Students: Studying Greek mythology in Ms.Grady's eighth-grade gifted class, coming to you from Leesville Junior High School in Leesville, Louisiana, where we are proud to be Wampus Cats. Channel One News starts right now!
Arielle: All right,kicking off the show with some Greek letters— very creative! Thanks to Leesville Junior High. Hey guys, I am Arielle Hixson.
First up today, say goodbye to Russia. They have been kicked out of the Olympic Games, so you won't see the Russian flag flying in a couple of months at the Winter Games in South Korea.
The International Olympic Committee announced yesterday that Russia was outafter finding widespread dopingat the 2014 Sochi Games, where Russian athletes used banned sports enhancement drugs.
Thomas Bach: The Russian Olympic Committee is suspended with immediate effect.
Arielle: Russian government officials will not be allowed to attend, but individual Russian athletes will be invited to compete at the upcoming PyeongChang Olympicsand identified as neutral Olympic athletes from Russia without their country's uniform, flag or anthem.
Bach: These clean Russian athletes can be more about building a bridge into the future of cleaner sport.
Arielle: It is still unclear if the Russian athletes will attendor boycott the Olympics.
Firefighters are working nonstop in California, battling flames and trying to save homes.The ferocious wildfire started on Mondayjust north of Los Angeles.
The blaze has already scorched more than 45,000 acresand destroyed at least 150structures in Southern California.
Woman: I have lived in Ventura most of my life, and I’ve never seen anything like this. It just brings tears to my eyes.
Arielle: Desperate homeowners used garden hoses to fight the fire. The flames devoured dozens of homes and businesses, and thousands more are threatened. Twenty-seven thousand people have been forced to evacuate.
And shifting winds are making it very difficult for firefighters to gain the upper hand. Helicopters and even additional firefighters are being called in from other counties, but high winds and low humidity this weekare definitely not helping.
Okay, remember President Trump put into place a travel ban for several Muslim countries back in January? Well, people protested, and then they were smacked down by several courts.It turns out the highest court in the land says the ban is good for now.
On Monday seven of the nineSupreme Court justices ruled the president's travel ban can take full effecteven though there are legal challenges. The latest version of the ban means that people from certain countries can't travel to the U.S. or have restrictions on their travel. It applies to people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen — all countries with majority Muslim populations — and also includes North Korea and Venezuela.
The ban was challenged in lower courts, which ruled that travelers from the targeted nations could not be kept from traveling if they have close family members in the U.S. Other courts had partially blocked previous versions of the ban from taking effect, saying they were unconstitutional because the ban was religious discrimination against Muslims.
But now the nation’s highest courthas given the president the go-ahead. In a statement following Monday's ruling,Attorney General Jeff Sessions called it a victory for the security of the American people, saying in part, "The Constitution gives the president the responsibility and power to protect this country…and this order remains vital to accomplishing those goals."
And you just heard today’s Word in the News: lower court.A lower court is a court whose decisions may be overruled by a higher court.In the case of the Supreme Court, it overrules every other court in the country.
Okay, next up, a feud over fossils in Utah.
Arielle: Next, the battle over land in Utah.We are talking abouttwo protected areas: the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. Yesterday we told you how President Trump slashed the size of the two national monuments by about 2 million acres. Now Patagonia, REI and other outdoor retailers say they are going to sue to block the policy.
Keith Kocinski has been following the story in Utah, and today he shows us the debate isn’t just over the land but what is underneath it.
Keith: The debate and fight over these national monuments in southern Utah continue, and the potential loss of land here hasgotconservationists and scientists worried.
Paleontologists call this "flipping the jacket," and it is one of the most nerve-wracking moments of their job.
Alan TItus: Oh my God, we just exposed more bone! Yeah, yeah, that's tyrannosaur bone right there.
Keith: Alan Titus is the paleontologist for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, home to one of the richest deposits of dinosaur bones in the world.
Titus: I get excited about this kind of stuff.
Keith: And there is a lot for him to get excited about. In the two decades since the1.9-million-acre patch of desert was designated a national monument, 25 new species of dinosaurs have been discovered in its sands.
Titus: When Grand Staircase was created in 1996, it was originally envisioned that it would be an outdoor laboratory.
Keith: It is one of 152 national monuments in the United States. Unlike national parks, which are meant to preserve wilderness and wildlife, national monuments are areas that can be protected because of their historical, cultural or scientific significance. And it is the president who gets to decide what land is a national monument.
President Bill Clinton: On this remarkable site, God's handiwork is everywhere in the fossil record of dinosaurs and other prehistoric life.
Keith: President Bill Clinton designated the Grand Staircase as a national monument in 1996, but the decision upset many residents of southern Utah, who suddenly were limited in their ability to graze cattle, extract minerals like coal or even build roads.
Michael Noel: Grand Staircase National Monument is probably one of the most volatile issues in Utah.
Keith: Rancher Michael Noel has led the fight against the monument ever since it was created.He was thrilled when President Trump orderednational monumentsto open up more land for commercial development.
Noel: It means more people can utilize these lands in the future, and it does not mean selling them off, and it doesn't mean destroying them. All the laws, regulations, Archaeological ResourcesProtection Act, will all be in place.
Keith: Paleontologist Andy Farke worries if the land isn't protected, science could suffer.
Andy Farke: There's a possibility that fossils may be lost or destroyed — things like fossil theft and vandalism. Once that record of our planet's history is gone, you know, we've lost something from the American story.
Keith: Back in his lab, Alan Titus stays out of the political fight. After all, when it comes to exploring Grand Staircase land, he has hardly scratched the surface.
Titus: We're about a fifth of the way through in essentially more than half of my career, so there's many careers’ worth of work left here to do just to document what lies here in the ground.
Keith: Keith Kocinski, Channel One News.
Arielle: Such beautiful land out there. Thanks,Keith.
Now you can check out more on U.S. national parks and landmarks. We have got it all up on ChannelOne.com.
There has been a lot of talk lately about how women are treated, from harassment at work to safety on college campuses. Just yesterday the longest-serving lawmaker in the House of Representatives,John Conyers, retired after allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women.
Conyers says his retirement is not because of the allegations, but this is one of many stories that have come to light in recent weeks.And now Emily joins usto check out how all this news is affecting young people.
Emily: Yeah, Arielle, many people are demanding change in our culture, and that is exactly what some students in Wisconsin are trying to do, taking it upon themselves to help change the way men treat women. Take a look.
Gabriel Rodriguez: Sometimes my friends catcalled girls, and I'd tell them to stop right away. I've actually done this, like,two or three times, like, after the season ended. I think it's kind of embarrassing.
Emily: The SPASHSoccer program in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, isn't just coaching good soccer players; it is also coaching its boys into men.
Derek Bell: I really felt like it's time to instill a week-to-week daily kind of program and integrate it into their overall education.
Emily: It is a new initiative started by head coach Derek Bell to improve their awareness of respect, integrity and nonviolence, especially toward women.
Bell: We're seeing in the forefront of our news today that highlight the reasons why this is significant. And instead of waiting for society to help us change, we put it on our — it's our responsibility, you know, as coaches to help usher in that cultural change.
Emily: And even though their soccer season is over, the team is still putting these new skills to work.
Blake Milkowski: It was, like, kind of eye-opening, like, how I should be acting and what I should be doingand just trying to make myself a better person.
Brendan Leahy: Just saying stupid things that high school boys say. And I've just gone in now and said,like, “Come on, we don't need to be talking about that,” or just, like,“Stop.”
Emily: Lessons that will hopefully lead these boys into manhood.
Brendan: Even if you're 60 years old or if you’re 12, just being aware of things you say can hurt other people.
Emily: Emily Reppert, Channel One News.
Arielle: Such a great story there.
Alrighty, guys, it is time to check out, but we will catch you right back here tomorrow.
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