Students: Buon giorno! Channel One News starts right now!
Azia: Thanks to the students from Mrs. D's Italian class in Lowelville, Ohio, for getting us started today. I am Azia Celestino with a look at headlines.
And first up, we head to Flint, Michigan, where residents are dealing with a toxic water crisis. It has gotten so bad that the National Guard has been called in to help.
Volunteers and state troopers went door to door this week in freezing temperatures, handing out bottled water and filters because families still can't use the water coming out of their faucets.
Brianna Lewis: You can't drink it; you can't bathe in it. It's ridiculous.
Azia: The water in Flint has high levels of lead, which can be toxic to humans — affecting the brain, often causing lower IQ and behavioral problems in kids. School children were tested for lead poisoning Tuesday, but the problem started nearly two years ago when the city changed its water source and started drawing from the Flint River.
Elena Richardson: It's been very difficult. My kids have been getting sick.
Azia: Michigan's governor, Rick Snyder, is under fire for his handling of the water problem. Snyder says he first learned of the potential dangers in October, but there are reports that his office may have known about it months earlier. Now the Justice Department is investigating.
Next, we move to the country of Syria and the ongoing civil war. This weekaid workers were allowed into the city of Madaya to deliver food. What they saw were horrific conditions of people starving and begging for food.
The United Nations and Red Cross were allowed in for the first time since October. These are the images they saw: children and adults starving to death, malnourished and sick. Residents had been cut off for months by the Syrian government, living without any food or water. Activists say some have resorted to making soup with grass, with some already dead from starvation.
All this happening just 30 miles from the capital, Damascus, in fertile hill country. The area was once controlled by rebel forces trying to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; now they and more than 40,000 residents are trapped, surrounded by Syrian government forces who have sealed off all the roads.
This video shows residents begging government soldiers to let food pass through, and after it made international headlines, the Assad government did allow humanitarian food relief to enter the city.
Last up, the nation's second largest city will once again have a pro football team after more than 20 years.NFL owners voted yesterday to allow the Rams to move from St. Louis back to Los Angeles. The deal also gives the San Diego Chargers a chance to join the Rams in LA. Both teams would play in a multibillion-dollar, state-of-the-art stadium in Inglewood, about 10 miles from downtown LA.
The Chargers have one year to make their decision to stay or go. If the Chargers don't go, the Oakland Raiders would have a chance. The biggest losers in the deal might be the St. Louis fans, who are now left without a football team.
Fan: It's just depressing to see a team that I loved and just poured all my Sundays into for years just leave.
Azia: The Rams will start playing in LA next season.
All right, coming up: a new way for young people to recover from a concussion.
Azia: All right, Demetrius is here with us to talk about traumatic brain injuries. Over 300,000 happen on American sports fields every year.
Demetrius: Yeah, Azia, and the group that is hit the hardest is teens, but a new study shows that the road to recovery may be quicker if you walk.
At the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Dr. John Leddy checked out 16-year-old Camryn Sullivan for concussion symptoms. In early December the high school junior got that concussion — her first — playing basketball.
Camryn Sullivan: I was going to take a charge, and a girl went up for the layup and pushed as she went, and I fell back and slammed my head against the ground.
Demetrius: A concussion occurs when a blow to the head causes the brain to move inside the skull, which can change the way the brain functions. An MRI or CAT scan typically doesn't reveal evidence of a concussion. Teen concussions often happen as a result of athletic activity.
Leddy examined Camryn and invited her to join a new clinical trial on acute concussions among teens between 13 and 17, the age group that takes the longest to recover. Usually people who get concussions are told to rest, but those taking part in this trial are told to exercise.
Dr. John Leddy: It changed the blood flow in their brain from an abnormal pattern that we saw with concussion to a normal pattern that we saw with healthy people.
Demetrius: So Camryn walked on a treadmill every day for 20 minutes at a gentle pace while monitoring her heart rate.
Leddy: We don't have any treatment for concussion right now. There's no pill you can take. Really, all you can do is sort of wait until the symptoms go away. In this case we are hoping that, by engaging the beneficial effects of exercise and the physiology of the brain, that this will actually speed recovery in kids with acute concussion.
Dr. Barry Kosofsky: The power of this study is it’s in younger athletes.
Demetrius: Pediatric neurologist Barry Kosofsky of New York Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine says he is eager to see the study's results.
Kosofsky: Let's have some guidelines and try to get them going faster, and everybody can benefit as long as it's done in a controlled way.
Demetrius: Sixteen-year-old goalkeeper Julia Whipple was one of the first to enroll and successfully complete the trial. Back in September she collided head-on with an opponent.
Julia Whipple: It was extremely hard. I'm always used to doing workouts with my team and running around, so walking around every night at a specific pace was kind of, it was hard because I knew I wanted to go faster.
Demetrius: Dr. Leddy says that is the biggest challenge.
Leddy: The risk is that someone who is doing this approach could do it too aggressively. It has happened in some of my patients, but they learn pretty quickly that they can't really push it too far because they get symptoms.
Julia’s mother: A lot of damage can be done by these concussions, and the more information you have, the better.
Demetrius: Demetrius Pipkin, Channel One News.
Azia: Thanks, Demetrius. Okay, after the break: his real identity is unknown, but his message with graffiti has made a mark worldwide.
Azia: Over the past five years, people in Africa and the Middle East have fled war in their home countries. Last year alone, 1 million landed on the shores of Europe seeking a new life.
Arielle: Right, and many more are still stuck in refugee camps with no sign of moving. But now a famous artist whose works of graffiti have appeared out of nowhere is making a political statement. Take a look.
You may have seen his work before but never his face: "Banksy." the mysterious graffiti artist recognized for his stirring political messages that often appear on the streets, walls and even bridges of major cities worldwide. Now he has a new message for us, this time in northern France, in a place called the Jungle, a series of temporary tents that are home to approximately 5,000 refugees.
And it is right here that Banksy made his latest statement, an image of Apple founder Steve Jobs, whose biological father was actually a Syrian immigrant. Banksy said in a statement that "Apple is the world's most profitable company; it pays over $7 billion a year in taxes, and it only exists because they allowed in a young man from Homs," a city in Syria.
As the huge influx of people from war-torn Syria increases and the recent terror attacks in France cause tension around Europe, New York Times culture reporter Melena Ryzick says it is no coincidence that Banksy chose here for his latest works.
Melena Ryzick: He knows exactly when to strike. I mean, this is a big issue; it has been for a long time, but now, sort of globally, it's reached maybe this boiling point where we're all paying attention. And he knows exactly when to put up these images that are really accessible, that people can understand and grasp.
Arielle: Banksy's images have always thrived on controversy, including powerful images in the Middle Eastern areas of Gaza and the West Bank. In a new twist this summer, Banksy opened a nightmarish exhibit on a theme park in England called Dismaland. In the exhibit Cinderella's coach crashed, swamped by paparazzi.
Now the street artist has gone one stage further, using materials from the theme park to start Dismal Aid, a shelter and playground built for refugee children built by Banksy's anonymous workers, all created for the hope of a better future.
And to learn how other artists have made an impact through their art, head to ChannelOne.com.
Azia: All right, guys, that is all for now, but we will see you right back here tomorrow.
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