Students: This is Ms.McCoy’s eighth-grade Cultures and People class from Central Lee Middle School in Donnellson,Iowa, and Channel One starts right now.
Tom: Yes!A first for Channel One — sign language hello. See if you guys can top that. The challenge is on, and — not to brag — they are from my home state of Iowa. Friday is getting off to a good start. Now on to the news.
First up today, protests at the University of Florida.White nationalist Richard Spencer finished giving a speech there yesterdayas hundreds of police were standing by, ready for violence.
Inside the auditorium hall, white nationalist Richard Spencer pushed his racist ideas. He is known for saying he wants blacks, Hispanics and Jews removed from the U.S. Protestors took over the speech as he tried to talk.His supporters occupied the first row and cheered him. Police in riot gear were nearby.
Richard Spencer: You think that you shut me down; well, you didn't.
Tom: Outside police blanketed the University of Florida campusas hundreds showed up in protest.
Izzy Rudin-Rush: We don't want him here. We don't want to hear him speak.
Kimberly Brown: Since he's here, we're going to be here too.
Tom: As the crowds grew, one man was arrested, but no major violence erupted.
The University of Florida first rejected Spencer to speakbut had to reverse course after a lawsuitsaying Spencer was protected under the First Amendment — freedom of speech.
Okay, next up, we are moving across to the African country of Niger, a landlocked country in western Africa. Two weeks ago, four U.S. soldiers were killed there, and two others were wounded.And now U.S. senators and the head of the U.S. military want answersto a lot of unanswered questions.
Here is what we know: A group of 40 Americans and Nigerien soldiers were on patrol when they were attacked on October 4 by militants believed to have ties to the terror group ISIS. They were stationed in Niger with hundreds of other U.S. troops, working with local forces to fight terrorism.
Lieutenant General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr.: The patrol that was attacked last week had actually done 29 patrols without contact over the previous six months or so. No indication that this was going to occur.
Tom: The attack was unexpected, and the soldiers didn't have backup.It was about 30 minutes later that a French jet was able to get them. Sergeants Jeremiah Johnson, Dustin Wright, Bryan Blackand La David Johnson were all killed.
Now lawmakers are demanding answersabout what went wrong, and some are questioning if they have been told the whole story by the White House.
Senator KirstenGillibrand: I hope that at least the Senate Armed Services Committee can get a thorough briefing about what happened, what operations were involved, so we can get to the bottom of the actual issue: the death of these soldiers.
Tom: The head of the U.S. military,James Mattis, said it will provide info when it has it.
Secretary James Mattis: The loss of our troops is under investigation. We in theDepartment of Defense like to know what we're talking about before we talk, and so we do not have all the accurate information yet.We will release it as rapidly as we get it.
Tom: And you just heard today's Word in the News, militant: a person who is fighting in support of a political or social cause, often using extreme or violent methods.There you have it.
All right, now it is time to turn the tables and giveyou guys a chance to shout out.
Yesterday we told you about a new study that says reading print textbooks is a better way to learn over e-textbooks on a screen.
But we wanted to get your take, so we asked you: Do you learn better by reading print textbooks or reading on a screen? Fifty-three percent of you said, “Give me that old-fashioned paper textbook.” Forty-seven percent of you said,“I will stick with tech.”
Tierra said, “I prefer paper. My school uses iPads, but I feel I do better in classes that don't use them.”
Seth said, “I like reading textbooks because electronics are too unreliable and they always need to be charged.”
But Makayla said, "Reading textbooks on paper makes me sleepy, but when I'm looking at a screen,I concentrate more.”
Personally, I like my books in the paper form. We always love hearing from you guys. Thanks for the comments.
All right, after the break, how to knock out those college credits in high school.
Tom: Okay,Arielle is here with some tips that will 100 percent help you toward that college degree even faster.
Arielle: Yeah,Tom, it is making the most of your school time by taking college classes in high school. Check it out.
They are a rare group — students earning college credits while taking college-level courses at their high school. But why so few?
Juan Roman: Some students don't believe they have the capability or the mentality that college is for them.
Arielle: Dualenrollment classes offer both college and high school credit.A recent survey found that 82 percent of high schools across the country have a partnership with a college or university to offer dual enrollment, but only 15.8 percent of highschoolers take dualenrollment courses.
More students take advanced placement classes, which just offer college credit if you pass the AP test.
Student: If you want to go to college, you can go to college.
Arielle: In Dallas, Texas, the college enrollment rate might be high, but the completion rate isn’t. Fewer than 3 in 10 high school graduates in Dallas County complete college in six years.
These three students from Gilliam Collegiate Academy are college bound. The partnership between their highschool and a participating college emphasizes a pathway to completing school, not just attending.
Jean Conway: It impacts the economy;it impacts the culture of this whole area.
Arielle: Arielle Hixson, Channel One News.
Tom: Now, it may seem like some extra work, but these things totally pay off. You can graduate early from college or just opt out of some of those required courses you would rather not take.Psych 101,looking at you.
Okay, next, we have got a Feel-Good Friday that is making waves.
All right, so the Volvo Ocean Race is this weekend, and if you haven't heard of it, well, it is one of the longest and toughest races in all of sailing. But it is not just the pros that are hitting the water. The race — and the sport —are inspiring young people in Bronx,New York, andEmily Reppert has the story.
Simeon Tienpont: The VolvoOcean Race is the biggest offshore race in the world.
Emily: Across 45,000 nautical miles of the most treacherous seas, touching six continents and 12 cities, the Volvo Ocean Race is one of the toughest sailing competitions in the world.
Tienpont: And it’s a race that takes nine months. We are around, like,two weeks to up to three weeks on the sea, and every stopover, we have, like, 10 to 14 days’ rest.
Emily: But for pro sailor Simeon Tienpont, life on the open seas is more than just a job.
Tienpont: It’s this feeling —nobody’s telling you what to do. The only rules that you have are the rules of nature: the wind, the waves and the weather. I think it gives a really powerful feeling.
Emily: And it turns out you don't have to travel around the world for that feeling. In fact, sometimes you can find it in the most unlikely of places.
Here in the South Bronx in New York City, it is pretty much a concrete jungle, but just on the other side of this building sits the Bronx River, an escape from the busy city life for teens in this community.
Francisco Cabrera: Rocking the Boat is a nonprofit organization that allows high school–age students from anywhere to come and learn how to sail, build boats or learn about the water environment.
Emily: Francisco Cabrera is a boat-building apprentice here at Rocking the Boat.
Is this going to have a name? Does it have a name yet?
Francisco: Yeah,it does. It’s called El Jefe —it means “the boss.”
Emily: And although he is not the boss quite yet, the 16-year-old is on his way.
Francisco: After this I'm going to the Landing School down in Maine, which is specially for boatbuilding.
Emily: Because the motto for this program, which has been empowering teens for the past 20 years, is “Kids don't just build boats; boats build kids.”And todayTeam AkzoNobel is teaming up with Rocking the Boat to help spread that message.
Tienpont: They see,I think maybe for the first time, that we make a living out of it as athletes, but also that around us, we are only a small little part — guys sailing the boat — but around us, there is a whole group of professionals. It shows, you know, that there are a lot of possibilities within the sport, and there's a whole industry out there as well.
Emily: From boat-building tips to a friendly sailing competition, the team spent the day with teens in the South Bronx…
Haley Seda: Well, so far,I’ve learned a little bit about the sailboats and a little bit about turning the boats and all that.
Emily: …before sailing over to the Brooklyn Marina, where the teens got to tour a 70-foot racing boat, just like the one they will use for their upcoming excursion.
Haley: What I learned about what they do is the weather conditions that they sail in. I found it so fascinating that they don’t have to stop and wait if a storm is happening.
Emily: But the biggest takeaway for these teens? Realizing there is a whole world out there waiting for them to explore.
Adam Green: We use boats as a way to impact on people and help them reach opportunities and dreams and possibilities that they never literally knew were out there or possible in the first place.
Haley: I think it’s a really good opportunity, especially for us kids in the Bronx, because we really don’t get opportunities like this coming to us often, so I think I feel really grateful that I was offered this.
Emily: Emily Reppert, Channel One News.
Tom: And there is more where that came from. We have got other adventurous young peoplefrom rock climbers to future Mars explorers. It is all up on ChannelOne.com. Check it out.
All right, we are sailing away into the weekend. We will see you on Monday.
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