Ripped from the Headlines: March 2021: This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for March 13–March 19, 2021

Teachers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia now have access to the Covid-19 vaccine. In some states, including New York and Oregon, educators were eligible months ago, but most teachers have only recently gained access to available vaccines. Groups advocating to fully reopen schools are hopeful that prioritizing teachers will make it possible to do so quickly and safely, though privacy concerns mean there is no data on how many teachers have so far been vaccinated.

French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal won the elite Pritzker Prize on March 16. For more than 30 years, the duo's work has centered on reuse and transformation, mainly in low-income housing complexes. Their motto is "never demolish" — they design around existing buildings and focus on creating affordable housing that is also flexible, spacious, and beautiful. The Greek root of architect is arkhitekton, which means "master builder."

Women took many of the top honors at the 2021 Grammy Awards ceremony, including Megan Thee Stallion, who won best new artist, best rap performance, and best rap song. 19-year-old Billie Eilish was awarded record of the year for Everything I Wanted, and Taylor Swift's Folklore won album of the year. Beyoncé's four awards at this year's ceremony brought her lifetime total to 28, more than any female performer in history.

On March 15, the Senate confirmed Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior Department, making her the first Native American cabinet secretary in U.S. history. Haaland, a member of New Mexico's Laguna Pueblo, had already made history in 2018 as one of the first two Native American women elected to the House of Representatives. Her cabinet position puts her in charge of federal lands, including U.S. Indian Country.

A new hotel in China received sharp criticism from animal conservationists. The controversial Polar Bear Hotel is the latest addition to the Polarland theme park in the northeastern city of Harbin. Guests in the hotel's 21 rooms have unlimited 24-hour views of a small polar bear enclosure decorated with white paint and artificial icicles. Conservationists objected to the meager conditions, stressing that wild polar bears lead very active lives, often roaming thousands of miles.

In Florida, a teenager and her mother hacked a high school computer system to cast fraudulent votes and steal the election for homecoming queen. Laura Carroll and her 17-year-old daughter were arrested and charged with conspiracy after more than 100 votes were found to have been cast from a single login. The teenager was expelled and forced to relinquish her ill-gotten homecoming crown. Fraudulent comes from a Latin root meaning "cheating or deceit."

A sandstorm in China described as the worst in a decade stirred up a haze of thick orange dust that forced roads and schools to close and flights to be canceled. Traffic snarled in Beijing due to poor visibility, and residents of 12 provinces (an area the size of California) were advised to stay indoors. The haze also caused dangerous levels of air pollution which required many people to wear masks, even inside homes and buildings.

U.S. senators proposed new legislation to keep daylight saving time year-round, a change that would mean never again turning clocks forward or back. The legislation is the latest version of an old idea — one that was tested between the World Wars and again in the 1970s. Individual states have passed similar bills, but they require federal approval. Supporters of the bill say that the twice-yearly time change increases the risk of heart attacks, car accidents, and depression.

For the first time in Academy Awards history, two women were nominated for best director. Emerald Fennell and Chloé Zhao are among this year's eight nominees, for their films Promising Young Woman and Nomadland, respectively. Zhao also made history for being the first woman of color ever to be nominated for an Oscar in the director category. David Fincher's Mank received the most nominations, a total of ten.

Israeli archaeologists uncovered bits of parchment they believe to be part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was the first such discovery in over 60 years. Scientists estimate that the parchment fragments are almost 2,000 years old. They feature Greek text from The Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, including the Books of Zechariah and Nahum. Parchment gets its name from the ancient city where parchment was initially substituted for papyrus.

Great apes at the San Diego Zoo are the first non-human primates to receive a coronavirus vaccine. After several of the zoo's gorillas tested positive for Covid-19 in January, a veterinary pharmaceutical company developed the experimental vaccine to protect the zoo's primates, which are vulnerable to human diseases. So far, three gorillas, four orangutans, and six bonobos have been vaccinated.

The entire Duke University campus is under quarantine after more than 200 students tested positive for Covid-19. A school spokesperson said the number was nearly as high as all positive tests during the first semester and the quarantine will last until at least March 21. The outbreak was linked to unauthorized fraternity parties. Quarantine's Latin root means "forty," for the 40 days ships had to wait before docking in Venice during the 14th-century plague epidemic.

Most European countries suspended the AstraZeneca vaccine due to fears of side effects after a small number of people developed blood clots. Experts emphasize that there is no evidence of any connection between the vaccine and blood clots — in fact, the number of blood clots in vaccine recipients was statistically lower than among the general population.

The annual NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament — popularly known as March Madness — kicks off this week. This year, the top seeds in each of the four divisions are Gonzaga University (West), Baylor University (South), University of Illinois (Midwest), and University of Michigan (East). Tournament derives from an Old French word meaning "contest between knights on horseback."

As of March 14, more than 4,000 unaccompanied migrant children were in U.S. Border Patrol custody, amid a recent surge in U.S.-Mexico border crossings. Although minors can legally be held in a detention facility for just 72 hours, these children have spent an average of 117 hours in facilities described as "warehouse-like." The Biden administration says it's working to open new processing centers that would allow quicker transfer of the children to their U.S. sponsors.