National News: Speaker of the House Paul Ryan declared that he will not be running for re-election. The news comes as a shock to many, and the future of the position is not clear. Supporters of Ryan such as president Donald Trump and former governor Mitt Romney have taken to social media to express their respect to the man, with Trump stating that Ryan is “a truly good man.” Ryan joins 30 other Republicans who have announced this year that they are retiring outright. This leaves Republicans with an increasingly ambiguous future. Currently, Democrats have 23 seats to take in order to gain control the Senate. If captured, this would drastically change the rate at which bills are passed from a Republican president to a Republican Senate.

Local News: The 49th annual Trivia, hosted by WWSP 90FM is on our doorsteps. Teams have until Friday, April 13, before the contest starts, to register teams. The contest will start at 6:00 on Friday and will run for 54 hours, into Sunday. Teams will answer questions, figure out song clips, examine their New Trivia Times, and hunt for stone clues in this weekend-long journey. There are expected to be hundreds of teams participating, with teams even playing from outside of the United States. The number of teams participating has put 90FM’s contest in the spotlight as the world’s largest trivia contest. Good luck to all teams playing.

SPASH News: Throughout the course of the week, Student Senate has been in charge of putting together Power of Words Week. Power of Words Week is dedicated to encouraging the use of positive messages throughout our school. Monday through Wednesday, Student Senate has been set up during lunch hours to collect sticky notes with uplifting words written on them. After school on Wednesday, the sticky notes will be hung up and the Senate will also be writing positive messages on the SPASH sidewalks. The Student Senate has also arranged a former student, Alec Mancheski, to speak during 4th hour on Friday, April 13 in the auditorium.

State News: The Second Amendment is a heated topic in the country these days. That heat has made its way to Wisconsin. This past Monday, Markesan High School freshman Matthew Schoenecker filed a federal lawsuit against his principal John Koopman. According to the Stevens Point Journal, Schoenecker wore a T-shirt to school that displayed guns on it. He was told to change, cover up his shirt or spend his day in an isolated cubicle. Schoenecker refused to cover his shirt and was sent to the cubicle. His lawsuit argues that it was a violation of his First Amendment right to support the Second Amendment. It also claims that his school has never experienced major disruptions from students wearing non-threatening gun shirts and he never harmed or threatened anyone at school. Koopman explains that while there are no explicit school’s rules against T-shirts with guns on them, that it still has the discretion to restrict clothing that he deems inappropriate. The case is still in progress.