Winter is here at last and the Holiday season is upon us. The smell of fir is in the air, the sound of bells is distantly ringing and endless strands of lights illuminate the town.

Downtown McMinnville is swarming with warmly dressed holiday shoppers and aimless teenagers, coffee in one hand, quickly thinning wallet in the other. The town's hoppin' with holiday spirit, but the winter weather has some people feelin' down-right bummed.

In the world there are places where cars and bikes live together, watching out for one another day by day. In places such as Berlin, where less than half of residents own a car, it has become downright common to ride a bike every day. Or Amsterdam, aka bike capital of the world, with 40 percent of its traffic being cyclists.

Every year, there are a few things MHS students expect: the crowds, the make-out strewn hallways and the new set of pregnant girls.

There are a few reactions to them, too. The extra-girly friends who constantly rub the pregnant tummies, the vehemently anti-teen pregnancy kids that look down their nose at the girls with disdain and, of course, people who just stay out of it and act as if nothing unusual is going on.

As we progress into the heart of winter, we often characterize its presence with the cold and frigid temperatures that embark on the Willamette Valley, where temperatures dip below the freezing mark.

Students and staff struggle to stay warm as they scrape the ice off of their cars and all attention is focused to the news stations as the word "snow" makes an appearance in the forecast for our area.

What sounds do cloned cows make? And for that matter, what do cloned cows taste like? According to current research, cloned cows taste just like regular beef. Recent controversy over whether consumption restrictions should be placed on cloned meat has been settled.

First of all, how does cloning work? The costly process of cloning begins with the nucleus of a donor egg. The nucleus is removed and replaced with the DNA of a cow, pig or other animal.

Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette, an organization which provides sexual and reproductive health care, has established a new clinic in McMinnville, celebrating its official grand opening Dec. 3rd. For females, Planned Parenthood provides breast exams and Pap smears, which screen for signs of cancer. Birth control is available for purchase, along with pregnancy testing and education.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Three words that we’ve all become very familiar with throughout our lives, and even more so during recent years as part of the movement to go green and fight global warming.

In comparison to the Honda FCX Clarity, even the most fuel-efficient hybrid looks like a gas-guzzling SUV. That’s because, unlike Hybrids, the FCX runs entirely on electricity. But instead of running on batteries, like most electric cars on the market today, the FCX is powered by revolutionary fuel-cell technology

Rapidly increasing worries about global warming and fuel energy dependency have spawned a search for clean, renewable energy. In our state, a trip east of the Cascade mountain range can yield a view of wind power in action. Not too long ago, the Oregon state government endorsed an initiative by Oregon State University to convert the motion of the coastal waves in electricity.

Apple: still golden and delicious. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better than the iPhone, Apple reinvents almost all of its products.

Mac High students walking down the halls normally don’t ponder the bacteria growing all around them. Well, for any bacteria phobic students, it’s time to ponder and be afraid—be very afraid.

With the help of science teacher, Jared Larson, several areas of the Mac High campus were tested for bacteria and the results may surprise Mac High dwellers.

With the latest round of toy recalls, popular toy brand Mattel’s bottom line for the year will be hurting. After recalling 800,000 more Chinese made toys in early September, Mattel will lose millions in earnings. The toys being recalled are reported to be painted with highly concentrated lead paint or to have small magnets that may be choking hazards to young children.

In this, the modern world, everything seems to be cured by drugs. There are drugs for when one is too sad, too happy, too hungry, not hungry enough and even for when a person’s legs are overactive. And, if it works, what’s the problem? We could medicate into a utopia.

However, drugs don’t always get used. Sometimes, people have old and unused drugs which simply get flushed away. And where do they go? Yes, through the water filtering system, where it is screened for everything- except pharmaceuticals.