Greta Thunberg’s photo at National Library
A photo taken of 16-year-old Sweden climate activist, Greta Thunberg, has been archived at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. according to U.S. News. The photo which was taken by Shane Balkowitsch on Oct. 28 captured Thunberg during her visit at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in Fort Yates North Dakota. Balkowitsch titled the picture “Standing For us All,” and told the Bismarck Tribute it was his, “Most impressive work to date.” Another photo of Thunberg will be featured at the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm.
A trip across North Dakota
Jim Puppe, a Fargo resident, spent over a decade traveling 113, 877 miles to all 617 towns of North Dakota. According to the Inforum, the purpose of his trip was to collect stories from every town as he interviewed locals between the age of 60 to 105 years old. Though some of the rural towns are no longer inhabited, Puppe still got in contact with former residents to contribute to his work. The end product of his journey is his book, “Dakota Attitude: Interviews from Every Town in North Dakota.” The reason why Puppe interviewed older citizens from each town was because of the wide perspectives he said they had as he told the Inforum, “There’s a lot of wisdom out there. What I got was priceless.”
Stricter work requirements for food stamps
The Trump administration has tightened the work requirements for the Federal Food Stamp Program that helps feed over 36 million Americans, as reported by WTHR. With the stricter requirements, hundreds of thousands of people will be affected as their benefits are being slashed. The deputy under security for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Nutrition and Consumer Services, Brandon Lipps, stated that tightening the work requirements will save about $5.5 billion over the next five years. U.S. Representative, Marcia Fudge, said the rule is, “An unacceptable escalation of the administration’s war on working families.”
National Parks becoming infested
According to CNN Travel, National Parks throughout the country have become the home of rats, domesticated cats, feral hogs and other non-native animals. With the increase in these unwanted animals, the protected lands have become threatened as many of the non-native species don’t have any natural predators leading them to breed and multiply rapidly. The non-native species then compete with native species for food and habitat resources. According to reports produced by the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, the U.S. National Park Service and university departments, findings show that only about 11 percent of these invasive species are under control in National Parks.
Scholars testify in impeachment inquiry
On Dec. 4, three law school scholars were invited by the Democrats to testify in the impeachment inquiry which has been ongoing since the end of September. Noah Feldman; a professor at Harvard, Michael J. Gerhardt; a professor at the University of North Carolina and Pamela S. Karlan; a professor at Stanford all stated that President Trump’s pressure on Ukraine for political gain meets the historical definition of impeachment. According to the New York Times, Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University was invited to testify by the committee’s Republicans and stated that Trump should not be impeached.