Questions

PLEASE NOTE: This is the final “Friday’s News Quiz” of the school year.

1. The Durango, Colorado City Council unanimously approved an ordinance last week that will make _______________ on downtown sidewalks, curbs, or other public areas illegal. The city council passed the ordinance following numerous complaints from business owners and visitors about people doing so in the downtown business district.
a) sitting or lying down
b) looking for work
c) begging for money
d) walking

2. The ordinance bans the activity in Durango’s downtown area from 7 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Specific exemptions are made for all but:
a) people with disabilities
b) children in strollers
c) people attending parades or festivals
d) pot smoking hippies

3. German officials said this week that they plan to increase defense spending this year for NATO, following _______________’s insistence that all NATO members (and especially Germany, which is the largest European country in NATO and has the strongest economy) pay their fair share and stop freeloading off the U.S.
a) CNN
b) U.S. Congress
c) President Trump
d) the New York Times

4. Each of the 29 NATO member countries agreed several years ago to spend 2% of their GDP on defense spending. (The U.S. spends more than 3.5 percent of our GDP on defense.) Germany said they will increase defense spending from current levels of 1.2 percent of GDP to _______________ over the next seven years.
a) the agreed upon amount of 2%
b) 3 percent
c) the amount they committed to pay
d) 1.5 percent

5. The American Civil Liberties Union and other privacy activists have asked Amazon to stop marketing a powerful facial recognition tool to _______________ across the country.
a) colleges and universities
b) police departments
c) large corporations
d) doctors’ offices

6. The privacy groups say these organizations could use the technology to "easily build a system to automate the identification and tracking of anyone." In a letter to Amazon, the groups wrote, “People should be free to walk down the street without being watched by _______________. Facial recognition in American communities threatens this freedom."
a) marketers
b) private businesses
c) the government
d) advertisers

7. Workers on Hawaii’s Big Island rushed to shut down a geothermal power plant this week to prevent the uncontrollable release of toxic fumes should lava overflow the plant. _______________ of the Big Island’s power comes from this plant.
a) 1%
b) 5%
c) 25%
d) 95%

8. Lava has been oozing out into the ocean from two flows located three miles east of the plant, creating acid fumes and _______________, which is potentially deadly if inhaled. This substance is a combination of scorching lava and haze that is formed when erupting lava reacts with sea water.
a) “hava”
b) “laze”
c) “craze”
d) “gaze”

9. Suggestions for how Americans should observe Memorial Day include all but:
a) shopping for Memorial Day deals
b) flying the U.S. Flag at half-staff until noon
c) participating in a “National Moment of Remembrance“
d) visiting cemeteries and placing flags or flowers on the graves of our fallen heroes

10. The group USMemorialDay and others suggest moving the observance of Memorial Day to May 30th, from the last Monday in May:
a) so that all Americans will be able to remember the date of Memorial Day
b) to give people the opportunity to spend the day barbecuing with their families
c) so the day will be observed on its original date, as it was intended, to honor those who died in military service
d) because the weather is usually better on that day