Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz.

1. What category of hurricane was Ian when it struck Cuba on Tuesday?

Spoiler
Category 3. The storm made landfall in Western Cuba on Tuesday morning and reached sustained winds of 125 miles per hour. By the time it reaches Florida the storm could reach Category 4 strength. 2.5 million Floridians have been ordered to evacuate in anticipation of the storm, which is making its way toward the Tampa area.

2. According to the Food and Drug Administration, what percentage of U.S. households suffered food insecurity in 2021?

Spoiler
10%. According to the USDA, a food insecure household is one where there is limited or uncertain access to adequate food. The Biden administration is targeting food insecurity with a recent proposal to increase eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and make school meals available for more children during the school year and during the summer. All of those proposals, though, would require congressional approval.

3. Which political party won the most votes in Italy’s recent election?

Spoiler
The Brothers of Italy. Headed by Giorgia Meloni, the party won 26% of the vote. It sets the stage for Meloni to lead a centre-right government and become Italy’s first female prime minister. Analysts were alarmed at the result, though, as the Brothers of Italy has neo-fascist roots and Meloni won the election on an immigration restriction platform.

4. NASA recently crashed a spacecraft into what celestial object?

Spoiler
An asteroid. It is part of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) to help the space program learn about how to deflect an asteroid that could one day be headed for Earth. The impact took place on Monday night.

5. Which Latin American country recently approved of same-sex marriage in a referendum?

Spoiler
Cuba. Cuban voters approved a new family code referendum 67% to 33% that legalizes same-sex marriage and civil unions, allows for same-sex couples to adopt children, and promotes equal domestic responsibilities between men and women. The referendum had a 74% turnout rate.

6. What does Arizona’s controversial school choice law do?

Spoiler
The law extends a state private voucher system to all students in he state. Signed into law by Republican Governor Doug Ducey in July, the law is currently blocked as state officials review a petition by public education advocates that would put the measure up to voters in the 2024 elections.

7. Which four regions of Eastern Ukraine are holding referendums to join Russia?

Spoiler
Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk. Ukraine argues that the referendums are not legal but observers see them as a way for Russian President Vladimir Putin to justify annexing these areas of Ukraine’s east and south, thereby allowing him to call up more forces to protect them from further attack by Ukraine. Putin said last week that he would not rule out the use of nuclear weapons to defend Russian-speaking peoples in Ukraine from Ukraine and its Western allies.

8. Which conservative Supreme Court justice joined liberal justices in opposing the execution of an Alabama death row inmate last week?

Spoiler
Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett joined the other three female justices on the Court – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson – in opposing the execution of Alan Eugene Miller by lethal injection. Miller argued that he filled out a form for nitrogen hypoxia as his execution method and the state lost his paperwork. Although the other five justices on the Court allowed his execution to go forward, Alabama was forced to postpone the execution because it was unable to put an I.V. into Miller’s arm before his death warrant expired.

9. What has caused massive protests across Iran over the last few weeks?

Spoiler
The death of twenty-two-year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of the country’s morality police. She had been arrested because her hijab was not to the satisfaction of religious officials. More than forty Iranian cities have been gripped by protests, leading to a hard crackdown by the Iranian government.

10. What caused another delay to NASA’s plans to launch its new moon rocket?

Spoiler
Hurricane Ian. NASA had planned to launch the rocket on Tuesday but the storm’s expected development into a hurricane caused NASA to scuttle launch plans because Kennedy Space Center was in the projected path of the storm. This is the third delay of the rocket’s launch, with previous launches scuttled due to technical issues and fuel leaks.