Arielle: Hey guys,I am here in Melbourne, Florida, near some water that you definitely don't want to swim in. But we will get to that later on in the show. I am Arielle Hixson, and Channel One News starts right now.
Emily: All right,Arielle is taking on some green, slimy bacteria. That is coming up.Hey guys, I am Emily Reppert. Let’s get this Tuesday going.
First up, the battle over what happens to young immigrants brought to this country illegallycontinues.
Protestors marched yesterday, demanding Congress act to protect hundreds of thousands of young people from being deported, or forced to leave the U.S. Marches took place in Washington, D.C., as well as across the countryfrom Indiana to Floridato Chicago and L.A., all of them calling to save DACA. That is the program that allows people who were brought to America illegally as children to stay here and work.
President Donald Trump: I think everybody in this room wants to help with DACA.
Emily: Under the Trump administration, the program was supposed to end yesterday.But the Supreme Court stepped in last week, saying the White House could not end the program until several challenges are heard in court and go through the proper court hearings.
Students also made their voices heard.Belmont High School hosted a rally in Los Angeles. And one DACA college student from Indianasays he is not giving up.
Rathin Kacham: It's a bit of anxiety, right? It's always scary to not know what's going to happen. But I will say that it's helped me grow a lot. I've found a lot of confidence in my own voice, in my own sense of self-worth, and it almost makes it worth it.
Emily: Next up, nearly 300,000 students in West Virginia haven't been to school in days.That is because the teachers there have been on strike — not working as a way to protest. It is one of the few times that teachers from an entire state have gone on strike.
Teachers in West Virginia say they are fed up.
Patty Schultz: They're making it look like it's all about money — sorry — and it's not.
Emily: The teachers say they just want a fair living wage. West Virginia teachers are among the lowest paid in the country, with salaries starting at about $33,000a year.And the union says cost of living in the state has gone up nearly 5 percent since their last pay increase four years ago. Teachers also say they can't afford rising health insurance costs that are being passed on to them.
The teachers asked for a 5-percent pay raise last week, but the state Senate on Saturday knocked it downso they could give all public employees a 4-percent raise.
The teachers’ union says lawmakers are pitting teachers against other public employees.
Christine Campbell: We want everyone to have a fair, equitable living wage, but you can't reduce one because of another.
Emily: The strike affects more than 270,000 students, many who live in poverty and miss out on free breakfasts and lunches when they don't go to school. Volunteers have gathered food to help students in need.
Joseph Kolb: It is a tough time for everybody, and we just want to do our part to make sure kids get some food.
Emily: All right, next up, it is green, slimy — and even harmful! We are talking about toxic algae. The bacteria are growing rapidly and causing trouble all across the globe, killing plants and animals and even making people sick.Arielle Hixson reports from Florida, one of the hardest-hit areas, to find out more about this rising threat.
Arielle: At first glanceit looks like something out of a science fiction movie.
Austin Anderson: The water might be, like, a little bit murkier than normal.
Arielle: But this is no sci-fi flick, and if you live in Florida, it could even be in your backyard.
Hannah Ryback: It's so bad that you're not supposed to be in the water. They'll close off beaches because they’re so bad because they can be harmful.
Arielle: It is a toxic algae bloom, when clusters of algae — or plants that live in sea- and freshwater — multiply and grow at a harmful rate and can poison shellfish, marine life and even people. Most of the time, it can give you a rash, but if you drink the water accidentally, it can make you sick to your stomach.
The actual cause of algae blooms is still a mystery, but they usually pop up in areas that experience rapid population growth, where things like wastewater and fertilizers can run off in the ocean.
Professor Spencer Fire: It can be a human health risk, right? So we're concerned about the things we eat. We want to make sure that, you know,that our seafood and our shellfish don't have toxins in them. That's just sort of a given, right? We want to make sure we’renot gonna eat poisonous food.
But at the same time, there’s a lot of ecological applications,you know, if there’s marine animals that we care about, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, seabirds. Those are all things that can pretty frequently get negatively impacted.
Arielle: Students from the Florida Institute of Technology gather samples to find out what lurks in the murky water below.
Ryback: That's one of the reasons why we do the research, because — to figure out what the real cause is, because it could be a combination of anything.
Arielle: Once they get a couple beakers full of samples, they run some tests for a closer look.
Anderson: When we go back to the lab, we take a dropper and set up a sample slide. And then we look through the microscope for 12 different species of toxic phytoplankton.
Arielle: If they find a high number of phytoplankton, also known as microalgae, in their samples, they have discovered a bloom.
Believe it or not, toxic algae is not unique to one location.It is actually found on several areas on the east and west coast of Florida.
Blooms have been spotted around the world, and the majority of them during the summer months.But in the U.S., Florida has been hit hardest. It has even affected parts of the Everglades, one of the nation's natural treasures, known for its natural ecosystem. And scientists say the tropical wetlands can be lost if the problem isn't fixed.
Animals like this roseate spoonbill, which has made a home in the Everglades for hundreds of years, are leaving because of the lack of freshwater. The algae blooms have cut off the natural flow of freshwater from the Kissimmee River and Lake Okeechobee all the way to Florida Bay. The Florida legislature recently approved a key project, a $1.5-billion reservoir designed to help restore some of that natural flow.
Tiffany Troxler: We got ourselves into this mess — we can figure out how to get ourselves out of it.
Arielle: Hopefully, with new plansand a new generation of scientists, the toxic algae blooms will stop flowering.
Ryback: We're the future of the world, so what we do impacts the world that we live on. And we kind of need the world to live, because if we didn't have it, we wouldn't be here. So they need toreally step on it and,like, just help out.
Arielle: Arielle Hixson, Channel One News.
Emily: Very interesting story. Thanks,Arielle.
And Arielle told us about fertilizer that runs into the ocean, which brings us to Words in the News: fertilizer.It is a substance or chemical that is added to soil to help the growth of plants.
All right, coming up, why some pets are being put on a short leash.
Emily: All right, ever notice on a plane how thereis more and more animals on board? Well, this month, airlines are cracking down on them. Emotional support animals are becoming more common, meaning they are side by side with their owners at all times. Keith is here with a story about the future of flying with your furry friends. So what do you think,Keith?You think I could bring my cat, Stan,on a plane?
Keith: Well, Emily,that is a good question, because it used to be you would claim your pet as an emotional need and support, and it was as easy as filling out a form online, but not anymore.
Woman: I'm not kidding. This woman is wrangling her peacock into the airport.
Keith: The bird's owner claimed the peacock was her emotional support animal.In this 2016 interview, she described how she found him.
Ventiko: I got him originally for an art project, and — but then this happened, and I was like, do I have a peacock cuddling in my neck? Yes,I do.
Keith: The video ignited the debate about emotional support animals on planes — not trained service animals, but pets that provide comfort to their owners and sit in the main cabin rather than in a crate in the cargo area.
United saw a 75-percent spike in support or comfort animals, from 43,000 in 2016 to 76,000 last year.The pets sometimesdamage planes. In June an emotional support dog bit a Delta passenger.
This video shows how easy it was to get a pig on the plane. “CBSNews” contacted a counseling center in Colorado to obtain a letter prescribing the pig as the "primary treatment" for a "psychological disability."
But Tom Panek, CEO of Guiding Eyes for the Blind, says people are passing off their untrained pets as service animals.
Tom Panek: As a person who is blind, my access rights are being infringed upon when somebody passes off a fake service dog.
Keith: So now airlines are making it harder. United and Delta updated their rules on support animals. The new policy requires owners to give 48 hours advance notice when flying with a support animal, provide a letter from a mental health professional, documents from a veterinarian showing the animal is vaccinated, as well as another document confirming the animal has been trained to behave properly in public.
Sara Nelson: We've had roosters and ducks and pigs and monkeys.
Keith: Sara Nelson is the president of the Association of Flight Attendants. She supports the new policy changes.
Nelson: But what we really need is for the Department of Transportation to act with guidelines for the entire industry.
Keith: The new rules only apply to emotional support animals and not service animals that have been trained to perform specific tasks for people with disabilities.
Keith Kocinski, Channel One News.
Emily: Thanks,Keith. Sounds like it is a good thing Stan and I always travel by car.
Now, we want to know what you guys think. Should untrained animals be allowed on planes as comfort pets?Head to ChannelOne.com, vote and leave us a comment.
All right,it is time for us to jet out of here. Have a great day, and we will see you tomorrow.
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