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CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: We're back! I'm Carl Azuz. This is CNN Student News! It is my privilege to wish you a very happy new year. Welcome to our first show of 2011! We have 10 minutes of commercial-free headlines ready for you; they start right now!
First Up: Lame Duck Votes
AZUZ: Now, before we went on break, we talked about the status of three proposals being considered by the U.S. Congress. There's been action on all three of them. First, the tax cut deal. This was the compromise that President Obama and Republican leaders had worked out to extend a set of tax cuts for two years. That passed in both the House and the Senate, so everybody's taxes are going to stay right where they are for the next two years.
Next, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." That's the policy that banned gays and lesbians from serving openly in the U.S. military. It's been in place since 1993, but Congress voted to overturn the policy, which means eventually, gays and lesbians will be able to serve openly.
Finally, START, a treaty between the United States and Russia that would limit how many nuclear weapons each country can have. The Senate has to approve these kinds of treaties, and it did. All of this was done during what's called a lame duck session. That's what you call the time between an election and when those people who were elected take office.
AZUZ: The lame duck session is now over; the new Congress gets to work this week. Ed Henry gives us a preview of what they're going to be working on and how much debate we might have to look forward to.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: To hear the president tell it, bickering with the Republicans is so 2010.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A lot of folks in this town predicted that after the midterm elections, Washington would be headed for more partisanship and more gridlock. And instead, this has been a season of progress. That's a message that I will take to heart in the New Year, and I hope my Democratic and Republican friends will do the same.
HENRY: But with the Republican John Boehner taking the speaker's gavel, that rosy scenario will be tested immediately in 2011, because both parties will now have to agree on a long-term budget after kicking the can down the road on all those spending cuts the Tea Party was demanding and the president's own debt panel was proposing to no avail.
OBAMA: I expect we'll have a robust debate about this when we return from the holidays. The debate that will have to answer an increasingly urgent question, and that is how do we cut spending that we don't need while still making investments that we do need.
HENRY: With the federal cash register tapped out, it will be especially difficult to tackle the president's biggest challenge of all.
OBAMA: My singular focus over the next two years is not rescuing the economy from potential disaster, but rather jump-starting the economy so that we actually start making a dent in the unemployment rate.
HENRY: Mr. Obama also may face resistance to his economic plans from both liberals still smarting from the tax deal he just cut and conservatives determined to repeal his health reform law. An independant-minded Republican independent is urging both sides to give the new balance of power a chance.
SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI, (R) ALASKA: Let's figure out how we deal with some of these very, very difficult issues, whether it's tax policy or whether it's going to be what we're going to be doing on spending. We've got enough that we need to do that we don't need to get weighted down in the partisan politics.
HENRY: Music to the ears of White House aides trying to hammer the message that Republicans now have a responsibility to govern.
(END VIDEO)
Is This Legit?
STAN CASE, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Is this legit? The U.S. government takes a census of the country's population every five years. Not legit! It is every 10 years that the government counts how many people live in the U.S.
Census Results
AZUZ: The census is mandated -- that means it's ordered -- by the U.S. Constitution. The first census happened in 1790. And back then, the U.S. population was just under 4 million. Today, it's more than 308 million. That's according to the census that was taken last year. From 2000 to 2010, the country's population increased during that time by 9.7 percent. That is actually the smallest increase since the 1930s and the Great Depression.
Part of what the census does is determine how many seats that states get in the U.S. House of Representatives. If a state's population goes up, it could get more seats. If it goes down, it could lose seats. Based on last year's census, eight states will gain members in the House, and ten states will lose members.
AZUZ: The past couple of weeks have seen some pretty severe weather all around the United States. We've seen heavy wind and rain out in California; snow and ice in the western U.S. and upper Plains; and, as you might have heard, a blizzard in the northeast. Some parts of the region got up to three feet of snow. That was terrible for many airports, causing a lot of travel delays. There were some neighborhoods that were covered in snow for days. Eventually, clean-up crews made it out to help clear things off. Though in New York, there were some complaints that those efforts took way too long. Meanwhile, a different kind of storm ripped its way across parts of the Midwest. Samantha Hayes has the details on that for us right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
SAMANTHA HAYES, CNN CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON, D.C.: In Washington County, Arkansas, neighbors sort through the wreckage of their community. Just hours earlier, a tornado ripped through this area just west of Fayetteville.
NATHAN LAWRENCE, STORM VICTIM: My whole house started shaking, the windows busted out, and then it was gone. Just like that, it was gone.
HAYES: Homes and businesses are destroyed and an ambulance and coroner's truck are part of the heartbreaking scene. The same storm continued its destructive path into Missouri, just outside St. Louis.
KEVIN O'LEARY, STORM VICTIM: In five, six seconds it was over. I've always heard that it sounds like a freight train, and that's exactly what it sounded like. And before we could even move it was over and the building was, you know, windows out. My wife just got out of the office two seconds before it hit.
HAYES: Tornadoes severely damaged a shopping center in the city of Sunset Hills. Cars and trucks in the parking lot were blown over, and homes in a nearby subdivision were destroyed.
WILLIAM NOLAN, MAYOR, SUNSET HILLS: It's incredible, absolutely incredible: cars overturned, trucks overturned. It's kind of hard to believe that such a thing could happen to our city.
HAYES: Samantha Hayes, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO)
AZUZ: Officials are hoping to start running some tests today, but they think those storms in Arkansas could be the reason for a New Year's Eve event definitely unexpected: more than a thousand blackbirds just fell from the sky. Most of them were dead. They were all found within a one-mile area. One expert said this kind of thing isn't that unusual and that it might have been caused by lightning or hail. Other officials think that New Year's fireworks might have caused the birds severe stress. Right now, though, this is a mystery; experts are hoping the tests they run will help offer some answers to it.
Make us Your Home Page!
AZUZ: Here's a resolution for the new year: make CNN Student News your home page! CNNStudentNews.com is already your favorite Web site. This is gonna give you instant access to our blog, our Teachers' Lounge, plus all of the resources in our Spotlight and In Depth sections. And our Transcript archive includes every program from this entire school year. The URL once again: CNNStudentNews.com!
Shoutout
TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Time for the first Shoutout of 2011! Which of these U.S. cities was last to ring in the new year? If you think you know it, shout it out! Was it: A) Seattle, Washington, B) Anchorage, Alaska, C) Honolulu, Hawaii or D) San Francisco, California? Start the countdown at three seconds -- GO! Because of its time zone, Honolulu rang in the new year after the other cities. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!
Happy New Year!
AZUZ: Five hours before the new year started in Honolulu, this was the scene in New York City's Times Square. There were estimates that a million people were there to count down the final seconds of 2010. And when the clock struck midnight, more than a ton -- two thousand pounds! -- of confetti rained down on the crowd. Of course, the celebrations were all around the world. From Russia to England, China to Australia, people got together in cities everywhere to help usher in the new year with fireworks and special events. Some smaller cities celebrated the new year with their own unique traditions.
Before We Go
AZUZ: And that includes the one in today's Before We Go segment. We're taking you to Eastover, North Carolina, where they didn't drop a ball for New Year's Eve; they dropped a giant flea! Three feet tall, 30 pounds. Thankfully, it was made out of foam, wire and wood, not actual flea. There is an explanation for this unusual tradition: Eastover used to be called Flea Hill. They started this new tradition in order to pay tribute to the town's past.
Goodbye
AZUZ: So, even if it was just for a flea-ting moment, there's something that bugs us about this idea: Why didn't they drop the fake flea down one part at a time? You know, insect-tions? New year, same old puns! For CNN Student News, I'm Carl Azuz. Have a great day.
