Good morning and welcome to Kid News, generously sponsored today by the Lopez Tang family of Menlo Park, California

to which Max Tang and all of his teammates on the Pasa Alpine Hill swim team

lots of luck as they head to Tempe, Arizona to compete in the holiday fest

invitational swim meet. Remember to reach for the wall, keep calm and swim on.

I'm Kim, a fellow swimmer and will be cheering you on.

Today is Thursday, December 1st, 2022, and we begin with history made in the halls of Congress.

Yesterday, Democrats in the House of Representatives chose the first black lawmaker to ever lead a party on Capitol Hill.

New York's Hakeem Jeffries was voted to succeed Nancy Pelosi once the new Congress takes over in January.

As you'll recall, Republicans won control of the House by a slim margin in the midterm election last month,

so Jeffries will hold the title of House Minority Leader rather than Speaker of the House.

The front runner for that role right now is Republican Kevin McCarthy.

However, he needs approval from a majority of the entire House and according to CNN has a few in his party challenging him.

The vote will be held in January.

Proof that some kids will do just about anything to get out of homework.

Three seniors from Bingham High School in Utah created a giant gingerbread cathedral, all to get out of writing a three-page paper.

According to KSL TV, the teen's teacher gave them three options for their end of semester personal finance class project.

Take a long multiple choice test, write a three-page essay on how to start a mortgage, or build a gingerbread house.

The students, Ethan Williams, Nemoah, Tuikolangaho, and James Southworth said, duh, we're doing the gingerbread.

But when they saw the requirements, they realized this was no joke. It had to be big.

They modeled it after the National Cathedral and decorated it with treats, including graham crackers, pretzels, Hershey's kisses, jolly ranchers, and gumdrops.

Nine days of work and many pounds of frosting later, they finished their creation.

When asked if it was worth skipping the essay, the boys said 100%.

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