Global News
August 2023
In the span of two weeks, former U.S. President Donald Trump was indicted by both the United States Department of Justice and an Atlanta grand jury. The Department of Justice indicted Trump for his involvement with the January 6 Capitol attack, while in Fulton County he was indicted for alleged efforts to meddle with the 2020 Presidential election. These marked his third and fourth indictments. Trials for both have yet to be determined, but Fulton County prosecutors are pushing for the trial to begin as early as August 5, 2024.
September 2023
California Senator Dianne Feinstein passed away on September 28. Feinstein was a fixture of California and national politics: in 1978, she became the first woman mayor of San Francisco after the city’s mayor and supervisor were murdered; she became California’s first woman senator in 1992, where she worked until her death. Laphonza Butler was announced as Feinstein’s replacement. President of EMILY’s List, a political committee aimed towards putting Democratic women into office, Butler will serve until a successor is voted in November 2024, and she has decided to not run for a full term.
October 2023
On Saturday, October 7, Hamas attacked Israel, killing upwards of 1,200 civilians and soldiers and escalating the Israel–Palestine conflict into open war. Israel quickly retaliated through bombings and by cutting off electricity, water and other resources to the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip. 20 days later, Israel began its ground invasion of northern Gaza, saying its goal being to destroy Hamas and free hostages held in Gaza.
November 2023
Anna Eshoo, the House representative of California’s 16th district — which includes Los Altos and Mountain View — announced that she was not seeking re-election in 2024. Eshoo has served in the House of Representatives since 1993, focusing on tech-related policies. Former mayor of San Jose City Sam Liccardo and California State Assembly member Evan Low, both democrats, are expected to run against each other for the seat this November.
December 2023
On December 1, 2023, former U.S. Representative George Santos was expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives in a 311-114 vote after evidence showed that he had committed multiple crimes, including conspiracy, wire fraud, theft, money laundering and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission. For his crimes, Santos faces a 23-charge indictment, and his seat was replaced by Democrat Tom Suozzi in a special election in February.
January 2024
In the Middle East, due to the continuing invasion of Gaza, the Houthi militia attacked ships with missiles and drones in the Red Sea, preventing them from accessing the Suez Canal. The Houthis claimed they were targeting Israeli ships, but ships from over 12 countries were attacked. The Houthi threat forced some ships to sail around Africa instead, adding 4,000 miles and 10 days of travel. The U.S. and allies responded with airstrikes.
February 2024
Political opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin and anti-corruption activist Aleksei Navalny died in a Russian prison on February 16. His death was pronounced as being due to a blood clot, but President Joe Biden accused Putin. Navalny was serving a 38-year sentence after Russian trials in 2022 and 2023 found him guilty of fraud, embezzlement and extremism. A public funeral was held in March, which saw thousands of supporters gathering among heavy police presence.
March 2024
The 2024 Presidential Election is expected to be a rematch between incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, which was evident after both candidates swept their opponents during the Super Tuesday primaries. Both candidates are facing difficulties in their campaigns: Biden has been polling poorly in battleground states, partly due to his policies on the Israel-Hamas war, and Trump faces four criminal trials, one which began in May.
April 2024
Pro-palestenian protests in Columbia University broke out on April 17 amid calls for the university to divest from Israel; which continued its invasion of Gaza throughout April. Protests in colleges around the nation erupted as a result, and encampments were set up in some universities, such as University of California, Los Angeles, and New York University. Protests later spread worldwide, including in the United Kingdom and Australia. Since April 18, more than 2,900 protesters have been arrested in over 60 universities.
May 2024
At the beginning of May, Israel launched an invasion in Rafah — a city in the Southern Gaza Strip — which consisted of airstrikes and ground operations, despite international pressure not to, including from the U.S. Prior to the invasion, Israel ordered the evacuation of Eastern Rafah, and shortly after, entered with the intent to eliminate Hamas brigades. The Rafah crossing, the last exist point for Palestinians has closed.
LAHS News
August 2023
At the start of the 2024-25 school year, the school day became longer: the start time changed from 8:40 a.m. to 8:30 a.m and classes were lengthened by five minutes — Monday-schedule period are now 50 minutes, and normal block periods are 90 minutes. In addition, the 400s and 500s wings were closed down for construction, and the main thoroughfare through the center of the school was shut. Teachers were moved to portables.
September 2023
The Associated Student Body (ASB) Club Fair was hosted on Friday, September 29, kickstarting club culture on campus. LAHS has over 150 clubs. The school features a nationally recognized debate team; chapters of humanitarian organizations like Key Club; chapters of academic organizations like National Honor Society (NHS) and the TEDx club; environmental club Green Team; cultural clubs like the Latino Student Union (LSU); and student founded nonprofits like Food for All.
October 2023
Homecoming Week festivities happened from Tuesday, October 24 to Saturday, October 28. On Tuesday at lunch, students competed in an obstacle course. On Wednesday at lunch the song lyric guessing game with mystery sludge for wrong answers. On Thursday, Volare performed during brunch. The Homecoming parade and football game were after school on Friday. The Homecoming Dance was on Saturday.
Homecoming royalty were Matthew Kim and Angely Vargas.
November 2023
LAHS’ first-ever senior Fall Film Showcase was hosted Wednesday, November 29 during ACT in the Eagle Theater. The showcase was an opportunity for Film Analysis students to show off their projects outside of the class.
December 2023
On Friday, December 15, students gathered in the main gym at lunch to enjoy the Holiday Fair, hosted by ASB. 53 clubs participated, selling homemade treats, goodies and food.
January 2024
LAHS introduced a new tardy policy in second semester, which requires students to attend a 25-minute lunch detention in the Eagle Theater for every ten tardies received across all classes. Administration also restructured course selection policies, which limited students’ abilities to add and drop courses in the fall semester in an attempt to make the process more efficient. The policies received many complaints.
February 2024
The Oracle, the Mountain View High School student newspaper, sued MVHS Principal Dr. Kip Glazer and the Mountain View–Los Altos School District on February 22. Student and teacher representatives allege Glazer pressured the paper to “water down” details about sexual harassment on campus, then “unlawfully retaliated” against the newspaper after the coverage was published.
March 2024
MVHS hosted its third annual unity walk for suicide prevention on March 15, featuring speeches, spoken-word poetry and songs from students and community members. Mental health-focused organizations such as Bring Change 2 Mind, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, City of Mountain View Teen Services, HEARD Alliance, and Spartans Pause were also present at the event.
April 2024
After a week-long soccer tournament from Monday, April 22 to Friday, April 26, held by the Latino Student Union and modeled after the real Copa America championship, team “Rock, Paper, Scissors” was crowned victorious in a 6-3 game. “Rock, Paper, Scissors” was composed of sophomores Marvin Lopez Garcia, Brandon Yih, Cade Fitzsimmons, James Taylor, and Kiran Raina.
May 2024
On Thursday, May 9 and Friday, May 10 the Jazz Dance and Advanced Jazz Dance classes put on their annual spring dance show. This year it was titled “Dancers on Deck: A Quest for Treasure” and depicted two groups of treasure hunters searching for a key. Dancers performed in self-choreographed solo routines and group sequences that they had been working on throughout the year.
