TASK DEFINITION: Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.
PROBLEM: As the 2016 school year and the election primary cycles wound to a close in California, they inevitably congealed into political brouhahas that entangled even young students. One such controversy involved the case of third-grader Logan Autry and his “Make America Great Again” hat: Third-grader Logan Autry, 9, said officials at Powers-Ginsburg Elementary School in Fresno told him to remove his “Make America Great Again” hat because it could stir “negative emotions” in other children. The red baseball cap with the phrase printed in white capital letters has become almost synonymous with the campaign of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. “The principal told me to take it off, and I still didn’t take it off,” Autry [said]. “And she said it was against the dress code to wear the hat, but I looked in the dress code and it was not against it.” The Fresno Unified School District’s dress codes for the 2015-2016 school year are fairly easy to track down online, and they haven’t changed much (if at all) from those of previous years: Any apparel, hair style, cosmetic or jewelry, even if not specifically mentioned below, which creates a safety concern, draws undue attention to the wearer, or tends to distract from the educational process is prohibited unless addressed elsewhere in this regulation. Additionally, the following items are specifically prohibited: What many stories didn’t mention was that Logan Autry wore the hat for several days before the school, seeing it as a potential distraction, intervened and told him to remove it: Our job as educators is to facilitate a safe learning environment where we encourage robust conversations of diverse and thoughts. We are proud that in this case, our school achieved that goal by allowing the student to wear his hat for several days. However, it is also our responsibility to take precautions when the discourse begins to impact our school climate and interrupt school operations. Logan told reporters that wearing the hat at school is his First Amendment right. However, the right to free speech is interpreted (by courts and others) somewhat differently in public schools than outside them. The National Coalition Against Censorship has a rundown of how the First Amendment is interpreted within the classroom: Recent Supreme Court decisions have made it clear that the right to free speech and expression can sometimes be subordinated to achieve legitimate educational goals. (See discussions of Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, Bethel School District v. Fraser.) A school is not comparable to a public park where anyone can stand on a soapbox, or a bulletin board on which anyone can post a notice. While students and teachers do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate” (Tinker v. Des Moines), speech is not quite as free inside educational institutions as outside. This does not mean that students and teachers have no First Amendment rights at school. Quite the contrary. But within the educational setting, the right to free speech is implemented in ways that do not interfere with schools’ educational mission. Students cannot claim, for instance, that they have the right to have incorrect answers to an algebra quiz accepted as correct, nor can teachers claim a right to teach anything they choose. Other quotes from Logan present a fuller picture of the third-grader’s political views: He already has the shirt and tie down, and practices speeches about Trump on the playground. “I’ve told them his policies on illegal immigration, and our second amendment, and our first amendment and all of our amendments that need to be protected which are not going to be an amendment at all if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders gets elected,” said Autry.

SOLUTION: An elementary school in Fresno, California, forced a third-grader to remove a cap bearing Donald Trump's campaign slogan.

PROBLEM: "The coronavirus is now a pandemic, so far infecting nearly 120,000 people worldwide and killing more than 4,000. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended that travelers avoid visiting Italy, among several other countries, unless it's absolutely necessary. Italy, meanwhile, is taking its own precautions as COVID-19 spreads widely there. A recent blog post claims those precautions include putting the entire country ""into quarantine."" ""Italian prime minister has announced that the entire country goes into quarantine, as part of emergency measures aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus,"" the undated post says. ""The government’s extraordinary measures, announced at Palazzo Chigi late on 9 March, comes amid a worsening of the coronavirus outbreak. The new stringent measures, covering the entire country, and would take effect tomorrow morning."" This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) But this post is essentially : On March 9, Italian Prime Minister declared all of Italy a ""red zone,"" which means people should stay home except for work and emergencies, according to NPR. The emergency quarantine measure had already been in place in northern Italy, where most of the COVID-19 cases are. Italians must now also seek permission for essential travel, according to the BBC — and permission will only be granted for people with valid work or family reasons that can’t be postponed. People are forbidden from gathering in public and all sporting events are suspended. Schools and universities are closed until April 3. There are other rules that indicate the nation is allowing some movement, however restricted, including a 6 p.m. curfew on bars and restaurants, a ban on jail visits, and an embargo on unnecessary shopping. Shopping centers, except for pharmacies and food markets, must close on weekends, according to ABC News. People are being asked to stand at least a meter apart from one another in supermarket lines. But as the New York Times reports, the exact restrictions of the quarantine aren’t clear to some Italians. ""We are hearing too many things and people don’t really get what’s going on,"" the newspaper quoted one woman as saying. She said she thought it was fine to take a walk around Milan, where she lives, but said the government’s explanations ""aren’t clear at all."" It’s worth noting that the word ""quarantine"" also has several definitions. According to Merriam Webster, it can mean ""a state of forced isolation."" Clearly not everyone in the country is being forced into isolation. But it can also mean ""a restraint upon the activities or communication of persons or transport of goods designed to prevent the spread of disease or pests,"" a definition that fits what we are seeing in Italy. The country’s lockdown also seems well within the definition of quarantine used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: ""to separate and restrict the movement of well persons who may have been exposed to a communicable disease to see if they become ill."""

SOLUTION: “Whole of Italy goes into quarantine.”

PROBLEM: The number of Americans age 90 and older nearly tripled in the past three decades, to the current 1.9 million from 720,000 in 1980, said a report from the U.S. Census Bureau. That number may reach 9 million by 2050, according to the report titled “90+ in the United States: 2006-2008.”   “I think it’s going to grow even faster than predicted in the report,” said Richard Suzman, director of behavioral and social research at the National Institute on Aging, which commissioned the study. More folks over the age of 90 means increased stress on pension and retirement funds, health care costs and caretaker relationships with younger generations, the study said. A person who makes it to 90 years old today is expected to live almost another five years, the study said. And, a person who lives to celebrate a 100th birthday is likely to live another 2.3 years. An increase in education, improvements to nutrition and public health, a decline in smoking, diabetes controls and a reduction in strokes have been major factors contributing to the aging boom, Suzman said. The report, which details the demographic, health and economic status of the oldest Americans, is based on the 2006- 2008 American Community Survey. It was released on the U.S. Census Bureau website. “This is very important data for policy makers and researchers to start considering whether to change the definition for oldest-old from 85 to 90-plus,” said Wan He, a Census Bureau demographer and an author on the report. The so-called “oldest-old” in the United States has generally been defined as 85 and older. Given the aging boom and increased life expectancy, that marker may now be inching closer to 90, researchers said, and it’s important to understand the differences among the older population. For example, of people aged 85-89, about 69 percent reportedly have a disability, which might include trouble hearing or seeing or a physical limitation. At ages 90-94, that number jumps to nearly 83 percent. Other study findings showed that the 90-plus population in the United States is overwhelmingly white with most earning a high school diploma. Education is linked to a number of factors related to a person’s well-being, according to the report, with higher education linked to lower mortality rates and better overall health. Women over the age of 90 outnumbered men by nearly 3 to 1, according to the report. Nearly 80 percent of those women were widowed while more than 40 percent of the men 90 or older are married, it said.

SOLUTION:
Ranks of people reaching age 90 tripled since 1980: report.