Writing Prompt: What is cheating and how does it impact the decisions of people in our world? Use text evidence to support your answer. Directions
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Writing Prompt: What is cheating and how does it impact the decisions of people in our world? Use text evidence to support your answer. Directions: Task 1: Create the following table on your own paper. Be sure that you make the table large enough that you can respond to each topic.
Task 2: Read Articles 1, 2, and 3. Pause after reading each article to complete the table that you created on your own paper. Task 3: Take the assessment; be sure that you are reading for understanding! (Mrs. Lee will assess your reading comprehension tomorrow.) 1 Patriots coach says his team plays by the rules By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff 01.29.15 2016.1000 
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — On January 18, the New England Patriots beat the Indianapolis Colts 45 to 7, earning the chance to play in the Super Bowl. During the game, officials realized that something was strange about the footballs the Patriots were using to play: they were underinflated. According to experts, this could have been an advantage for the Patriots, because underinflated footballs are easier to throw and catch. In other words, the Patriots may have been cheating. The question of how the footballs got to be underinflated has become national news. Reporters and social media users have nicknamed the incident "deflategate," and investigators are trying to figure out what exactly happened. "We Followed The Rules" For his part, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick says his team did not do anything wrong. The Patriots did not do anything "to try to gain an advantage," Belichick said on Saturday afternoon, eight days before the team will play the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl. "We feel like we followed the rules of the game to the letter," he added. "We try to do everything right." When the story about underinflated footballs came out, Belichick said that the air pressure of footballs was not something he knew much about. On Saturday, however, he had more to report. If you take a ball from a warm place to a cool place, it loses air pressure. he said. The balls were inflated in a warm room by NFL officials and then used in the game, which was on a cold, rainy day. He also explained that the Patriots had looked into how they prepare balls before each game. Teams are allowed to rub new footballs after they're inflated to make them softer and easier to grip. Belichick suggested that the friction caused by rubbing the balls could have raised their temperature, which would raise the air pressure. After they were taken out of the room, and into a colder environment, there would be an even bigger drop in temperature, and a bigger drop in air pressure. "I'm not a scientist. I'm not an expert in footballs; I'm not an expert in football measurements," Belichick said. "I'm just telling you what I know." Discovered At Halftime Each team provides its own balls on offense, so the Patriots and Colts were playing with two separate sets of footballs. During halftime, the Colts claimed that the balls used by the Patriots offense were underinflated, and NFL officials tested them. The balls were found to be underinflated, so another set of balls were used during the second half of the game. "Deflategate" began almost immediately after the game ended. On the night of the 18th, Indianapolis TV station WTHR reported that some of the balls used by New England were underinflated. The NFL began investigating and soon confirmed that some of the footballs used by the Patriots in the first half of the game were underinflated. Suspicion fell on Belichick, Patriots assistants and also on Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Like Belichick, Brady denied having done anything against the rules and said he did not know how the footballs came to be underinflated. This was not the first time that the Patriots have been accused of cheating. In 2007, the team was punished after Belichick was caught videotaping the coaches of an opposing team during a game. Belichick used these videos to see what signals the other coaches were giving to their players, letting him predict what his opponent was going to do. Belichick admitted that he broke the rules in 2007, but denied that the Patriots had a habit of cheating. "It was wrong. We were disciplined for it. That's it," Belichick said of the videotaping. "We never did it again. We're never going to do it again."
Belichick complained that trying to explain "deflategate" has taken up a lot of his time in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. "I'm embarrassed to talk about the amount of time that I've put into this," he said. Instead of preparing for the Super Bowl, he has been studying the science of football air pressure, learning about "bladders, air gauges, stitching, pressure, game day football preparation, rubdowns and so forth." Belichick seemed most emotional when he was defending his players. Following "deflategate," Patriots players have been asked if they cheated to get to the Super Bowl. Belichick thinks this is unfair. He praised his team, which won 12 of 16 games this season and has gone to the Super Bowl six times in the last 15 years. He argued that the Patriots were the best team in the playoffs this year. "I know that because I've been with them every day. And I'm proud of this team," he added. 2 Bogus service-dog gear giving a big headache to disabled Americans By Orlando Sentinel, adapted by Newsela staff 08.16.13 2016.920 
ORLANDO, Fla.— Fake service-dog certificates, vests and harnesses for ordinary pets are showing up all over. Supporters of the disabled say this is creating big headaches for those who truly need their canine companions. The problem has gotten so bad that the nation’s largest service-dog group launched a campaign last week. It's asking the U.S. Department of Justice to take action. Service dogs are trained to assist people with disabilities. People know that these dogs wear harnesses or vests, said Paul Mundell of Canine Companions for Independence. So some businesses now sell the equipment to anybody who wants it, so they can take their dogs on an airplane with them, or into a store or restaurant, he said. "It happens all the time."
Under U.S. law, any businesses, governments and others that serve the public must allow service animals to go anywhere in their building that the public can go. Questions are limited. When it’s not obvious what service an animal provides, workers may only ask if the service animal is needed because of a disability. Legally, they can’t ask for proof. And some say that fact is being exploited. Florida does not punish people who claim that their dog is a service animal when it is not, said Paul Edwards. He is the president of the Florida Council of the Blind. He and some others think it is reasonable to ask a disabled person to carry proof that his or her dog is a service animal. But, Edwards added, "The danger is that you may throw the baby out with the bathwater.” Some supporters are worried that doing so may put a burden on people with disabilities. They would have to prove their dog is a service dog. But others say that humans are already facing more hassles from all the fake vests.
Sometimes people will ask how they can get a vest for their untrained dog, she said. “This is not something that is for pets,” she said. “This is an indication of training that my dog and I have been through.” Luke McGregor agrees. On a flight home from New York last week, the 48-year-old saw a woman who claimed to have an “emotional-support dog." But it whined and scratched at its cage throughout the trip. That's behavior considered unacceptable in a trained service dog. He could do little more than roll his eyes at the scene.
“I’m already stopped in restaurants and grocery stores" by workers who wrongly tell him he cannot bring his dog in, McGregor said. Evenutally enough people will be upset by all of the supposed service dogs. "And we will suffer for it.” In 2011, the Department of Justice said dogs are the only legal assistance animals. Before that, some people were claiming monkeys, snakes and other creatures were helping them cope with disabilities. The department also clarified the definition of a service dog as one that is trained to assist a disabled person. There is no law against selling vests or harnesses printed with phony service dog logos, however. A search of eBay under “service-dog patches" shows more than 22,000 sellers. CCI.org is trying to get 10,000 people to sign a letter to the Department of Justice. The letter, or petition, says the problem needs to be stopped.
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