Pizza, the cheesy food that people all over love to eat, could possibly be called a vegetable now.

That’s very interesting to know because lots of people, kids and adults, would not expect for pizza ever to be characterized as a vegetable. But the Congress wants to get it onto kids’ school lunches falling under the category of a “vegetable.”

Why? Congress has a good reason for all of this.

Because a lot of families with kids that go to school are struggling to pay the cost of lunches, they provide money to public schools that serve specific items on their menu— like vegetables. But since most schools don’t serve the required amount of vegetables to get the money, Congress is helping out by letting schools consider pizza as a vegetable since it has vegetable ingredients in it.

Who knows of a school lunch program that doesn’t serve pizza?

Pizza is not really becoming a vegetable but because it has some nutritional balance, that is part of the reason for the decision. It’s made of tomatoes / tomato sauce (vegetables), cheese (dairy), and dough (grain) with some kind of topping (meat).

This is a very good idea which will help struggling families in public schools. But this isn’t going to replace actual vegetables being served in school lunches.

Plus, a lot of parents want their kids to eat vegetables, so when they are eating pizza they don’t have to worry, right? It’s an easy way for parents to know that their kids are eating their vegetables!

But, this news shouldn’t replace vegetables in your lunch either now that you’ve heard about what Congress is doing for public schools.

If parents want, they can give their child veggie sticks like carrots or celery as snacks for recess time. This way, kids and parents are happy and don’t have to worry about their kids not  eating vegetables.

And they can know that even if they are eating pizza, by having actual vegetables on the side, it’s healthy and balanced.

by: Giauna Nu’man, 8th grade
Senior Reporter
THE LION LEDGER

Last month, in a public school in Seattle, Washington, a 16-year old girl was volunteering at the school for like service hours. She wanted to bring in Easter eggs as treats for a third grade class, but when asking for permission from the teacher, she received a strange answer.

The teacher replied, she may only bring them in, if she called the eggs “Spring spheres.” The teacher insisted on this because of the reference to religion in the word Easter.

• SOURCE— Parent Dish: “Easter Eggs? Call Them ‘Spring Spheres’“

Easter Sunday is the day Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However it is no longer, just, a religious holiday. People of other religions (or no religion) use this day to celebrate the beginning of Spring and to just have fun. Many people who are not Christians have been celebrating Easter happily for years, not paying any attention to the religious meaning of the day.

It’s kind of like Christmas. For Christians, it is celebrating the birth of Jesus. If you are not Christian, Christmas still means getting presents but it doesn’t have to be religious. There’s Santa Claus, reindeer, etc.

And at the end of a fun day of going Easter egg hunting would you honestly care if those round objects you were holding in your hands or carrying in your basket, were eggs or spheres?

I know I wouldn’t. Hope you had a nice Easter Vacation.

by: Saba Kinfe, 7th Grade
Editor / THE LION LEDGER

Back in November, city officials decided that kids are not entitled to a toy unless your meal includes fruits, vegetables, etc. Now Happy Meals from McDonald’s have to be over 600 calories or 35% of calories from fat. The ordeal sparked a lot of controversy. It was called the “Happy Meal Ban.” (Source: “San Francisco Bans the Happy Meal“).

Originally Gavin Newsom, the current mayor of San Francisco, didn’t want this to happen. He said he would not approve the decision because he says that parents should be the ones to decide on what their kids eat and not the government. (Source: “San Fran Ban Fan Slams Happy Meal Plan“).

Unfortunately, the city rejected his decision and moved forward with the law.

The change can be good because it can get kids more motivated to eat the nutrients they need for a healthy lifestyle. It may also be bad considering that many cannot afford the cost of “real” healthy food and not be able to adjust to the new way.

To help this type of cause, Michelle Obama has a new campaign starting in February to provide better and healthier foods across America in low-income neighborhoods. Congress also recently passed a nutrition bill that involved healthier eating for kids.

The goal is to decrease childhood obesity and bad nutrition habits by kids.

by: Zyhir Brown, 8th grade
Editor-in-Chief / THE LION LEDGER

ADDITIONAL SOURCE: “Congress Passes Sweeping Child Nutrition Bill”

There was the economy to fix, the war to deal with, gay rights, foreclosures, and Americans getting laid off, and plenty more! So imagine yourself in the President’s position. He’s kept the country together, which is a pretty huge accomplishment considering the United States wasn’t in “tip-top” shape. On top that he has done even more!

(Continues after graphic…)

President Obama has accomplished other things, such as:

• The senate has recently passed the healthcare reform, which means health care for almost everyone!
• The economy has gotten to a 1.9% growth rate! Sounds small but is better than our previous 0.9% growth rate.
• He’s banned torturing and inhumane treatments of prisoners.
• Our President has appointed the first Latina to the Supreme Court.
• He has cut taxes 95% to all working families.
• President Obama has dedicated more than 60 billion dollars for clean energy.

President Obama has also influenced many children. He has taken time out of his busy days of fixing this country to directly talk to the young people of this country. The president didn’t just say “stay in school!” but told kids why they should stay in school and what means for their future.

Are you ready for another awesome Obama-filled year?

by Saba Kinfe, 6th Grade
Associate Editor / THE LION LEDGER

MCT is a joint venture of McClatchy and the Tribune Co.

The surge of forces that Obama has ordered will raise the U.S. commitment to 98,000 troops by next summer, at an estimated added cost of about $30 billion a year. The pace of the subsequent draw-down, however, remains uncertain and depends, administration officials said, on “conditions on the ground.”

Both the military boost and announced start of a planned withdrawal are intended to weaken and ultimately defeat the Taliban and to train Afghan security forces, administration officials said.

The goal, the president said, is “to seize the initiative,” finally, in a war that started after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and is not going well after eight years. The president said he wants to build Afghanistan’s capacity to secure itself and then allow for “a responsible transition of our forces out of Afghanistan.”

“After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home,” the president said before an audience of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. “The absence of a time frame for transition would deny us any sense of urgency. … It must be clear that Afghans will have to take responsibility for their security.”

Acknowledging the price of the deployment, the president said, “Our troop commitment in Afghanistan cannot be open-ended, because the nation that I am most interested in building is our own.”

The president has in mind a time frame of 18 to 24 months for the new mission, one senior administration official said. Senior administration officials referred to the new strategy as a “surge,” a term familiar from the previous administration’s renewed Iraq war strategy.

“While we have achieved hard-earned milestones in Iraq, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated,” Obama said. “Afghanistan is not lost, but for several years it has moved backwards.”

Already this year, the president has nearly doubled the U.S. military force in Afghanistan, with 33,000 of the existing 68,000 troops added this year. The additional force of 30,000 will include two or three combat brigades and one brigade-size group dedicated to the training of Afghan forces.

The president conducted a three-month strategy review before announcing his plans Tuesday night. During the review, the military proposed sending in additional forces over the course of a year, with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, U.S. commander in Afghanistan, seeking 40,000.

Administration officials said the deployment of additional troops would occur quickly.

“The force option that the president has chosen gets more troops into Afghanistan faster than any option that was previously presented to him,” one administration official said.

While trying to prevent al-Qaida from returning to Afghanistan, the administration also is intent on helping neighboring Pakistan with its own security issues.

“We did not ask for this fight,” Obama said, pointing to the al-Qaida-run attacks of Sept. 11 that claimed nearly 3,000 lives. “We must keep the pressure on al-Qaida. … We are in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once again spreading through that country.”

___
© 2009, Tribune Co.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

by Mark Silva
Tribune Washington Bureau / (MCT)

MCT is a joint venture of McClatchy and the Tribune Co.

Do you know what today is? Today, Tuesday November 4th, 2008, is Election Day! This reason it is special because this one only comes once every four years, when people run to be America’s new president.

The two candidates in this election are Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain. Obama is the Democratic nominee McCain is the Republican nominee. Whoever wins, it’s going to be one of the most historic elections ever.

If John McCain wins, he is going to be the oldest president and Governor Sarah Palin from Alaska will be the first female vice president. If Barack Obama wins he will be the first African American to be president.

People are ready for a new leader, for the past eight years we have had the same leader, President George W. Bush. A lot of Americans are happy about this change. That is why today is so important.

They want something new, someone who in their opinion understands the people better. That is why many Americans are planning on voting for Barack Obama because his campaign is about change.

by Andrea Granera, 8th grade
Editor / THE LION LEDGER