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CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: It's a pleasure to welcome you to this midweek edition of CNN Student News. We're bringing the world, without commercials, to your classroom. And I'm your captain, Carl Azuz.
AZUZ: Doctors are keeping a close watch on Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Three days after a gunman tried to assassinate her at an event in Tucson, Giffords was responding to doctors' commands and giving hopeful signs, though her condition remained critical. Experts say if she survives, her recovery could take anywhere from several months to a year and a half. Meantime, President Obama was scheduled to fly to Tucson today. The White House says he'll probably attend a memorial service and meet with some families of the shooting victims. Six people were killed and 14 wounded in the attack. There's a national conversation building around part of this story, and we're gonna include you in it. Here's what's going on: This man you're about to see here, an Arizona sheriff named Clarence Dupnik, has been talking about the Arizona shooter, and what might have influenced him to attack. Here's part of the sheriff's opinion:
CLARENCE DUPNIK, SHERIFF OF PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: When the rhetoric about hatred, about mistrust of government, about paranoia of how government operates, and to try to inflame the public on a daily basis, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, has impact on people, especially who are unbalanced personalities to begin with.
AZUZ: The sheriff, who's a Democrat, is suggesting that conservative talk show hosts and media coverage of people who are angry at the government somehow influenced the Arizona shooter. But police have not discussed an official motive for the attack. And another sheriff, Joe Arpaio, another Arizona sheriff, says all the evidence so far suggests the gunman had no clear political motives -- that he's just a deeply troubled and mentally unstable person. What do Americans think? Well, a new national poll by CBS shows most Americans, 57 percent, don't think angry political speech contributed to the shooting. 32 percent think it did. Here's where you come into the conversation. What are your thoughts on the Arizona shooting? Are there any lessons to be learned from it? Our blog is always open at CNNStudentNews.com!
What's the Word
TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: What's the Word?
a type of storm with extremely strong winds that blow from the northeast
NOR'EASTER
That's the word!
AZUZ: Chances are, if you live on America's East coast and haven't yet been socked in by snow and ice, your turn is coming. The storm that smacked the Southeast is now heading north. Forecasters expect it to merge with another system from the Midwest. What does all that mean? Another foot of snow possible for New York City. You see New York here, earlier this year, reeling from storms then. Another foot of snow is possible for Boston, Massachusetts. At least 30 states were under some sort of winter storm watch or warning yesterday. And the South? Still crippled by chaotic conditions. The snow that covered the streets froze into a hard sheet of ice Monday night. Driving was out -- even walking was dangerous in some spots. Rob Marciano stepped outside CNN Center to show us why this is such a big deal for the Southeast. Rob?
(BEGIN VIDEO)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: Check it out, Carl. Snow and ice on the sidealks of downtown Atlanta. Yeah, it's happened before but not sticking around for days at a time. What an amazing, incredible ice storm this was, and snow storm, across the South, especially for Atlanta. We seem to have been right in the core of the heaviest snow. And then, bam! The freezing temperatures and the freezing rain coming on top of that just really crippling this entire metropolitan area. From downtown to the interstates we had jack-knifed tractor trailers all over the place. On that 285 loop which is designed to take the tractor trailers out of the downtown area, well, that didn't help entirely too much.
So, the other thing that's not helping is the storm cranking up the Northeastern seaboard. That's bringing in even more cold air. Even though we get times where it gets above freezing during the day. At night the temperatures drop well below freezing. You got to look at this and say to yourself, Atlanta's mentality for snow removal is let it melt. Well, we may have to wait for quite some time, Carl?
(END VIDEO)
Oil Spill Report
AZUZ: Thanks, Rob. If we don't take drastic action to prevent this in the future, it could happen again. That's the word from a final report on last summer's catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It started with this, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. That later sank and caused the worst oil spill in American history. The clean-up is still going on for this! The "National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill and Offshore Drilling" says the government and the oil industry need to research more, invest more money, and keep better tabs on safety and knowledge of how to contain oil spills.
Shoutout
JOHN LISK, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Today's Shoutout goes out to Mrs. Huber's exploratory class at Loveland Middle School in Loveland, Ohio! Port-au-Prince is the capital of what country? If you think you know it, shout it out! Is it: A) Cuba, B) Dominican Republic, C) Haiti or D) Venezuela? You've got three seconds -- GO! Port-au-Prince is the capital of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!
AZUZ: It's been exactly one year since that capital -- and much of Haiti -- were violently shaken to the ground by a tremendous earthquake. Flooding and disease outbreaks have further slowed down Haiti's recovery. Still needed there: safe water and sewage systems, training for health workers, money to help get rid of diseases. Moni Basu describes how one year after the quake, not much has changed.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
MONI BASU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: My name is Moni Basu. I'm a journalist for CNN. When I came to Haiti last January my heart broke. I've covered difficult stories before but this one was particularly difficult for me. And I had hoped that when I came back a year later I would see a lot more progress than this. I'm sitting here in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Port-au-Prince. As you can see it pretty much looks like it did last January 12. Every Sunday thousands of people come here still for services There's no building left here so the priest preaches outside in a small park. The building was shattered but their faith was not shattered. Their faith is stronger than it ever was.
I think the most iconic image that came out in the days after the earthquake was the national palace. It was destroyed to the point where it had been slated for demolition. But very little work has been done on it since last January. And it's a constant reminder to the people of what happened here.
This is the Champs de Mars Plaza in Port-au-Prince, the central plaza in the city. Slowly in the days and weeks after the earthquake, a tent city sprung up here, and the more the time went by people realized, "We're not going anywhere, we're going have to make new homes, new lives for ourselves right here." There's a grocery store, there's a cyber cafe, even. The tent city has become a little city within the larger city of Port-au-Prince. It's pretty shocking to see that a year later people are still living like this.
I'm always amazed when I come back to Haiti to see how much strength the people here have. It's just incredible to me how they are able to go on. I just can't imagine having to live through something like this day after day after day.
(END VIDEO)
Promo
AZUZ: Remarkable images in that report. We want you to intro our show! And at CNNStudentNews.com, we have a video that explains how you can send us a video! You just scroll down our home page, which you see right here. Find the "How Do I" box -- it's on the left side. And click on "How do I send CNN Student News my iReport?" Yours truly will pop up with a totally different haircut, and give you step-by-step instructions on sending your footage to us.
Before We Go
AZUZ: Well, I used to read Jack London in high school, maybe that's why I picture sled dogs as huskies, dragging wood and steel through the Yukon. This is a different kind of animal. A slack dog, not a pack dog. A coaster, not a boaster. A chiller, not a thriller! He and his owner show the other side of Atlanta's icy conditions: The fun shared by man and beast, when you've got nowhere to go but downhill.
Goodbye
AZUZ: Just hope he stayed warm. Without a sweater, a hot dog can quickly turn into a pup-sicle. Please join us again tomorrow -- CNN Student News only has ice for you. Bye bye!
