The Medal of Honor is the highest military medal awarded by the United States and must be awarded by the President. The requirements for the medal are: “risk of their own life above and beyond the call of duty in action against an enemy of the United States.” This makes it a very rare medal to see on a soldier not to mention on a living one. However on September 11, 2020, Army Ranger Sergeant Major Thomas “Patrick” Payne was awarded the Medal of Honor and still continues to serve to this day. 

November 7, 2020, Democratic nominee Joseph R. Biden was officially declared President-Elect. Following a stressful week for the nation and a much more stressful month of ballot counting for poll workers, the call was made by the Associated Press the first Saturday of the month, four days after Election Day. As of a December 9 update made by the Associated Press, Biden received 306 electoral votes, winning over 51.4% of the U.S. population, thus making him the first President-Elect to receive over 80 million votes in a single election.

Tragically, on October 10, 2020 a massive house fire broke out in Nutley causing a death of a 74-year-old man, Joseph Collar. The fire, on Myrtle Ave., killed one while two members of the household were sent to the hospital and taken into immediate care. A bystander, who watched the fire go down, says he “heard a male voice calling help me.” Montclair, Bloomfield and Lyndhurst fire fighters were also on the scene due to the severity of the fire although Nutley was the first to respond.

Since the Coronavirus pandemic started, there has been a total of more than 15 million cases in the United States. The United States has surpassed China, which once had the world’s record breaking amount of Covid-19 cases. Over the past months, there has been a new surge in Covid19 cases. This has led to ICU beds being limited as well as the space in hospitals. All around the world, people have been quarantining and taking precautions.

Since the coronavirus first invaded the country, there have been 303,963 deaths (and counting) and there are 16,771,562 cases currently. As the year has progressed, Americans have seen how the coronavirus has taken over the country and continues to burden daily lives.

On October 22, 2020, the rematch was on in the second Presidential Debate. President Donald Trump vs. Democratic nominee Joe Biden was the main focus in the first second national debate. The first debate took place on September 29. 

*Written prior to the 2020 election

There's a reason why we should vote. I learned about her recently through a local play.  No one made the idea of voting clearer than a woman named Fannie Lou Hamer. 

On November 3, 2020, the nation came out in record numbers to elect the next President of the United States. As the year 2020 has progressed, Americans have been forced to overcome multiple challenges such as dealing with unemployment, national unrest, the spread of COVID-19, and losing loved-ones to the virus. With these challenges, the country has truly been shaken by 2020.  The 2020 Presidential Election will be one of the most significant and life-changing elections any American will ever witness. 

On October 2, 2020, Trump tweeted, “Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!” This remark sparked controversy among US voters. Just a few days after his diagnosis, the Trump Administration began planning for future rallies.

On September 26, 2020, President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the U.S. Supreme Court, who passed away earlier this fall. Amy Coney Barrett is a federal appeals court judge, professor of law at University of Notre Dame, and former law clerk of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. With the 2020 Presidential Election looming around the corner, the U.S. Supreme Court held multiple hearings for Mrs. Barrett’s appointment.

As Nutley High School, transitioned into virtual learning, mental health has been prioritized, more than ever. As students learn from home, it is important that they engage in conversations about mental health, specifically on how to improve and maintain it. Virtual learning may bring various factors that strain mental wellness. Due to this, NHS has provided multiple resources and ways to reach out.

Now that the school year is coming to an end, high school upperclassmen are trying to figure out what to do about their futures. There is a lot more to college acceptances than there used to be. Throughout history there have been changes in how college students are accepted into Universities. 

Governor Murphy announced on May 26th that the New Jersey Department of Education will allow school districts and college/universities to hold in-person graduation on July 6.  Due to COVID-19, all schools have been canceled for the rest of the year which means that graduations, proms, and end-of-the-year functions were canceled or held virtually. 

As Covid-19 increased in cases over the months, travel restrictions have been put in place to reduce the spread of the virus and for the safety of the people. Certain states in the United States have just recently started to lift stay-at-home orders, but it is recommended that people traveling take certain precautions. These travel restrictions are not just in the United States. They have been set worldwide and will continue until cases begin to drastically drop or a cure is found.

The Coronavirus pandemic has affected millions of lives globally, in all different kinds of ways. A recent worry in America is the economic decline in the stock market, along with the increasing number of small businesses that are failing.

As of May 26, there have been 1,704,110 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States and 153,104 cases in the state of New Jersey. Currently, there are 490 cases of COVID-19  and there have been 33 fatalities in Nutley.

The number of children in America that have been hospitalized with the rare mysterious syndrome has been growing over the past few weeks. Most of these children have tested positive for the coronavirus or its antibodies. This information led researchers and doctors to believe that it is tied to COVID-19. While doctors and researchers are trying to pull out more information about this disease, CDC calls it an multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children.

Killer Hornets, also called Murder Hornets, have been spreading fear across the nation. The first sighting of this Hornet in the U.S was last December, near Blaine, Washington, close to the Canadian border. The bees may have gotten here via a shipment from native Asia, where the Killer Hornets come from.

The coronavirus has brought difficulties and confusion to the upcoming November 2020 election. The safety of the election has been threatened by the pandemic. During voting, the voters must touch the ballot screen. No voter should risk their health and life to expose themselves to touch a ballot box that many others have touched. This can cause problems and low voter turnout.  

As of May 21, 2020, there have been over five million cases of Covid-19 worldwide. This virus  has become a pandemic, and a vaccine is needed desperately.