Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz.
1. Who is the new King of England?
Spoiler
Charles III. The former Prince of Wales chose the title after the throne passed to him immediately following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Charles is not as popular as his mother, raising concerns about the fate of the British monarchy as a continuing institution.
2. What storm brought intense winds and rain to California last week?
Spoiler
Tropical Storm Kay. The storm was the closest that a tropical storm has come to making landfall since 1949. Meteorologists say that the heat wave that Southern California was experiencing helped the storm move closer to land. Rainfall records for the state were obliterated as Kay dropped a year’s worth of rain across the southern part of the state.
3. Why is conspiracy theorist Alex Jones headed back to court in Connecticut?
Spoiler
A jury in Connecticut is hearing a case for how much Jones has to pay the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, an incident that Jones called a hoax. A Texas jury last month ordered him to pay $49.3 million to the parents of six-year-old Jesse Lewis, who was one of twenty-six students and teachers killed in the 2012 shooting in Newton, Connecticut. The Connecticut case involves three lawsuits, including one from a former FBI agent.
4. What execution method might the state of Alabama try later this month?
Spoiler
Nitrogen hypoxia. Alabama is set to use it for the execution of Alan Eugene Miller, convicted of a triple murder in 1999. Miller argues that prison staff lost paperwork he returned in 2018 that requested the use of nitrogen for his execution instead of using lethal injection. No U.S. state has used nitrogen hypoxia for an execution.
5. Why is New York City increasing its oversight of private and religious schools?
Spoiler
The New York Board of Regents is set to approve guidelines that would require private and religious schools to provide “substantially equivalent” education relative to their public counterparts in response to a New York Times piece that found that some of the city’s yeshivas, institutions for the city’s Hasidic Jewish population, had been neglecting social studies and science education and used corporal punishment despite receiving more than $1 billion in government funding.
6. Two Native American tribes recently purchased land near what land, which is important in Native American history?
Spoiler
Wounded Knee. The Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux, both of which reside in South Dakota, joined to purchase 40 acres around the Wounded Knee National Historic Landmark. The 1890 massacre of more than 200 indigenous peoples there is seen as the last chapter of the various wars and battles the United States government fought with various tribes after independence from Great Britain.
7. What territory is in dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan?
Spoiler
Nagorno-Karabakh. The area is part of Azerbaijan but Armenian-backed forces have had control of it since 1994. Recent fighting on the border between the two countries claimed close to 100 lives earlier this week. If the conflict were to escalate, it could draw in other powers as Turkey backs Azerbaijan and Russia backs Armenia.
8. According to a U.S. intelligence report last week, who is Russia buying artillery from?
Spoiler
North Korea. Russia has also acquired drones from Iran. U.S. intelligence experts believe that Russia’s decision to work with these rogue states is a sign that economic sanctions that were imposed earlier this year because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are working.
9. Which European country is looking into passing an assisted suicide law?
Spoiler
France. Yesterday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that there would be a national debate on end-of-life options. In 2016, France passed a law that allowed doctors to keep terminally ill patients sedated but it stopped short of legalizing assisted suicide.
10. The U.S. recently agreed to work with which country on the development of electric vehicles and semiconductors?
Spoiler
Mexico. Officials announced on Monday that Mexico and the U.S. will work to integrate supply chains and expand electric car production, helped by Mexico’s lithium industry, which is owned by the Mexican government. This is part of a Biden administrative push to rely less on Asia for semiconductors and lithium batteries.