During the three months when KHS halls were empty, local and worldwide events arose that we were not able to cover…until now. From the injury of the Cardinals’ star player to an international movie sensation, we have compiled what we believe were some of the most important events of the summer of 2011.

Pujols pleads for more money

At the beginning of this baseball season, multiple sources reported the Cardinals offered Albert Pujols a contract in the range of a eight-years worth $20 million a year. However, when Pujols announced his own contract demands, he requested a 10-year contract to pay no less than $30 million a year. At the start of spring training, Pujols and the Cardinals were unable to come to an agreement. Wanting to avoid distraction during the season, he vowed not to discuss his contract until the end of the year.

Pujols got off to a very slow start, playing 10 of his first 11 games with a batting average under .200. As his game started to pick up, his batting average reached .279 on July 6, the highest it has been since March 31. Despite things looking up, this season has been short of usual expectations. His batting average is as low as it has ever been, and the less-than-superb season will surely hurt his contract negotiations.

Pujols’s year took another turn for the worst, during the June 19 baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, he was injured by a collision with a runner at first base. This resulted in a fractured left wrist that was said to take four to six weeks to heal. Fortunately, the recovery only took two weeks and he was back on the field by July 6.

With two months left in the season and Pujols back in full health, Cardinals fans may have few opportunities left to   cheer for one of the best players in baseball.

“Not guilty”

Casey Anthony came into the spotlight in 2008 when her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, was reported missing to Orlando authorities July 15. But this was not just another melancholy story of another missing face on a milk carton. Caylee vanished 31 days before her mother reported her missing. The month it took Anthony to report her child’s disappearance was spent wildly partying with her friends and getting a tattoo that read “Bella Vita,” or “beautiful life” in Italian. After her arrest in July of 2008, her trial began three years later, when, in a surprising ruling, the jury announced Anthony was not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter and aggravated child abuse. This decision was made due to what the jury believed was a lack of evidence.

While any death is a tragedy, crimes against children are the most heart-wrenching. Locally, Michael Devlin was charged with 74 life sentences for kidnapping and assaulting two young boys. As awful as the crimes against Sean Hornbeck and Ben Ownby were, our justice system put the man responsible for their lost innocence behind bars. However, young Caylee’s death goes unpunished.

In the trial, it was revealed that a plastic bag containing the 2-year-old’s remains was found in a wooded area not far from her home. A quick history sweep found a website about the toxic chemical chloroform had been searched on the Anthony’s home computer, while traces of chloroform and other signs of a decomposing body were found inside her trunk.

A young child disappeared and her mother went looking for her at wet t-shirt contests and a tattoo parlor. Yet Anthony was released 12 days after the verdict was announced with a $1,000 fine for lying to authorities.

Clearly the justice system is not always just.

The last Potter

After a decade of magic, sold-out theaters, and $7.4 billion made, the Harry Potter saga finally came to a close with the eighth installment in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two July 15.

Directed by David Yates, Part Two was well worth the 10-year wait. The film took Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) on a search for Voldemort’s remaining horcruxes in their efforts to destroy him eternally. Throughout the journey, even as loved ones died and the voice of doubt was ever present, the feeling of hope the wizards had throughout the years was never truly lost.

This riveting film started right where Part One left off, and was laden with action. It began with the three young wizards plotting how to get into Gringotts Wizarding Bank and ended with the epic battle between Voldemort and Harry, which would ultimately determine the fate of the wizarding world.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a story of bravery, love and friendship. The 130-minute film explored these honorable values, and left the audience with both goosebumps and a satisfied feeling of closure.