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	• NEWS >> ATW April 19, 2007 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of April 19th, I’m Teej Jenkins. Our top story this week…tragedy strikes the campus of Virginia Tech. 1—CAMPUS IN SHOCK UNITED STATES 40 DEGREES, 04 MINUTES NORTH 80 DEGREES, 43 MINUTES WEST Students and teachers are still reeling from the deadliest shooting in US history. 33 people were killed and 15 were wounded in two separate incidents on the Virginia Tech campus Monday morning. Two people were killed at about 7:15 in a college dorm. Campus police were still investigating those murders two hours later when a gunman entered an academic building armed with two pistols and some chains he used to close entry doors. At least two professors were among the 30 people killed within the building before the gunman turned his weapons on himself. Students and faculty have spent the time since the incident finding ways to cope with their shock and grief. Some critics have questioned why the campus wasn't locked down after the first shooting and why it took so long for students and employees of Virginia Tech to be notified. Academic (adj) relating to studies that are liberal or classical rather than technical ATW Fact Ecuador sits between Columbia and Peru in western South America, an area that was in the northern part of the Inca Empire. Slightly smaller than Nevada, it won its independence from Spain in 1819. Slightly more than 13 million people live there now. INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… ---shaking rattles nerves but little else in Mexico... ---voters in Ecuador send a strong message... ---and winter makes one last, devastating visit. #2—STORMY WEATHER UNITED STATES 33 Degrees, 45 minutes north 84 degrees, 23 minutes west A storm system that had already battered the Midwest late last week pounded a large section of the Atlantic coast Sunday and Monday. It caused at least three tornadoes in South Carolina where one person died and several more were seriously inured. Further north, a record 7.8 inches of rain fell in New York's Central Park. And more than a foot of snow accumulated on the higher elevations of New England. More than 5-hundred flights were canceled from the New York area alone. High winds, flooding, and heavy snow combined to cut power to hundreds of thousands of homes from Maine to Maryland. The storm is expected to be the worst of its kind since December of 1992. The earlier storm caused millions of dollars in damage to buildings and property and forced the evacuation of thousands of people. Accumulated (v) amassed or gathered, piled up #3—MEXICO QUAKE MEXICO 19 Degrees, 24 minutes north 99 degrees, 09 minutes west Buildings swayed and power flickered but no lives wre lost when a strong earthquake shook parts of Mexico late last week. The quake was centered 40 miles northwest of the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco. The magnitude 6 earthquake struck early in the morning and was felt as far away as Mexico City. It was followed by a number of aftershocks including one 5.4 magnitude quake that shook much of southern Mexico. Mexico City's Civil Defense Secretary said power was knocked off to some 20 per cent of homes in the downtown district. There were also reports of outages in Acapulco. It was a much different story from 1985 when a stronger earthquake leveled parts of three Mexican states and caused thousands of injuries. Shook (v) caused to quiver or tremble #4— —ECUADOR VOTE ECUADOR 00 degrees, 13 minutes south 78 degrees, 30 minutes west Ecuador's leftist president, Rafael Correa scored a landslide victory in his effort to remake his country's system of government. Exit polls indicated that more than 78 per cent of voters approved Correa's call for a constitutional assembly to rewrite the constitution. Correa wants to weaken Ecuador's Congress which Correa has labeled a “sewer of corruption”. Voters apparently agreed as well as hoping that a change will bring long needed economic relief. However, critics fear that Correa will end up controlling the assembly and seeking dictatorial power similar to his political ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Constitution (n) system of fundamental laws that define a government POP QUIZ #1 In our story about the spring storm, how much rain did we tell you fell in Central Park? Was it nearly 6 inches 7 inches 8 inches And the answer is number 3. Between Sunday and Monday, 7.8 inches of rain fell in Central Park. OLD CLUE # 1—MASTERS TOURNAMENT Time now for answers to last week’s Clues in the News. Our first clue was the location of Augusta, Georgia. That's where the Masters golf tournament has been played every April since 1934. The Masters is considered one of the four most prestigious tournaments in professional golf. This year's winner was Zach Johnson who held off Tiger Woods and two other players who tied for second. It was just the second victory of Johnson's pro career. Among the traditions at the Masters is the winner gets to wear a distinctive green jacket. Jack Nicklaus wore the most green jackets, winning the Masters 6 times. OLD CLUE # 2— CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT Unscramble our second clue and you got climate change report. A network of 2-thousand scientists assembled by the United Nations released its second report late last week. Despite compromises that softened some of its predictions, the report still says that a hotter world will be one in which millions of people will suffer from hunger and thirst. The scientists also predict that one third of earth's species will vanish is temperatures are allowed to rise just 3 degrees over recent years averages. OLD CLUE # 3—SPACE TOURIST And finally, fill in the blanks on our third clue and you got space tourist. American billionaire Charles Simonyi left earth with two Russian cosmonauts April 7th. He is the fifth non-astronaut to pay his way aboard the International Space Station. For 25-million dollars, Simonyi gets a 13 day trip during which he will have some scientific and technical duties. He also brought with him the makings of a gourmet feast in honor of Cosmonaut's Day, an event that marks Yuri Gagarin's historic flight as the first man in space. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… April 19th, 1897, 18 men set off on the very first Boston Marathon. John McDermott crossed the finish line 25 miles later in just under 3 hours. This year's marathon, more than a mile longer than the first, had more than 20-thousand runners and a winning time of 2 hours 14 minutes.. ATW FEATURE When World War Two broke out our neighbors to the north stepped up to assist in the training of American pilots. Wyatt Doremus checks it out. ATW FEATURE Wyatt The Canadian Harvard's it's a name that probably does not sound familiar to the average American ear but these guys are actually really important to our history! Particular in WWII when we were getting ready to fight. Pilot Dave The Harvard was the primary and advanced trainer it was the pilot maker back in WWII. The Harvard was the trainer that was selected by the British Air Commonwealth training plan the allies, to Canada, the United States and England, They actually picked Canada as their training base, so the Harvard is the core of the war-training unit for WWII. And the Canadian history is that it was done mostly in Canada. Pilot Kent It's a piece of history, a aircraft that was used in the 40's and designed in the 30's was made with a slide rule not computers and today's technology, the guys had to over build them and that's why they are still around here in the new millennium. I'm sure that they never expected us to be taking them to airshows this date in the future. It's holding up well, it's doing really great. A lot of it is a labor of love, we've got a lot of volunteers that spend a lot of time making sure it's still running. Wyatt The Harvard's are doing a lot more then just running, these guys use some of the original techniques taught to WWII pilots and turned them into what they call and " aerobatics" show taking they planes to the next level. Pilot Pete We'll do formation loops, one of our signature maneuvers is the half Cuban where all three planes are rolling at the same time. Pilot Kent Pete, he leads he sets the pace of the maneuvers, Dave acquires the spacing and as number three I have to match his spacing , line all these guys up and make it look easy. Pilot Pete There will be very few practices where we can't make improvements so it's very difficult, everyday is different with wind and weather conditions. Pilot Dave The preservation of history I think is very important, whether it be aviation or any other history what we do with the Harvard Association is persevere a piece of history of the 40's and 50's of aviation and what it meant to Canadians and the whole world. Wyatt VO For Assignment the World, I'm Wyatt Doremus ISN’T IT COOL ROBOT COMPETITION Robotic teams from high schools around the world put their engineering skills to the test in Atlanta recently. More than 10-thousand students from the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Great Britain and Israel participated in the competition televised on NASA-TV. Student competitors built robots to compete in various sporting challenges at the annual event held in the Georgia Dome. ISSUE Sarah C., a student at Dix Hills, New York had an idea for this week's issue question. She wondered why if cell phones have been banned while driving a car, why haven't other, equally distracting activities? Lawmakers in Vermont are wondering the same thing. Representative Thomas Koch is sponsoring a bill that would ban eating, drinking, reading, writing or anything else other than driving a vehicle. He told reporters that his bill wasn't just for the distracted drivers' own good but to protect all the other people on the road. But while studies indicate that 8 out of 10 collisions or near crashes are caused by distracted drivers, critics of the Vermont bill say it goes too far. They say trying to prevent people from eating or applying makeup would also be all but impossible to enforce. And Sarah herself notes that many people eat in cars because they are in a hurry and a drive through is a time saving convenience. So, what do you think? Should eating or other activities in cars be banned? Discuss this issue with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinions. MAILBAG We received nearly three hundred responses to our issue question, “Should we set a deadline for withdrawing troops?” The majority of you, 60 percent say yes, we should set a date for withdrawing troops. 35 percent say no we should not. 5 percent are undecided. Many of you feel setting a deadline for withdrawal would send the wrong message. Jessica J. of Weyers Cave, Virginia writes, “Iraq needs friends to help establish a new government. If we bring troops home they will think we are weak.” Amber W. of Walpole, Massachusetts adds, “Although it would be nice to have our troops back home… we need to finish the job in Iraq and (keep) terrorists from attacking the U.S.” The majority of you, however, think setting a deadline is the right thing to do. Spencer M. of Spearfish, South Dakota writes, “I think we should withdraw the troops because it seems it is a never ending battle.” Dani W. of Winchester, Virginia agrees and adds, “We have been at war long enough. If we stay any longer, it will just make them more mad.” Tyler S. of Walker, Michigan writes, “Families want to see their husbands or sons come home soon. I think family is more important than war.” Jon C. of York, New York is in favor of a deadline but reminds us “We should set a deadline… but we should support them until they come back.” Finally, Tyler L. of Oconto Falls, Wisconsin thinks it all depends if the mission is accomplished. Tyler writes, “A gradual withdrawal of soldiers would be appropriate once the situation is adequately stable.” We look forward to your responses to our two latest questions: “Should fighting in hockey be banned?” and “Should eating or other activities in cars be banned?” We'll put some of the more thought provoking letters and e-mails on the air. If you would like to receive an Assignment: The World Press card, please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. You may write to us here at Assignment: The World, Post Office Box three-zero-zero-twenty-one, Rochester, New York… one-4-6-zero-3… or you may contact us at the A-T-W website at http://atwonline.org. We also read e-mail at atw@wxxi.org POP QUIZ #2 In our story about Rafael Correa, we told you he is president of which South American country? Is it Venezuela Ecuador Argentina And the correct answer is number 2. Rafael Correa is the president of Ecuador. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue a location… 9 Degrees, 11 minutes north latitude 7 Degrees, 11 minutes east longitude Our second clue is a scrambled letter, two words First word C H E N F R Second word N E E D T R I P S And finally, our third clue is a fill in the blanks, two words First word E blank R blank H Second word D blank Y These are clues to stories we think will happen in the coming week. You can find the answers on radio and television newscasts and in newspapers and newsmagazines. We’ll reveal the answers on next week’s show. Good luck! GOOD-BYE And that’s it for this week’s show. From all of us here at Assignment: The World, I’m Teej Jenkins. We’ll see you again next week. © 2007 WXXI-TV/ Assignment: The World. All Rights Reserved.