In our metro community, as in many others, the public transit system is far from perfect. There are underserved neighborhoods, inconvenient schedules, and late buses. And just over two years ago a brutal murder on the MAX Green Line made national headlines and forever tainted the image of Portland’s public transportation for its citizens. Web Graphic However, you cannot argue that transit systems like these are not necessary: They are how thousands of people get to work and b

The 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed in 1912, gave American voters the power to directly elect the U.S senators for their state. Previously, senators were selected by their state legislatures instead. Yet, there is an interesting political movement – albeit, a small one – where advocates actually wish to repeal the law. This brings up constitutional questions about what the purpose of the senate is, and if a regression of democracy is really something people sh

It’s sad to say, but homelessness is very common in America, certainly around Portland and Gresham. According to Homelessworldcup.org, homelessness among vulnerable groups has increased by 75% since 2010. On any given night, there are 4,000 people sleeping rough in greater Portland, while households “in temporary accommodation has risen from 48,330 in 2011 to 78,170 in 2017” here. Web Graphic As someone who was homeless for almost a year, I can say it’s not as easy as most wo

Your passwords are not good and you should change them. We need to get that out of the way before we continue. If you are anything like me, then you log in to your MHCC portal using your six-digit username, being your student ID number, and then your six-digit birthdate. Nothing to be ashamed of; it is our default username and password, it is easy to remember and pretty user friendly, with the small exception of having to worry about memorizing the ID number. Eli Rankin | The

Cringe-worthy moments, evasion, and animalistic behavior. What’s not to love? Presidential debates not only offer some of the best entertainment, but also some insight as to how our candidates handle competition. None of these qualities were lacking at the fourth Democratic debate, held in Ohio on Oct. 15. We could spend an entire year discussing each of the four 45–minute parts of the debate hosted by CNN. However, highlights of the debate basically summarize the entire th

Every day you wake up knowing that feeling: You have to be like everyone else. Instagram is definitely a very successful social media application. All around the world, many people use it. Influencers, bloggers, celebrities, and lastly just ordinary people… like me and you. Personally, I love Instagram. I’m so obsessed with it because I love the pictures. I’m never not on it, but I do have to be 100% fully honest: I hate how Instagram can lower your self-esteem and confidenc

Over the past decade we have seen The Walt Disney Co. buying and taking over many different media companies. In August 2009, it announced a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4.24 billion. It obtained the rights to Lucasfilm studios and the “Star Wars” franchise in 2012 for another $4 billion. These were only the first of an entire campaign of Disney buying many different entities. But has this been a bad thing, and does Disney deserve the success of the franchises the

If you’ve been keeping up with current events over the past few weeks, you’ll no doubt have heard of the continuing Hong Kong protests and the fight their citizens are having with authoirties. In short, Hong Kong has been apart of China but has its own democracy outside of the communist system of China. That system is slowly changing to China having full control of Hong Kong. Future NBA games have been banned from networks in China, after the general manager for the Houston R

Within the last year, mass amounts of road construction have been surrounding MHCC. Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal for road construction to occur during the Fall Term, but this time it seems worse than normal. The work on the streets around campus has had a negative impact on student’s’ arrival time at school. This goes for carpool, personal drivers, and students who rely on public transportation. It’s not just the roads around the campus, either. There seem to be massive

Never in humanity’s history have we dealt with a situation quite like the one in which we are struggling right now. At a time in which data from countless sources suggest, and often urge the world-wide acknowledgment of, a disaster unprecedented in human times, it makes our past depictions of global cataclysm seem so much more… theatrical: dire detonations, charring hellfire, even the occasional engulfment by an unending sea. The effects of climate change through the lens of

For the last few years, space enthusiasts, otherwise known as full-blown nerds such as myself, have waited patiently for the latest generation of SpaceX rockets. And with the most recent Starship update, we have seen some big changes made to the SpaceX family of rockets. Web graphic If you have spent a lot of time on the internet lately you are aware of the change: SpaceX switched the body of its rocket, or fuselage, from a carbon-fiber composite to an all-stainless steel bui

When it’s the start of a new term, teachers and students are thinking the same thing: How much do I have to shell out for the class textbook? It’s like playing a game of chance because every class is different. For the most part, subjects are really “by the book” and therefore you gotta spend a couple hundred on the textbook; otherwise, you’re at a disadvantage. Then there are the more casual learning classes, where all your course reading is either done online or in class ha

“Change is coming, whether you like it or not.” Harsh words spoken by young, Swedish environmental activist, Greta Thunberg. At only 16 years young, what started out as missing class on Fridays to fight for our climate and creating the Fridays for Future movement, Thunberg’s campaigning has gained her international fame. Greta Thunberg sits aside a sign calling for a school strike for the climate. | Web image In 2018 Greta was recognized for her passionate speech given at the

Immigration is a controversial topic we’ve all heard over and over for years, but do we as Americans really grasp the concept? Legal immigration is a process through which individuals “become permanent residents or citizens of a new country,” as explained by Brittanica.com. It’s a long and grueling process, but most of us don’t really know the process of how to obtain citizenship. To be eligible to apply for an immigrant visa, a foreign citizen must be sponsored by a U.S. cit

Recent events concerning the Ukraine scandal and Trump administration have brought the matter of government whistleblowers back to the forefront of national debate. At the head of the lineup of recent-era whisteblowers is Edward Snowden, catapulted into the heights of controversy and infamy when he leaked documents detailing the secret surveillance programs of the CIA, in 2013. Snowden compares this latest international incident with his own circumstances to demonstrate that

The effects of technology are becoming increasingly apparent each day as the world becomes more reliant on it. Technology can certainly be a positive aspect of life and can provide convenience, especially when it comes to school or work. It is a good source of information and technology reaches others instantly; we can contact our loved ones across the world immediately, and it’s also an amazing, convenient resource for entertainment. I grew up in a time period when cell phon

Web photo Vaping (or e-cigarettes) is the modern alternative to smoking cigarettes, but recently there has been a series of mysterious illnesses and deaths that have led to it fast becoming a major public health concern. The Trump administration has even hinted at planning to ban e-cigs in response, but that only brings in the dilemma that e-cigs are being banned before conventional tobacco cigarettes – the ones responsible for over 480,000 deaths per year (per the U.S. Cent

The most graphic PSA (public service announcement) video I’ve seen in a long time is the recent ‘back to school’ ad from the Sandy Hook Promise organization. The ad plays like your typical retail back-to-school promotion, with young students showing off their new school supplies, but then turns into a realistic school shooting situation. It contrasts the lighthearted tone of a TV commercial with the reality of gun violence in schools, and it’s really scary how it’s portrayed.

It’s October, and it might feel like this year’s Academy Awards are still a world away, but in reality, this tedious yearly ceremony is only a little over four months from now. To the average person, the Academy Awards are of little interest, aside from providing an opportunity to gloat when your favorite movie wins. Nonetheless, the Oscars are a big deal for the industry as a whole, and so it’s worth speculating who the 2020 nominees might be. The nomination process for Best

Hundred of families. Thousands of mouths to feed. An entity that evidently could not care less. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Fred Meyer storefront | Web Photo It’s a reality that the employees of dozens of large-scale grocery establishments across Oregon and Washington encountered once again, and one that affects laborers across the globe every single day. This truth revealed itself yet again earlier this month on Sept. 23, when a state-spanning boycott hit numero