Major League Baseball plans to re-open near July 4th, but at what cost?
Photo via Flickr Creative Commons License
MLB players await new guidelines as MLB officials plan to re-open near July 4th of this summer.
Major League Baseball has come out with new information as to what their modified season may look like due to coronavirus. The MLB told their players and teams that their prorated salaries would contribute to an average loss of around $640,000/game over and 82-game season with no fans present in empty ballparks. This information was obtained from a presentation given by the MLB commissioner’s office to the union that was gathered by The Associated Press.
Major League Baseball games have become one of the most captivating sporting events in our country and with the new proposed layout of the season, this $10 billion industry is being shuttered by the virus. According to Kare 11 News, the 12-page document titled “Economics of Playing Without Fans in Attendance” was dated on May 12th and sparked the initial negotiations of starting the delayed baseball season around the Fourth of July.
Teams have now begun discussing the losses among individual ball clubs and have sparked more conversations about the reopening plan. Organizations are saying that even if they do start a delayed season, it would still cause a $4 billion dollar loss and give players 89 percent of the revenue gained. This figure is astronomically different from what other years of the league have looked like.
Players and teams are contending that they think they will lose more money with more games being played, while the players’ union believes differently. They believe that clubs would actually lose less money with the more games played, and clubs also have stakes in their regional sports networks, and playing more games would benefit their organizations.
Owners voted Monday to propose salaries be based on a 50-50 split of revenue, framework players say is tantamount to the kind of salary cap they will never accept. Teams gave the players’ association their virus-testing plan Friday and have waited to make their economic proposal.
The specifics of what the public and organizations are seeking are the numbers and figures that would be primarily affected by this adjusted opening. The organizations that are most popular may be the ones that fall the most.
The New York Yankees alone would have $312 million in local losses when calculating their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. New York’s figure includes about $100 million toward the bonds that financed the new Yankee Stadium, money that already has been paid for 2020.
With the Yankees being one of the most loved and hated ball clubs in the nation this is a huge hit to the ecological standing of their organization.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were at $232 million in local losses, followed by the New York Mets at $214 million, Chicago Cubs at $199 million, and Boston Red Sox at $188 million. Detroit would have the lowest negative EBIDTA, which is an accounting measure used to assess profitability, at $84 million, with Baltimore at $90 million, and Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay at $91 million each. Figures exclude distributions from the central office, which projects to collect $1.34 billion in media revenue.
Organization leaders will not be able to fully predict what this new layout might look like for the MLB and there are many variables that could cause the losses to skyrocket or to stabilize. You have to take into account MLB Network purchases/cancellations, viewership on local sports stations for teams on major networks like CBS, MLB, and more. Viewership is going to be a paramount issue and the media needs the fans to continue watching and supporting the league to help them stay afloat.
The figures were calculated by MLB and its clubs, and the frequently skeptical union already has requested a slew of documents from MLB. MLB said 2019 revenue was 39% local gate and other in-park sources, followed by 25% central revenue, 22% local media, 11% sponsorship, and 4% other.
Teams fear a second wave of the coronavirus would devastate finances if renewed government restrictions cause cancellation of the postseason, which brings in $787 million in media money. The document details who pays what: $370 million by Fox, $310 million by Turner, $27 million by ESPN, $30 million by the MLB Network, and $50 million from international and other.
The immense amount of losses for MLB teams is going to be large no matter the proposal because of the absence of fans. The only thing that fans can do is continue their endless support for their local teams and the MLB as a whole.
Dylan Pringle is a senior this year at Sartell High School. He is adamant about his constant involvement in music both in and out of the school day. Dylan...
Doctors urge the end of lockdown
photo via Wikimedia under the creative commons license
The Capitol Building, located in Washington, DC.
On May 19th, President Trump received a letter signed by over 600 doctors from all 50 states, urging him to end all coronavirus restrictions and reopen the country completely. These doctors urge Trump to issue an executive order to undo all restrictions immediately, or face a “mass casualty incident.”
The group of doctors urge that stay at home orders as well as the shuttering of businesses around the country already has done harm to Americans, and if continued will lead to “exponentially growing health consequences.”
In the letter, which was obtained by Fox News, doctors claim that during the lockdown, massive amounts of people have health problems that at this time are unable to be treated. They cite very concerning statistics, such as that during the lockdown, 150,000 Americans per month would have had early cancer diagnoses, millions more are unable to receive dental treatment that will cause problems later in life, and hundreds of thousands of people suffering from substance abuse as well as child abuse. Suicide hotlines are receiving 600% increases in phone calls.
Many Americans are not receiving medical treatment that could save their lives. These deaths will be added to COVID death statistics, although inadvertently. The doctors argue that “the indirect consequences of the lockdown outweigh the direct consequences of lifting them.”
Many states around the country are already exploring their options in regard to the crisis.
Josh Harrington is a senior at Sartell High School. After high school his plan is to go to the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and obtain his Bachelor's...
How the 2020 AP test adapted to the global pandemic
Students prepare for a new kind of AP testing this year this time with notes.
As the first week of AP testing comes to a close, students are beginning to see a few problems with the new system of AP testing.
The pandemic opened the doors for new problems for College Board. One of the main and earliest issues was that of cheating: how do you keep the students from cheating when there is no one to hold them accountable?
One thing College Board did to remedy this issue was making the test open note, however, when researching online, students were unable to use sources from other people, and plagiarism rules were strictly enforced. Students were expected to form their own opinions and stay away from anyone else’s work.
This opened many students up to confusion on the loose terms of someone else’s work. Take the AP United States History test for example, while it was fine to look up dates and straight facts for your essay, any facts from opinion articles could be considered cheating.
While there were rumors of College Board putting false information on sites like Wikipedia, nothing was confirmed. However, this still deterred some students from looking up information to help their studying or test. One student who took the AP United States History exam said, “I heard the rumors and I stayed away from those sites, both during studying and the test.”
This also brought up the question of how College Board was going to enforce these new rules. Because there were no teachers present to watch the students, College Board took a different route.
College Board admits to monitoring social media sites and even posting on social media to deter and catch students looking to cheat.
On student tests, College Board used “plagiarism detection software and post-administration analytics” to ensure the validity of students’ exams. Alongside these students, exams were sent to teachers to try and verify it was the students writing style.
Many students taking a variety of AP exams were faced with different prompts than that of their classmates. While this may seem like a good system, things are different when you take a closer look. Rating the difficulty of these prompts is completely subjective, so that begs the question: are all the prompts given to students the same level of difficulty? How does College Board decide which prompts to use?
Some of the tests such as Literature and Composition and the United States History exams had a variety of questions. This brings up the problem of fairness. While the difficulty of prompts is subjective, some students may have an unfair advantage or disadvantage with certain questions.
Students also had trouble submitting their work once they were finished. College Board has since stated that outdated browsers seem to be causing a glitch in student responses. This makes submitting responses near impossible for the students with outdated browsers.
College Board recommends students use the updated version of Google Chrome, however, at Sartell, some students ran into issues downloading the updated version and were forced to use other browsers.
In Sartell, there are still some students taking their tests within the next week, but of the approximately 385 exams taken 96% of them were submitted successfully. That leaves 4% of exams that had issues in submission, forcing the students to either retake it in early June or forfeit all their work.
College Board is offering retests, however, there is only a 48 hour period after the test to sign up. The students get a confirmation at the end of the retest form and an e-ticket two days before the retest. However, it was easy for some students to overlook this, and without a confirmation email, students are left wondering if their request was accepted.
On top of technological issues, students had to face early wake-up times and unfair disadvantages of 3 AM and 5 AM testing. Because all tests are to happen at the same time, students in countries outside of the United States are forced to wake up at the early hours of the morning to take the test. This leaves these students at a major disadvantage as they are forced to wake up and take the test in the hours when they would normally be asleep.
As College Board rises to the challenge of testing during a global pandemic, some of the new testing protocols taken present new challenges for the students.
Alyssa Haus is a junior at Sartell High School. Her favorite activities include drumline and marching band. Reading and watching musicals are just a few...
Drone usage during the Coronavirus pandemic
Image used under the creative commons license
Drones around the country are being used to help fight the pandemic.
All over the globe countries are using drones to accomplish tasks that would be otherwise impossible without the use of these machines. Drones are being used for delivering packages as well as important supplies that are used for testing in developing countries. Drones are also being used for surveillance and enforcing social distancing in public, and are even being used as testing and monitoring devices for the pandemic.
While many people debate the ethics of the usage of drones, especially when there is the concern of the drones being used to spy on people, most would consider the usage a smart and safe idea.
In the U.S. drones have been deployed in the state of Connecticut to detect symptoms as well as to enforce social distancing out in the public. The drones are equipped with devices that measure body temperature, read heart rates, and detect sneezing and coughing from almost 200 feet away. Using these drones can also be useful in getting to remote or difficult places that would be otherwise hard for actual police officers to get to.
While in other countries, drones are being used to deliver important tools used for testing. Yahoo News states that the country of Ghana has around 834 confirmed infections and nine deaths but with the delivery of important tools and medicine, the country will be able to safely use these tools to combat the virus.
In the future, we may find new advantages or disadvantages brought on from using these drones to combat the epidemic but for now, they might be one of our most useful tools in this pandemic.
Diego Melendez is a senior at Sartell High School. This is his second year being a journalist for the LeSabre. Diego enjoys cooking, biking, listening...
Native Americans hit hard by virus are getting help from the Irish
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The Native American people and Tribes are being hit harder than most by COVID-19
Native American tribes are being hit hard by the virus in many ways. It is infecting their members, and they are also needing to rely on Washington for financial aid during these hard times.
There are billions of dollars that are marked for the tribes, but the tribes are being met with red tape and also delays on the funds they are being provided with. This delay leaves tribes uncertain of how they are going to live off of the little money they have and also support their family as well as other families.
USA Today wrote an article about the stress that is on the tribes currently. They stated in the article that the tribes have access to a small business loan program that is called “The Paycheck Protection Project.”
But those tribes or individuals that rely on income from casinos weren’t allowed access to apply for those small loans due to “an error in legislation.” Due to the virus and quarantine rules, many of those casinos have had to close their doors which causes many families and people to lose their main source of income. Over 500 casinos owned by native people have had to close due to the virus and risks which has caused a lot of stress and hardships for those families and people.
The Navajo Nation is being hit hardest by the virus. The Navajo Nation stretches across parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah has reached a very grim and sad milestone of this virus. Around two months ago the nation had their first confirmed case of COVID-19, but as of May 2020 the nation had 3,245 confirmed cases of the virus and among those 103 members have died.
Across the Indian Country which ranges from Arizona to Minnesota, 5,200 cases have been confirmed on reservations. This virus is exposing the underlying fractures of the nation and how neglected those Native American tribes are from the US Government. NBC News stated in their article that those tribes have been underfunded for years and are running low on basic needs such as water, food, and healthcare. 30% of homes in which home roughly 175,000 Navajo members of the reservation do not have access to clean reliable drinking water, and they have to haul it miles from local utilities NBC stated. Also, the medical resources on the reservations are very scarce because they are understaffed, don’t always get medicine quick enough, and rural medicine is hard enough.
Native Americans are more vulnerable to this virus because many members suffer from asthma, heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. Those conditions listed are some of the conditions that make people more vulnerable to the virus and lower survival rates.
Also, the reservations they live on are very crowded and many houses have a large number of people in small houses and spaces which is a prime example of how the virus can be spread. Also, Native Americans aren’t being counted in for the demographic data for COVID-19, and they are being labeled as other rather than being in the other categories. This upset many of the tribes because they count for a large number of COVID-19 cases and the fact that they are just being forgotten about and not even getting a proper label is very demeaning and not okay. New Mexico is one of the only states that are properly labeling and counting the Native American people towards there numbers of COVID-19 and the deaths related to the virus. In New Mexico, they represent only 10% of the population but over 1/3 of their total cases. In Arizona, they make up 16% of the state’s COVID-19 cases.
It is very hard for the tribes to be able to follow the CDC’s guidelines for washing hands when they don’t always have ready access to water and also they don’t have access to many sanitizing products as well. In an article from the NY Times, it was said that in the Dakotas and Montana where it is very hard to find good and affordable housing, those who couldn’t afford to have a house of their own are having to find shelter with others on the reservation which is hitting those tribes very hard.
The Irish people and the Native American people have always been civil and worked together. It all started back in 1847 when the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma sent $170 to Ireland during the Great Famine since they saw they were struggling.
173 years after that amazing act of kindness, Ireland donated and raised over $2 million for the Navajo and Hopi nations who are struggling financially during this pandemic and have been hit the hardest. In the article that NBC wrote about this donating, many people were interviewed and a lot of the Irish people that the reporter talked to said that they thought it was the right thing to do especially to honor their ancestors who had created a strong bond with the tribes years and years ago. Many of the donations had small messages that had the common theme of how the people of Ireland wanted to give back to those who helped their nation survive and stay strong when they were going through a similar issue. The donations received are going to purchasing critical supplies, including food and available water, and also PPE since those living on the reservations have close to no PPE.
Ireland honored the Choctaw Nation and their act of generosity by creating a sculpture of 9 stainless steel feathers that stand 23 feet high. The Prime Minister of Ireland, Leo Varadkr visited the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma and gave his thanks and praises in person rather than over the phone or social media platforms.
Other people have also been donating to help the Native American people out during this terrible time and have been sending their prayers. They are going through such a hard time but having the support from so many people and the people Ireland has helped them out tremendously and hopefully, soon the lives of those in the tribes and on the reservations go back to normal and they will return to their normal daily lives.
Kylie Reisinger is a senior at Sartell High School. She plans on going to SCSU for college and is going to major in early education to become a kindergarten...
NYC reopening in June
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New York City skyline in Manhattan.
Last Thursday, Mayor of New York City Bill DeBlasio spoke at a press conference that the city could be reopening earlier than previously expected. DeBlasio said that New York City could reopen as early as June 1st, but anywhere from the 1st to the 15th is the range the mayor is predicting.
DeBlasio said the city possibly reopening earlier than expected is due to the city hitting or exceeding the targets set by the city for hospitalizations, ICU patients, and confirmed cases in the city. The city is currently tracking seven different statistics to stay on top of the pandemic in the city.
However, this is merely hypothetical, as the pandemic has thrown the city a lot of “curveballs” according to Mayor DeBlasio. Phase I of reopening the city includes construction, manufacturing, and supply chains. Businesses will be allowed curbside pickup to generate revenue.
Public transportation in NYC has seen increased ridership since the outbreak, with more New Yorkers venturing out to carry out their daily lives. As it stands, 9 percent of the city population is confirmed to be infected, amounting to nearly 750,000 people. However, Cuomo and DeBlasio have both stated that the state is making “remarkable progress.”
Governor Cuomo of New York stated in an interview that this is about “balancing between financial ruin and death” and that “a spike in cases is the worst possible scenario.” 8.3 million people live in New York City, and the state of New York has 19.5 million residents in total.
Josh Harrington is a senior at Sartell High School. After high school his plan is to go to the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and obtain his Bachelor's...
Quarry Park closing swimming areas
photo via Wikimedia under the creative commons license
Quarry #2, the most popular among residents for swimming and cliff jumping.
On Thursday, a joint commission of the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office as well as the County Parks Commission formally announced the indefinite closure of Quarry 2 and 11, the most popular amongst visitors. The closure was cited by the Sheriff’s Office as being required due to “limited space for park users to properly social distance.”
Quarry 2 is extremely popular among residents, as its 100+ foot water depth and 40 foot cliffs allow for jumping and swimming during the summer. Quarry Park is normally busiest Memorial Day through Labor Day during the summer, and Stearns County estimates 150,000 people visit during the year.
While these two quarries are closed, the rest of the park remains open to visitors. The two swimming quarries will be closed “until further notice” and will reopen “as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Quarry Park is located in Waite Park, near Menards on Stearns County Road 137.
Josh Harrington is a senior at Sartell High School. After high school his plan is to go to the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and obtain his Bachelor's...
How is Minnesota going to recover and reopen from this?
Wikipedia under the Creative Commons License
Govenor Walz is making more steps into the direction of Minnesota reopening.
Minnesota is currently a hotspot for COVID-19 especially in the St.Cloud area. Stearns County currently, as of May 21st, has 1,831 cases and 11 deaths. Many of these cases have come from the meat processing plants such as Pilgrim’s Pride and Jenny-O. All the workers from those meat processing plants are currently being tested for the virus in order to move further with the plans for those plants.
The stay at home order for Minnesota has been extended many times. First it was going to be lifted on May 4th but then it got pushed back to May 18th. This has made many small business owners upset because they aren’t able to open back up and that could cause a lot of small businesses to close. Some of those businesses have been saying they will open without permission because if they don’t their businesses will go under and they will lose the business they worked so hard for.
Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store opened up this week with over 200 customers inside.
Minnesota’s largest candy store which is located in Jordan opened the other day and had 200 customers inside of the store! This infuriated many small business owners who had remained close due to orders and lost a lot of money in the process of quarantine. In this Kare11 article, they included an interview from a small business Karen Lewis who is the co-owner of Ficus and Fig located in Burnsville. In this interview, she stated how frustrating this was, and after the candy store opened they decided they will open their doors for business as well. She also included more of her opinions and feelings in the article which is linked here.
On Monday other businesses such as dentist offices, veterinarian offices, and elective surgeries can finally begin and take place. Elective surgeries are often the lifeline of hospitals, they are what keep them running and going since there are so many of them nowadays. But with these businesses opening up, extra safety precautions have to be taken, and N95 mask and PPE supplies have had an increased production number which allows those businesses to safely open up. Governor
Walz did say this is a “calculated risk” but it is what needs to happen in the steps leading up to Minnesota opening and recovering from this unexpected closure. Many nurses have expressed their frustrations and concerns about Minnesota opening up so fast and allowing large gatherings. Nurses also are frustrated because allowing elective surgeries to begin leaves nurses wondering when they should use the N95 masks versus the standard masks that put them at risk for the virus.
The Minnesota Nurses Association was interviewed by StarTribune where in this article one nurse stated “Continuing this crisis of standard PPE use while adding nonessential surgeries will result in needless infections and death of patients and workers.”
Governor Walz had a press conference last Wednesday at 6 pm where he announced on May 18th the stay at home order for Minnesota will be lifted. The day he announced the state at home order would be lifted was the same day that Minnesota had reached a total of 6,700 positive tested cases. He also announced that churches can only have 10 people max inside, retailers should work at 50% capacity, and this order is is still allowing group gatherings with 10 people or less. But with this announcement, restaurants, gyms, salons, barber shops, etc. aren’t allowed to open until June 1st.
Also, the Minnesota State Board of Education banned all in person graduations even those outside or in gyms which would let students be spaced out. This has been devastating news to many seniors.
Minnesota is going to have a long recovery to get back to how it used to be. Businesses have been closed for almost two months now losing business, customers, and money. As all businesses and places can reopen some won’t be opening and especially small family-owned businesses because this virus and stay at home order wiped them out.
Kylie Reisinger is a senior at Sartell High School. She plans on going to SCSU for college and is going to major in early education to become a kindergarten...
State officials announce new guidelines for graduation ceremonies
photo via Flickr under the Creative Commons
Graduates are facing struggles on how to still celebrate their milestone while also following safety guidelines.
The Class of 2020 is standing still as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and the MN Department of Education, Office of Higher Education, and MN Department of Health have made further announcements and guidelines for upcoming commencement ceremonies. This statement was made on Friday, May 8th recommends that virtual ceremonies are the best option when possible so that the graduates and their families do not have to leave their homes.
Ideas have been sparked around Minnesota of social-distanced ceremonies on football fields or stadiums. These ideas become completely thwarted with this new policy which prohibits the school from doing any ceremonies indoors or in large outdoor gatherings.
The guidance statement reads, ”We know that many schools have considered ceremonies outside in stadium or football fields. In-person social gatherings with people from multiple households, even in situations where ample space between attendees could be accommodated, does not comply with social distancing practices and introduces a great deal of contact unpredictability, and increases the potential for disease transmission.”
Other alternatives worth mentioning are car parades or possibly parking lot ceremonies. In the department’s statement, they explained that schools should consider whether it will be safe for all attendees.
“Consider whether having an event encourages people in high-risk groups (particularly older adults and people with underlying health conditions) or ill individuals to come out rather than stay at home. People may come out because of their desire to celebrate this significant milestone and not wanting to be “left out,” the guidance further reads.
If the school districts do decide that they would like to pursue a parking lot or parade type of ceremony, the guidance states that each household should be in separate vehicles, and people showing COVID-19 symptoms should not attend the proposed events.
Receiving the diplomas has also been a topic of concern for many but the guidelines stand firm on the issue. The guidance said that any school that chooses to distribute materials like diplomas or certificates must be done in a contactless way, with the distributors wearing face coverings.
The state also urges that any ceremonies proposed under these guidelines should accommodate so that the ceremonies ensure equal participation from all students. In the time of need, MN officials put out this statement with the best intentions, off of the information they have been given.
Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker said in a statement. “The health and safety of our students and their families will always be our top priority. This year’s graduation ceremonies will look different than they traditionally do, and I am confident our schools will find creative ways to recognize the incredible work and commitment of our graduating students. The class of 2020 persisted in their education through this unprecedented and uncertain time with a school experience that was difficult to navigate. I am proud of these students, I am inspired by these students, and I congratulate them on never giving up and reaching this major milestone.”
Graduations all across the great state of Minnesota will unfortunately not be as planned, but that should not stop districts from making them just as great.
#ClassOf2020Strong
Dylan Pringle is a senior this year at Sartell High School. He is adamant about his constant involvement in music both in and out of the school day. Dylan...
Gym re-opens under close watch of cops
Screenshot from Atilis gym website
New Jersey gym owner Ian Smith said he was going to open even though NJ is still under a stay-at-home order.
On Monday a New Jersy gym owner re-opened after complying with the stay-at-home order for three months to help flatten the curve the residents are “sick and tired” with the order and their rights being taken away from them.
Ian Smith the owner of Atilis Gyms said in an interview with Fox News that the decision was made by him and his family and the input that the community had on him. Smith vowed to keep the gym open even with the police presence trying to shut him down to obey with the stay at home order.
Smith also has made many changes to the gym such only letting in a few members at a time as well as taking temperatures at the doors and anyone with a fever of over 100.4 will not be allowed into the gym until the fever has been gone for at least 48 hours. One of the biggest challenges with the gym is people using the same machines after someone else has used it and not wiped it down. They sought to combat this with giving each person their own bottle of disinfecting spray and a roll of paper towels to wipe down their equipment before and after each use.
This is all too real as many small business owners are feeling the effects of the stay at home order and how it affects them and their business. Smith said that “Our sales have been down 80% for the gym. The only thing that we can do is sell supplements online. This is the main reason we’re even allowed to still pay our employees.”
They plan on opening to the general public on Thursday. Even with the police presence, they still will be there and fighting for their rights. Smith believes that this is unfair for them to not let him open even though the gym will follow all social distancing guidelines and many other policies help stop the spread many of the other big box stores are open and they are not doing as much to combat the virus.
Callan Markey is a senior at Sartell High School, and he plays soccer for the school and for a travel summer team. He plans to attend college at Central...
Georgia re-opens state
"The Carolinas and Georgia" by sjrankin is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Georgia reopened the state on April 28th but data about COVID cases may be skewed.
On April 28th Georgia Governor Brian Kemp lifted the stay at home order and re-opened the state. He enforced social distancing and what he called “ common sense health guidelines”
Kemp was extremely criticized by this by all the major news outlets and even President Donald Trump.
However Saturday afternoon Kemp tweeted out “Today marks the lowest number of COVID-19 positive patients currently hospitalized statewide (1,203) since hospitals began reporting this data on April 8th.” Kemp also said, “Today also marks the lowest total of ventilators in use (897 with 1,945 available). We will win this fight together!”
Not more than 2 weeks after the restrictions were lifted, Georgia saw a huge suge in out of state visitors and as they have not seen a spike in Covid-19 cases many fear that they are just incubation in the citizens. As the incubation period can be up to 2 weeks this can create some false numbers as people do not know whether they are sick or not and it will be interesting to see what’s going to happen as more people travel to Georgia and as more and more people leave their houses.
Callan Markey is a senior at Sartell High School, and he plays soccer for the school and for a travel summer team. He plans to attend college at Central...
Abdi Sharif found dead near river in Des Moines
photo taken via oregonoptimist.com under the creative commons license
Abdi Sharif's family has some answers now that they've found their son's body.
Abdullahi “Abdi” Sharif, a 18 year old boy who attends Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa has been missing since leaving his Target shift on January 17th. His body was found on May 4th.
He was about to go home and was kidnapped by somebody and went missing and there was no trace of where he had gone. But then they had pinged his phone and found a little clue to help find him and return him to his family. They went to the location where his phone was pinged and there was nothing there and nobody in sight. Kayakers were traveling down the river when they noticed the dead body near Prospect Park. The lead police officer on the task force stated: “That was pretty close to the spot where Abdi’s phone had last pinged.”
The police stated that there was a “lack of video evidence” but there was still some video of him before he went missing. The police also said that what he was doing was “very out of character for him” saying that whatever he was doing was not something that he normally does. Google Maps indicated it’s about a 80 minute walk from Merle Hay Mall where he was last seen to where his body was found. The police stated that where the body was found they searched many times before but since the water was frozen over and the conditions were not favorable and that nobody could see him from on the water or from the banks. The police also stated, “We were hoping that the longer it went on, the chances were greater that we would find him alive somewhere and there would be some sort of explanation.”
The family of Abdi set up a GoFundMe page to help support his family.
Dominic Hagy is a senior at Sartell High School. He plays basketball and football for the Sartell Sabres. His favorite Netflix series is Daybreak because...
