Students: Channel One News starts now! Five, four, three, two, one!
Scott: That was a pretty awesome way to start the show. A rocket launch, right! Well, I am Scott Evans, and we are starting off our day with a look at headlines. And first up, the White House held the first ever Healthy Kids & Safe Sports Concussion Summit yesterday.
President Obama brought together more than 200 sports officials, parents and young athletes at the White House. He is hoping to bring awareness to sports-related concussions, promote ways parents can keep kids safe, and focus on gaps in medical research.
Young people make nearly 250,000 emergency room visits each year because of sport- or recreation-related brain injuries. But according to a report published last fall by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, there is a significant lack of data on concussions, particularly among young people.
Along with the summit, the White House announced several partnerships between the government and businesses to tackle the problem.For example, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, will team up with the Defense Department to pay for the most thorough study of concussion and head impacts ever conducted. And the National Institutes of Health is using $16 million it received from the NFL to study the effects of repeated concussions.
Next up, more than forty facilities that provide medical care to veterans are under investigation. The inspector general released a report looking into allegations of long wait times and deaths that may have been preventable.
The report found scheduling problems at hospitals across the country. Several veterans died while waiting for an appointment to receive medical care.
House Veterans Affairs Committee Chair Jeff Miller led a tense hearing last night, pressing VAofficials for more information.
Jeff Miller: Veterans died. Get us the answers please.
VA official: I understand that, Mr. Chairman, and I will look into that request.
Miller: That's what you said three months ago.
Scott: In Phoenix alone, investigators discovered 1,700 veterans who were waiting for an appointment but had not been placed on the electronic waiting list, putting them at risk of being forgotten or lost.The report shows the average wait time for a first appointment was 115 days.
Now the calls for Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign are getting louder on Capitol Hill. The secretary is ordering the Phoenix VA facility to call each veteran awaiting care to make sure they get appointments. Investigators will now look to see if the wait times contributed to any deaths. The full investigation is expected to be complete later this summer.
And last up today,Egyptians wrapped up three days of voting in their elections for a new president.
Polls show the likely winner is Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a former military chief. Sisi helped kick out Egypt’s first democratically elected president last year, Mohamed Morsi. Morsi is now in prison, along with tens of thousands of his supporters – part of a massive crackdown on the Islamic group the Muslim Brotherhood that has left more than 1,000 people dead.
Sisi's tough tactics appeal to a lot of people in Egypt. But activist Mohamed Nabil is afraid of what Sisi's win means for the country.
Mohamed Nabil: Right now, you are putting everyone in jail. Not only Muslim Brotherhood; liberals, activists, journalists. Nobody's caring about this. People are killed in jail right now. Nobody's caring about this.
Scott: Nabil was one of the thousands in Egypt who took part in the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 to protest the dictator of more than forty years. He is now worried as another military strongman takes control.
That is a wrap of headlines. Coming up, the sun is out, which means it is time to brush up on your sun protection knowledge.
Summer is right around the corner, and for many of youthat means hitting the beach – or at least hanging out in the sun. So, of course, you have got to remember your sunscreen. And today, Keith Kocinski breaks down how to stay safe in the sun.
Keith: Do you wear sunscreen and how often do you wear it?
Lilli Bethliriano: You know what? It is so bad, I actually don't. I never put it on.
Mary Leigh Montgomery: Anytime it is remotely sunny out I have to wear sunscreen or I get burned.
Keith: Doctors say you should always wear sunscreen when you are outside, even if you are spending time in the shade. The risk of getting melanoma – the most serious form of skin cancer – doubles if you have had five or more sunburns.
Do you think the higher the SPF means the better protection?
Girl: Probably.
Keith: SPF, or Sun Protection Factor, is how many times longer it takes your skin to burn than it would without sunscreen.
Rebecca Supple: I heard that kind of over 45 is kind of like a bit of a joke, and it doesn't work as well as the ones underneath 45.
Dr. Katz: As long as you have an SPF of 30, you’re fine. You’re protected very well. Anything higher than that is purely marketing.
Keith: In fact, you could go all the way to SPF 100 and only get an extra percentage point or two more protection.
How often do you think you should apply and reapply sunscreen?
Boy: Well, I guess I’d apply sunscreen before I go to the beach, and then after maybe like two hours I’d put it on again.
Girl: If I’m doing more activity, like playing something or in the water and I come out. Then I reapply it.
Keith: What sunscreen works better? Do you think the lotion kind or the spray-on kind?
Mary Leigh: The lotion kind.
Dr. Katz: Spray sunscreens are fine as long as you don’t inhale them. And also, after you apply them, you spread them around so they’re evenly distributed.
Keith: Doctors also say remember to put on sunscreen twenty minutes before going out in the sun and use lots of it – about 1.5 ounces for your entire body. Also make sure to reapply it every couple of hours or sooner if you are sweating or swimming.
Keith Kocinski, Channel One News.
Scott: For more on how to stay safe in the sun this summer, go to ChannelOne.com.
Okay. Coming up, we have got an inspiring story of a young person overcoming his own challenges to help others. And, of course, we have got the Next Big Thing.
If you are blind, everyday tasks take extra effort – going to school, crossing the street, or grocery shopping. Well, thanks to a ten year old in California, one of those things just got a little easier for those who can't see. Tom Hanson has more.
Joshua Goldenberg: I was born blind. I can't even see darkness.
Tom: Joshua Goldenberg can't see. But when it comes to improving life for the blind…
Joshua: Green grapes.
Tom: …The Southern California ten-year-old is a visionary.
Joshua: Organic cluster tomatoes.
Tom: Because of Joshua, several Whole Foods Markets on the West Coast, including this one in Fremont, California, now have braille to help the blind shop for groceries. It all started on a shopping trip when Joshua was seven.
Joshua: I was like, 'mommy, why isn't there braille here? And she was like, ‘I don't know’.
Christie Goldenberg: Josh said make them put braille labels in the store, and I asked, and they did. I believe that if you want change in this world, you ask. And you ask enough times, you'll find that person that finally says yes.
Tom: The idea grew into a non-profit called the Joshua Project which raises money to print the braille labels. The labels allow the blind to be more independent when they shop in stores, like 19-year-old Marissa Garcia.
Marissa Garcia: Well, this, to me, feels like…a pear?
Tom: That is the way she normally has to shop for produce – by feel. But now she can read the labels.
Marissa: Organic Fuji apples
Tom: And that is the Joshua touch.
Joshua: I wanted them to go in, go across the store, ‘Oreo cookies’. They'll read the sign and then they'll pick it up and go home.
Tom: It really is just that simple, and all it took was one ten-year-old boy to change it for a lot of people.
Tom Hanson, Channel One News.
Scott: Inspiring stuff! Sometimes all it takes is for someone to say something.
Well, now it is time for you to help us decide on what is the next big thing!
This week, we have got something that looks like it is straight out of the future! But first, let's see what you thought about last week's idea.
We told you about spritzing – a way to actually train your eye to read faster and faster, consuming more content in less time.
So, is spritzing the next big thing? Sixty-seven percent of you said, ‘Yes, I'm spritzing!’ But thirty-three percent of you said, ‘No, I'm fine without it’.
Now, this week, we are going to show you one company's solution to traffic jams and car pollution. It is called the Sky Pod.It could be the new pod on the block.
You are looking at what the California-based company SkyTran hopes to bring to the streets. The futuristic two-person Sky Pods would hang off a rail over sidewalks and roads. It says the system is high-speed, low-cost and eco-friendly, and best of all, no traffic gridlock here.
Roger Marguiles: It takes people off the road, which is the first thing. And having vehicles on the road is dirty. It takes a lot of energy. It's slow. So by getting people elevated, you solve part of the problem.
Scott: So, what do you think? Is the Sky Pod the next big thing? Head to ChannelOne.com to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
And now it is time to say goodbye. Itis our last show of the season.
Tom: But you know you can always keep in touch with us on ChannelOne.com, Instagram and Twitter.
Maggie: And we will be hosting a Google hangout next week, so be sure to join and ask us questions about any of the stories we have covered this year.
Keith: That is Thursday, June 5th at 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.
Scott: Now go have an awesome summer.
Everyone: Bye!
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