Jessica Bellah - Opinions Editor

To be fair, Oswego has a long history of growth and development. This has brought more businesses and better education to the community, which has tremendously expanded the desire for movement into the village. However, with more people comes a greater strain on the local infrastructure, specifically our roadways. “With the construction of new subdivisions in the area, roads have been ripped up and repaved, creating traffic issues,” said Oswego citizen Joe Labuda. “Periodically, I've had to take longer detours, extending the time for commuting to work and running errands.”

El cambio climático no es secreto. Una semana está en los negativos, y la otra el clima sube a los 40. Así es como es en el Medio Oeste, y todos tenemos diferentes puntos de vista en el clima fluctuante, y yo, por una, estoy lista para que el clima extraño pare.  “Bueno, cuando está frío no me gusta, pero cuando está caliente me encanta. O sea, ayer bajé la capota de mi coche aunque solo estaba a 50 grados, pero se siente bien porque cuando está en los negativos la diferencia lo hace sentir como si estuviera en los 80,” dice OH senior Brielle Goehring.  El clima cálido es un buen descanso, pero cuando sube y baja tan seguido puede afectar las vidas diarias de la comunidad.

The shift in weather is no secret. One week it's in the negatives, and the next week the temperature changes to the forties. That's just how it is in the Midwest, and we all have different points of views on the fluctuating weather, and I, for one, am ready for the bizarre patterns to stop. “Well, when it's cold I don’t like it, but when it's warm I love it. Like, I put my top down on my convertible yesterday, even though it was only 50 degrees, but it felt nice because when it’s negative[[the difference makes it feel like]] 80,” said OH senior Brielle Goehring.   The warm weather is a nice break from chilling temperatures, but when the weather goes up and down so often it affects the community's everyday lives.

OH implemento reglas nueva de gymnasio que reducen el tiempo que tienen estudiantes para cambiarse de cinco minutos a quatro minutos y movio articulos para alquilar dentro de cuarto para cambiarse. Este cambio, hecho por el departamento de bien-estar kinetica, quiere mejorar efficiencia, reducir la tardansa, y limitar obstruciones de traffico en los pasillos durante los periodos de education physica. Los reglas actualizadad applican a todos los estudiantes que estan tomando OH clases de education physica y cambian como estudiantes se preparan para clase antes que las actividades empiezen. Los lideres de la escuela dicen que los cambios estan diseanidos para aumentar tiempo para instruir y mejorar las transitions durante los periodos de classe.

The most recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the Chicago area, called “Operation Midway Blitz,” started this fall on Sept. 6, and enforcement of current government mandates continue now into 2026. According to the nonprofit journalism group The Marshall Project, around 1,600 people have been taken during these raids so far. The impact is felt here in Oswego, far beyond Chicago city limits. “We are not safe," said OH senior Sidney Blanco simply. "Especially because there is so much that is not being said in the news, or out in the media that people know. Not that long ago, I found out that... Renee [[Good]] got killed [[from the raids]],” referencing the Jan 7 death of Renee Nicole Good who was shot in Minneapolis, in her car, by an ICE agent. “[[In]] Oswego specifically, I know that we have a lot of scared people and a lot of scared citizens... a lot of scared friends and family," said an OH anonymous resident. "They are afraid to live their daily lives. They [[are]] afraid to go to the store. They're afraid to go home at night.” Residents are impacted in different ways by the enforcement of the current ICE mandates, and each person sees the situation through a different lens.