CNN Student News 奥巴马签署新食品安全法案

 

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CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Broadcasting from the CNN Center, this is CNN Student News. Now our show, as many of you know, is put together in Atlanta, Georgia. Today, though, we're starting out in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., with reports on some of the headlines from there.

First Up: Back in Washington

AZUZ: First up, President Obama is back in town and back at work after taking a family vacation over the holidays. He arrived back in Washington yesterday from Hawaii. And one of the first things on his "to do" list was to put his signature on the food safety bill that was passed late last year. When the president signs that bill, it becomes law. Food safety got a lot of attention recently because of widespread recalls on things like spinach and eggs. This new law is the biggest overhaul of the U.S. food safety system in more than 70 years. It'll give the government a lot more control over food safety. Some critics argue it'll cost too much money.

Speaker Change

AZUZ: The president isn't the only one back on the job. The 112th Congress is officially underway. This includes all of the members who were just elected last November. They're being sworn in today. The start of this new session also means a changing of the guard at the top of the House, the U.S. House of Representatives. California Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as the first female Speaker of the House on January 4th, 2007. Yesterday -- exactly four years later -- was her last day with that title. That is because Ohio Republican John Boehner is being sworn in as the new House Speaker today. In the November elections, his Republican party took over a majority in the House from the Democrats.

Health Care Repeal?

AZUZ: Many Republicans have said that once this new congressional session starts, they're going to try to repeal, or overturn, some of the laws that have been passed under President Obama. That includes the health care reform law, which is considered one of the president's biggest victories of his time in office. According to Republican sources, the plan is to try to get this repeal passed quickly. That could mean some key votes this week, and maybe a final vote by next week. Political analysts think that the repeal might make it through the U.S. House of Representatives, since Republicans have the majority there now. They don't think it'll get through the Senate, where the Democrats are still in control. According to a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 54 percent of Americans are against the health care law; 43 percent support it.

Is This Legit?

STAN CASE, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Is this legit? The national debt is the total amount of money that a government owes. This is true! At the end of 2010, the U.S. national debt was more than $14 trillion.

States in Crisis

AZUZ: Right now, at over $14 trillion, the national debt is pretty close to what's called the debt ceiling. That's the amount of money the federal government can legally borrow. It's kind of like a national credit limit. President Obama and some lawmakers say they want to get the nation's debt under control by finding ways to cut down on government spending. But some experts say that what Congress needs to do is raise the debt ceiling. That's what the federal government is dealing with now. Some new governors, though, at the state level, might have to face similar issues inside their own state budgets. Mary Snow tells us why.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, (D) NEW YORK: I, Andrew M. Cuomo...

MARY SNOW, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Faced with a looming financial crisis, New York's new governor, Andrew Cuomo, is taking a five percent pay cut, and his top aides will do the same. It comes as "The New York Times" reports he'll order a one-year pay freeze for state workers on Wednesday as part of an emergency financial plan.

CUOMO: The state government has grown too large. We can't afford it. The number of local governments have grown too large. And now, we're going to have to reduce and consolidate.

SNOW: In California...

GOV. JERRY BROWN, (D) CALIFORNIA: The year ahead will demand courage and sacrifice.

SNOW: California's new governor, Jerry Brown, faces a $28 billion deficit over 18 months. And Illinois is among the hardest hit states. It's being closely watched to see how it handles its massive budget shortfall.

PETER MORICI, ECONOMIST, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: What's going on in Europe is a precursor of what's going to happen in Illinois, New York, California.

SNOW: Economist Peter Morici says, like European countries strapped with debt, U.S. governors must rein in spending and renegotiate pensions.

MORICI: The governments at the state municipal levels employ too many people to do few things ineffectively. And that simply has to change.

SNOW: It's estimated that budget shortfalls for all states combined amounts to roughly $140 billion this year. Compounding the problem, federal stimulus money that helps states create jobs expires this spring.

SCOTT PATTISON, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE BUDGET OFFICERS: I think the best analogy is the person who was unemployed, got a job back, but they actually make less than they did before the recession. And that's, that's really what states look like.

SNOW: Scott Pattison is executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers. He says municipal bankruptcies are rare and doesn't expect them. But...

PATTISON: There's only so much money to go around. So, the interest will be paid on the debt. The bondholders will be paid. But there'll be budget cuts and perhaps tax increases in other areas that will cause pain that, frankly, citizens are going to notice.

SNOW: But the options are limited. Several new governors have pledged not to raise taxes, which leaves them with the unpopular choice of program cuts. Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO)

Shoutout

TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Time for the Shoutout! Who invented the printing press? If you think you know it, then shout it out! Was it: A) Johannes Gutenberg, B) Eli Whitney, C) Thomas Edison or D) Joseph Pulitzer? You've got three seconds -- GO! In the 1400s, German inventor Gutenberg introduced "printing by moveable type." That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!

Online Textbooks?

AZUZ: No one made any major changes to Herr Gutenberg's invention for hundreds of years. Today, though, as you know, books are making a transition from the printing press to the screen with electronic books. You might've heard over the holidays some popular gifts like the Kindle or the Nook. But this idea of electronic books is catching on in some schools, as well. Critics are arguing that it doesn't make sense for school districts to invest money in technology when they're already facing budget cuts. But as Antony Robart of Canada's Global News reports Toronto's push toward electronic education is something being considered.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

ANTONY ROBART, GLOBAL NETWORK NEWS REPORTER: Textbooks are almost as old as school itself. But given the option of lugging them around every day or viewing them with a click of a button, most students say, what's the holdup?

AMY WANG, TORONTO DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD STUDENT: It will give more accessibility to all the students across the TDSB, plus the fact that it will take such a humungous load off of their shoulders, both literally and figuratively.

ROBART: If this school trustee gets his way, much of the TDSB's school curriculum would soon be accessible via computer, or even better, a student's portable device.

MICHAEL COTEAU, TORONTO DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD SCHOOL TRUSTEE: The books are ten years old that are currently being circulated in our schools. We have to replace books every three, four years. It costs our board between $8 to $15 million per year.

ROBART: Michael Coteau acknowledges the traditional textbook won't go away, but he estimates even if half the textbooks in the system go digital, it could save the school board as much as $50 million over the next decade. And for him, money's not the only issue.

COTEAU: We have students currently in system that don't have the ability to take home textbooks because, in some schools, there's a shortage.

ROBART: California is leading the way with this technology in North America in an effort to cut costs. In the Toronto classroom, the digital textbook may still be years away. But in an age where information is instantaneous, students say the old, dusty textbook often just doesn't cut it.

HOLLY ANDERSON, TORONTO DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD STUDENT: I know in our civics class in grade 10 we had to rewrite the list of prime ministers because it was so outdated, from 15 years ago.

ROBART: With the textbook online, that information would be constantly updated. And if or when digital textbooks are a regular sight with this generation of students, don't expect there to be a learning curve.

WANG: Students in the TDSB have been ready for this for quite a while. If this happened tomorrow, nobody would have trouble adapting to this.

(END VIDEO)

Blog Promo

AZUZ: Okay, it's no doubt that these would be easier to carry around than five or six books, like I remember having to do; really messed up my posture. But look, here's the question: Would electronic textbooks actually help you learn better? That's something to consider; it's something we'd like you to think about today, and then share your thoughts on our blog, From A to Z! You can get there from our front page at CNNStudentNews.com.

Before We Go

AZUZ: Now, before we go, hockey players are used to playing in shifts. But that's over the course of a 60-minute game with breaks in between periods. These folks you see here were rotating on and off the ice for 24 hours! That's a whole day in a row! The marathon match was for a good cause; it raised money for charity, more than $43,000 for charity. They didn't ignore the competition, though. Someone kept score, and the final tally, now get this: Usually in hockey, you might see scores of like 3-1 or 4-3. The final tally here: 125-102.

Goodbye

AZUZ: So, you can't really say one team just skated by. We don't think the winning team was trying to stick it to anyone. Claiming victory was just the icing on the cake. We hope you'll check back in tomorrow for more CNN Student News. See you then. I'm Carl Azuz.