coach and a dozen assistant coaches after she says her son was pushed over his limit and ended up in the hospital. According to the lawsuit, in January 2023, the staff ordered the Rockwall-Heath High School players to complete nearly 400 push-ups in under an hour as a penalty for infractions seen during an off-season practice.
The lawsuit filed last month, almost two years later, said days after the workout, 26 players were taken to the hospital where they were diagnosed or showing symptoms of rhabdomyolysis. The Cleveland Clinic describes the condition as a “rare muscle injury where your muscles break down … a life-threatening condition that can happen after an injury or excessive exercise without rest.” The clinic says it “can cause kidney damage.”
Mike Sawicki, the attorney representing the parent suing the coaching staff, said the former head coach John Harrell had a responsibility to take care of the players.
“The problem here is that this is a real, potential harm,” Sawicki said. “This is not, I stubbed my toe or this is not I’m a little winded after running some sprints. This is a potentially long-term, life-affecting injury, and it’s not something you’re just going to tough out.”
An investigation commissioned by the Rockwall Independent School District found Harrell did not know about rhabdomyolysis when designing his workout plans. However, once he learned about students being injured, he began researching the condition and notifying his players to seek medical attention.
The school district placed Harrell on administrative leave shortly after the initial allegations came out. He resigned in March 2023, two months later. Some players at the time defended their coach.
“He would never make us do a workout thinking that it was going to put any of us at risk,” Brady Luff, the junior team captain, told WFAA-TV in January 2023.
According to the investigation, players who spoke out about their injuries were being bullied online and there was a concerted effort by some in the football community to discredit them.
The suit is seeking compensation for medical expenses incurred by the injury.
Sawicki said he has settled two other lawsuits against Harrell from parents whose kids were part of the workout. He said this is the first to involve assistant coaches.
The attorney told The Washington Post he does not believe Harrell is an evil person but says he and his coaching staff were responsible for creating a safe program, including knowing about the risks of an excessive workout plan.
New Ohio law notifies parents of child’s gender identity changes
Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed 30 bills into law Wednesday, Jan. 8. One of those bills was legislation that requires schools to notify parents if their child’s gender identity does not align with their sex.
The new law also allows parents to opt their child out of instruction related to sexuality and gender. It further bans lessons on sexuality for students in kindergarten through third grade.
The legislation defines “sexuality content” as “any oral or written instruction, presentation, image or description of sexual concepts or gender ideology provided in a classroom setting.”
The bill emphasizes that “a parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent’s child.”
“If you’re a parent, you want to be informed with what’s going on in your child’s life,” DeWine said. “The parents are the best teachers, they’re the first teachers, the best teachers.”
Critics of the bill have dubbed it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, drawing comparisons to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, passed and signed into law in 2022.
LGBTQ+ advocates in Ohio warn this law could put transgender children in danger if they come from unsupportive families.
Equality Ohio Executive Director Dwayne Steward expressed his disappointment in a statement: “It’s deeply disappointing that Gov. DeWine has signed HB 8 when it was opposed by educators and the LGBTQ+ community alike because it punishes teachers and staff for supporting LGBTQ+ students who are already targets of bullying and harassment. We will continue to fight for an Ohio that makes all students feel safe and secure in their schools.”
Civil rights advocates are planning to file a lawsuit, according to reports from WEWS News.
In addition to the gender identity provisions, the new law also mandates that public schools allow students to leave class for religious instruction.
Georgia teen arrested for bringing gun to school where 4 killed in past shooting
Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, canceled school and all extracurricular activities on Thursday, Jan. 9, after a 14-year-old student brought a gun to school just months after a gunman killed four people in September 2024. Local police arrested the teen Wednesday, Jan. 8, for bringing the weapon to the same school.
Authorities charged the student, who is not being identified due to his age, with two counts of possessing a weapon on school grounds, theft and being a minor in possession of a gun.
Barrow County deputies said they arrested the boy “without incident” Wednesday afternoon at the school and said there had been “no reports of the student threatening anyone with the gun.”
Police did not disclose the type of gun or what led up to the boy’s arrest.
In September, then-14-year-old Colt Gray allegedly shot and killed two students and two teachers at the school. Police said several others were wounded during the shooting.
Prosecutors charged Colt Gray as an adult, indicting him on 55 counts, including malice murder and aggravated assault.
Colt Gray pleaded not guilty.
His father, Colin Gray, also faces more than two dozen charges, including two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors claimed he gave his son access to guns despite “sufficient warning” that the then-14-year-old would hurt others.
Wildfires force thousands to evacuate Southern California
Three massive wildfires are burning out of control in Southern California, putting thousands of homes at risk. And President-elect Donald Trump shares his plans to acquire Greenland, the Panama Canal and bring Canada as the 51st state. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025.
Southern California wildfires force thousands to evacuate
Three separate wildfires are burning in the Los Angeles, California, area, and there is no end in sight, as strong winds are fueling the flames. The most extreme of the three is the Palisades Fire, which spans nearly 3,000 acres and has already forced 30,000 residents to evacuate.
Cities surrounding Pacific Palisades, including Malibu, issued evacuation orders. Officials there told all residents to prepare to leave their homes, whether they were under evacuation orders or not since the inferno was moving so quickly.
All hands are on deck to fight the #PalisadesFire in Southern California. California is deeply grateful for the brave firefighters & first responders battling the blaze.
We will continue to mobilize resources and support local communities as they respond to this severe weather. pic.twitter.com/JZrYy85e4z
The neighboring city of Santa Monica also issued an evacuation order for the northern part of the city. It also closed the area to the public, warning of an immediate threat to life.
As thousands of firefighters continue to battle the flames, authorities work to find the fire’s cause.
A second wildfire, dubbed the Eaton Fire, burns near Pasadena. A city spokeswoman said it has “created its own firestorm” with flying embers igniting at least a dozen other spot fires.
So far, the Eaton Fire has consumed about 1,000 acres. It engulfed homes and forced more than 100 people to evacuate from a nursing home — some in wheelchairs and on gurneys. A federal disaster declaration is now in effect for the Eaton Fire.
Crews are also battling the Hurst Fire about 100 acres in the San Fernando Valley, which is in the northern part of Los Angeles County. The Hurst Fire also prompted evacuation orders.
The Los Angeles County canceled schools in 19 districts Wednesday, Jan. 8. Plus, more than 200,000 people are without access to power, either because of the powerful Santa Ana winds or because a utility provider turned off electricity to prevent additional fires.
The forecast called for the winds to continue for days, producing gusts that could top 100 miles per hour in the mountains and foothills.
Biden administration asks federal appeals court to block 9/11 plea deals
The Biden administration asked a federal appeals court to block a plea agreement for accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The controversial deal would spare Mohammed from the death penalty for his role in planning the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
The deadly attack rocked the U.S. and began the war on terrorism.
In court filings Tuesday, Jan. 7, the Justice Department argued the government would be irreparably harmed if the guilty pleas were accepted for Mohammed and two co-defendants in the 9/11 attacks.
It said the government would be denied a chance for a public trial and the opportunity to “seek capital punishment against three men charged with a heinous act of mass murder that caused the death of thousands of people and shocked the nation and the world.”
The Defense Department negotiated and approved the plea deal but later revoked it.
However, attorneys for the defendants argued the deal was already legally in effect and that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who began the administration’s efforts to throw it out, acted too late.
Mohammed is set to enter his guilty plea on Friday, Jan. 10, if the appeal is not granted. His co-defendants, accused of lesser roles in 9/11, are due to enter theirs next week.
Harris, Johnson deliver eulogies for President Jimmy Carter
The 39th president died last week at the age of 100.
Carter’s body had been lying in repose since Saturday, Jan. 5, at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta before being transported Tuesday morning to Washington D.C.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson each delivered a eulogy during Tuesday’s ceremony
“We all know that his care for humanity didn’t stop at building homes,” Johnson said. “In the face of illness, President Jimmy Carter brought lifesaving medicine. In the face of conflict, he brokered peace. In the face of discrimination, he reminded us that we are all made in the image of God. If you were to ask him why he did it all, he would likely point to his faith.”
Harris highlighted Carter’s faith. She said, “James Earl Carter, Jr. loved our country. He lived his faith. He served the people. And he left the world better than he found it.”
Carter’s body will lie in state through Thursday morning, Jan. 9, and then be taken to the National Cathedral for a state funeral. Biden is expected to deliver a eulogy.
Trump suggests using military, economic force to expand America
In a wide-ranging press conference from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump touched on a bunch of topics, including a $20 billion foreign investment to build data centers in the U.S. He also talked about his plans to revoke Biden’s recent ban on offshore oil and natural gas drilling as well as expansion strategies for the United States.
Trump reiterated his goals of acquiring the Panama Canal, which has been under Panama’s sole control since 1999, and Greenland, a territory of Denmark.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., is leading an American delegation currently in Greenland, though the country’s prime minister said he is there as “a private individual.”
Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Egede reiterated this point, saying “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders. Our future and fight for independence is our business.”
A reporter asked the president-elect if he can assure that he would not use any military force to take control of either the Panama Canal or Greenland.
“I can’t assure you, you’re talking about Panama and Greenland,” Trump replied. “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two but, I can say this we need them for economic security. The Panama Canal was built for a military. I’m not going to commit to that now.”
In response to those remarks, the prime minister of Denmark called the United States its country’s “closest ally” and did not believe the U.S. would use any force to secure Greenland. Panama’s foreign minister repeated earlier comments from the country’s president that the sovereignty of the Panama Canal is not negotiable.
“[I’d use] economic force because Canada and the United States — that would really be something,” he said. “You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like. It would also be much better for national security. Don’t forget, we basically protect Canada.”
Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued his response in a post on X saying, “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”The president-elect also spoke of one more geographical goal of his in the upcoming term: to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, saying it “has a beautiful ring to it.”
Not long after his remarks, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said she directed her staff to begin drafting legislation for the name change.
Police: Former soldier used AI to plan Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion attack
New details are emerging about the man who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside Trump Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day. Las Vegas police said Tuesday the attacker used generative AI, including ChatGPT to plan the attack.
An investigation into former soldier Matthew Livelsberger, 37, found his search history on ChatGPT included questions about firearms and explosives. Straight Arrow News reporter Lauren Taylor has more details on the investigation into the Cybertruck explosion.
Girl Scout cookie season begins, 2 flavors discontinued
Girl Scout cookie season has arrived. The annual tradition is meant to teach young girls about entrepreneurial skills through selling boxes of cookies.
Almost everyone has a favorite, of course, but if yours is Girl Scout S’mores or Toast-Yay! Cookies — bad news. The Girl Scouts plan to retire those two flavors later this year.
The organization said discontinuing those two flavors may lead to something new and delicious.
Parents of alleged school shooter in Serbia sentenced to prison
In Serbia, the parents of a teenage boy who allegedly carried out a school shooting in 2023 were convicted and sentenced in connection with the crime on Monday, Dec. 2024. Police said the boy, Kosta Kecmanovic, committed the first mass school shooting in the country’s history.
The suspected killer was 13 years old when he allegedly shot and killed nine children and a school security guard and injured six other people. He was too young to be charged for the murders under Serbian law.
Authorities said that the teen used his father’s guns to carry out the shooting on May 3, 2023.
The Belgrade court sentenced the teen suspect’s father, Vladimir Kecmanovic, to more than 14 years in prison for “grave acts against public safety” and child neglect.
The teen’s mother, Mijana Kecmanovic, was sentenced to three years in prison for child neglect. However, she was acquitted of other charges.
Additionally, a shooting instructor at a range where Kosta Kecmanovic reportedly practiced was sentenced to 15 months in prison for false testimony during the trial.
The parents’ lawyer, Irina Borovic, argued immense public pressure led to the conviction and sentences of the couple, and she vowed to appeal the verdicts.
Ninela Radicevic, whose daughter was killed in the mass shooting, told the Associated Press that the victims’ families “are not satisfied because no one was held responsible for the murder of nine children” and a school guard.
The teenage boy, now 14, is reportedly in a “specialized institution.”
Musk, Ramaswamy criticized for comments about foreign work visas
The incoming co-chairs of the Department of Government Efficiency are being criticized for their comments about legal immigration and foreign work visas. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy said it’s necessary for companies to hire highly skilled foreign workers because the American workforce doesn’t have enough qualified candidates.
Musk said America needs more than 300,000 engineers immediately to help boost America’s semiconductor industry.
It wasn’t just what Musk and Ramaswamy said, though, it’s how they said it.
“The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low,” Musk posted on X.
No, we need more like double that number yesterday!
The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low.
Think of this like a pro sports team: if you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever…
Ramaswamy said the reason for the shortage is a problem with American culture.
“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers,” Ramaswamy wrote. “’Normalcy’ doesn’t cut it in a hyper-competitive global market for technical talent. And if we pretend like it does, we’ll have our asses handed to us by China.”
The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if…
That didn’t sit well with former South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley.
“There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture. All you have to do is look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers.”
There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture. All you have to do is look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should be investing and prioritizing in Americans, not foreign workers. https://t.co/fIGr45C3LD
President-elect Donald Trump supported bringing in more highly-skilled workers during the campaign.
“You graduate from a college I think you should get automatically as part of your diploma a green card,” Trump said in June on the “All-In Podcast.”
“I know of stories where people graduated from a top college or from a college and they desperately wanted to stay here, they had a plan for a company, a concept, and they can’t,” Trump continued. “They go back to India, they go back to China, they do the same basic company in those places and they become multibillionaires employing thousands and thousands of people and it could have been done here.”
Ramaswamy hopes Americans will strive to increase their achievements and called Trump’s election a potential Sputnik moment for prioritizing things like excellence, nerdiness and hard work.
Online school in Arizona adopts fully AI-taught curriculum for 2025
An online-based school in Arizona is outsourcing teaching duties entirely to artificial intelligence. The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools approved an application for an AI-based virtual academy in 2025.
Unbound Academy, which also operates in Texas and Florida under the name Alpha Schools, said kids can learn twice as much using a two-hour learning plan that AI customizes.
Instead of teaching, human adults help the students with motivation. The day starts with two hours of instruction on topics like math and science.
According to the application, the AI system, which is powered by platforms like IXL and Khan Academy, will analyze the students’ responses, time spent on tasks and emotional cues to adjust the learning plan.
After spending time on traditional subjects, students work on non-academics, including life skills like teamwork, leadership and social interactions.
Unbound said this type of AI is different from what’s behind programs like ChatGPT, because it provides a more personalized experience.
A 2024 poll by Impact Research for the Walton Family Foundation showed some interesting results about current teaching practices:
About half of teachers, 49%, say they use AI at least once a week, both in and out of school
37% said they have used AI to generate creative ideas for classes
32% have used AI to create lesson plans for classes
Another 32% say they’ve used AI to create worksheets or examples for students
31% have used AI to create quizzes or even tests
The Unbound school in Arizona will begin teaching students in fourth through eighth grade. Depending on the program’s success, they may also expand to K-8.
Unbound also applied to open schools in Utah and Arkansas.
Calif. lawmakers introduce bills to prevent ICE actions within 1 mile of schools
As President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration draws near, California lawmakers are introducing new measures that would prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents within a one-mile radius of a public school. The bills would also keep ICE agents off school grounds.
Under the proposed legislation, ICE agents would need a signed warrant from a judge to access school campuses.
Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi introduced Assembly Bill 49 to protect immigrant children from ICE actions at schools and child care facilities.
If the bill becomes law, day care center employees would be required to ensure ICE officers provide valid identification, a written purpose and a judicial warrant. Agents would also need to receive approval from the center’s director before entering a child care facility.
State Sen. Lena Gonzalez introduced Senate Bill 48. If passed, the legislation would prohibit California law enforcement from sharing information about students, families or school staff with immigration authorities for enforcement actions within one mile of a school.
The pair of bills are backed by State Superintendent Tony Thurmond. The bills are aimed at protecting schools from attendance drops or funding losses due to federal deportation threats.
“Unfortunately, the threat of federal immigration officials coming onto school grounds to detain undocumented students or family members casts a shadow of fear over all California students,” Muratsuchi said. “Students cannot learn if they are living in fear of being deported or separated from their family members. This bill is necessary because children should not be afraid to come to school, and parents should not be afraid to send their children to school.”
The proposed legislation comes as President-elect Trump vows the largest deportation effort in U.S. history. This comes after an unprecedented number of migrants crossed the U.S. southern border during President Joe Biden’s time in office.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection numbers show the agency encountered more than 11 million migrants in the last three and a half years at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” last week, Trump said he hopes Republicans and Democrats can work together on Capitol Hill to pass immigration reform.