Ripped from the Headlines: September 2023: This Week in Words: Current Events Vocabulary for September 23–September 29, 2023

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez was indicted on bribery charges; it was the second time in ten years the lawmaker has been officially accused of corruption. Prosecutors say Menendez and his wife accepted "hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes," including cash, gold bars, and a car. In return, the senator allegedly promised political favors. A growing number of lawmakers are calling for his resignation. Corruption has a Latin root that means "to spoil or destroy."

Acclaimed fashion designer Galia Lahav, who has created couture wedding gowns for Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, and many other celebrities, announced she will donate ten dresses to thrift stores around the United States. Lahav said she plans to give ten of her original designs, elaborate gowns valued at more than $5,000, to U.S. Goodwill stores over the next year, in an effort to be someone's "fairy godmother."

When a Krispy Kreme driver in Alaska left his delivery van's door open, two hungry bears climbed in and helped themselves to breakfast. A mother bear and her cub devoured more than three dozen doughnuts, along with at least 100 doughnut holes, over a period of about 20 minutes. They continued feasting as the driver and bystanders tried to shoo them away by banging on the van, but they were eventually scared off by police sirens. The Latin root of devour means "swallow down."

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and 20 members of her National Rally party may be tried on embezzlement charges. Prosecutors have accused them of stealing funds from the European Parliament, which they used to cover expenses unrelated to their jobs as parliamentary representatives. If the case goes to trial and Le Pen is found guilty of appropriating the money, she faces up to ten years in prison and a fine of one million euros.

Current federal spending laws expire on September 30. Unless Congress approves new funding legislation, the government will shut down on October 1. When the annual budget runs out, a new one must be signed into law by the president. If lawmakers can't agree, most federal agencies will close, resulting in no paychecks for military members, postal workers, or TSA agents. The Latin root of expire means "last breath" from ex-, "out," and spirare, "to breathe."

According to scientists, unusually wet, dry, or hot summers can make fall foliage especially brilliant. This autumn is likely to feature leaves in vivid hues of red, orange, and yellow, after a summer that broke both heat and rainfall records in many areas. Experts say that New Hampshire's White Mountains, Cibola National Forest in New Mexico, and Ohio's Cuyahoga Valley will have spectacular displays of fall leaf color. Foliage is from the Old French feuille, "leaf."

Scientists have recently discovered ancient artifacts in Norway's melting ice, including a 3,000-year-old arrow. Glacial archaeologists are rushing to recover the relics, which regularly appear as warming temperatures melt glaciers around the world, before they can be damaged by water and sunlight. This year alone, about 250 objects were recovered from Norwegian glacial melt, including Viking-era knives and horse bits. The root of glacial means "ice."

The last supermoon of the year, the harvest moon, is visible starting September 28. For astronomers, the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox marks the true start of fall. Occurring during September's traditional crop gathering time, the harvest moon is known as the corn moon by many Northeastern Indigenous groups. The Old English hærfest means "autumn," from a root meaning "to gather or pluck."

On September 24, Ethiopian long-distance runner Tigst Assefa broke the women's marathon record by more than two minutes. Assefa finished the 26.2-mile course of the BMW Berlin Marathon with a time of 2:11:53. The previous record was held by Brigid Kosgei, who crossed the finish line of a 2019 Chicago race in 2:14:04. Assefa is now favored to represent Ethiopia in next year's Olympics.

President Biden became the first president to picket with workers when he joined striking United Auto Workers on September 26. It was the eleventh day of the strike against General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis, which owns Chrysler. Workers are demanding higher pay and a 40 percent wage increase over the next four years. The original picket line was a fence-like row of soldiers; the word soon evolved to describe a line of protestors blocking entry, like a picket fence.

An Instagram story by Taylor Swift brought a record number of visits to a voter registration website. Swift posted the message on National Voter Registration Day, encouraging fans to sign up to vote in the next election. Vote.org saw its traffic increase by more than 1,200 percent in the hour after Swift's post. Since it was established in 2012, the annual one-day push to register new voters has enrolled over five million of them.

The union that represents more than 11,000 movie and television writers came to a tentative contract agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on September 24. If the members of the Guild vote to approve the new contract, the 146-day writers' strike will officially come to an end, although actors remain on strike. The AMPTP agreed to most of what the writers demanded, and the deal is only considered tentative because of the pending vote.