(CNN Student News) -- October 31, 2008
Quick Guide
Electoral College 101 - Get schooled on the College that officially elects the U.S. president.
Feeding the World - Discover how scandal could impact China's status as a global grocer.
A Cat Worth Millions - Meet a million-dollar cat that's helped turn around one Japanese town.
Transcript
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: It's Halloween, which makes this Friday wicked awesome. We're glad you're spending part of it with CNN Student News. First up today, a quick check of the headlines.
First Up: Top Headlines
AZUZ: We're starting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a cease-fire between rebels and government forces has stopped recent fighting. The rebel leader has offered to create a corridor so that aid can reach the thousands of people who were forced to flee the violence.
Turning to the Middle East next. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is headed to this region next week. She'll be working on a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.
And there's a new number one airline. Delta completed its multi-billion dollar buyout of Northwest this week. The new carrier will keep the Delta name and become the world's largest carrier.
Where They Stand
AZUZ: Wrapping up our weeklong look at where the presidential candidates stand on some key issues now. Today, we're focusing on education, including the controversial No Child Left Behind Act, which requires schools to meet test standards to get funding from the government. Senator Barack Obama wants to significantly change this law to reward schools, rather than punish them. He wants to create programs that recruit qualified teachers and reward expert instructors, and he wants to make science and math education a priority. Senator John McCain voted for No Child Left Behind, but he says that it's "only the beginning of education reform." He wants to build on it. He's proposed bonuses for teachers who do well in challenging situations, and who teach subjects like math and science.
AZUZ: OK, we've talked about what these candidates might do if they're elected. But that doesn't actually happen -- the electing that is -- that doesn't happen when voters cast their ballots, at least not directly. The president is officially picked by something called the Electoral College. What is it? We are glad you asked.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Electoral College: It's a lot simpler than regular college! It's actually the name of a group of people who choose the U.S. president. Why them and not us through a popular vote? Well, some of the Founding Fathers didn't think the average American was really in tune with politics. Electors, on the other hand, are all over 'em.
Here's how the system works: Each state gets a certain number of electoral votes. The more people who live in a state, the more electoral votes it gets. Take California, most populous state in the nation: 55 electoral votes! South Dakota? Three. Not much, OK, but not many residents live there either. Now, every state but Maine and Nebraska has a "winner-take-all" election system; that means whoever wins the state's popular vote wins all of its electoral votes.
What kinds of numbers are we talking? Well, there are 538 electors in the Electoral College. So you need just over half of them, 270, to win the election. But you can't just win the top five states with the most electoral votes. In a close contest, and we've seen two of those in the last two presidential elections, every electoral vote counts.
Now here's where it gets tricky. The Electoral College is supposed to reflect what most Americans want. But it is possible for a candidate to win the popular vote and lose the Electoral College, and therefore the election! Just ask Al Gore, who won the popular vote in 2000, but lost the Electoral College. Same thing happened in 1876 and 1888, but to different candidates, of course. So, did some folks get mad at the college? Uh huh. But despite hundreds of proposals to change that or get rid of it, it just hasn't happened, in part because it would take changing the U.S. Constitution!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Political Rap
AZUZ: Now, they aren't old enough to vote, but some students from Atlanta's Ron Clark Academy have written their own rap about this year's White House hopefuls. Check this out.
Spoken Word
RON CLARK ACADEMY STUDENTS: And you can vote however you like. I said, you can vote however you like.Yeah Democratic left, Republican right, November 4th we decide. And you can vote however you like. I said, you can vote however you like, yeah.
Web Promo
AZUZ: If you want to watch the whole video, you can find it at our Web site. And while you're there, check out our free One-Sheet and Learning Activities on the Electoral College. It's all in the Spotlight section at CNNStudentNews.com!
AZUZ: Shifting gears now, U.N. officials say they're worried that melamine, a chemical that's sparked concerns about Chinese dairy products, could show up in other foods. That might mean trouble for China's economy, because melamine can be poisonous, and because the country is a popular grocery store for other nations. John Vause has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Chinese import more food than they sell to the rest of the world. Even so, they've managed to corner the market on things like garlic. This country produces about 75% of the world's garlic. That's one reason, perhaps, why food exports from China have increased by almost 30% this year alone. And Japan is China's number one customer. Last year, the Japanese bought about $9 billion U.S. worth of food, and a third of that was seafood. The United States also bought more than a billion dollars worth of seafood, and overall, the U.S. is China's number two customer for food. And despite all the controversy there over Brand China, the Americans are actually buying more food from China than ever before, up almost 20 percent this year alone, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
So, what are the Americans buying? So far this year, Americans have bought more apple juice than they did for all of 2007, spending half a billion dollars, a lot more than any other country. The same deal with canned mushrooms. In fact, China is one of the biggest exporters of fruit and vegetables, sending apples to Russia, tea to Morocco, rice to Korea, and last year, selling a million tons of fresh eggs around the world. But it's still not known what impact the contaminated milk scandal will have on exports. Tainted milk powder ingredients have been found in everything from cookies to chocolate to pizza in more than a dozen countries so far. In the coming months, the world might just lose its appetite a little for food coming from China. John Vause, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Shoutout
GEORGE RAMSAY, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Today's Shoutout goes out to Mrs. Ring's 11th grade U.S. History class at Langdon Area High School in Langdon, North Dakota. What island nation includes the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido? If you think you know it, shout it out! Is it: A) Philippines, B) Japan, C) Malaysia or D) China? You've got three seconds -- GO! Japan is home to Honshu and Hokkaido! That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!
AZUZ: OK, you probably wouldn't pay a lot of money for a cat, much less just to see one. I know I wouldn't. But in Japan there is one curious kitty has become a true tourist attraction. Kyung Lah explains how this cat in a hat is raking in the dough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the last stop of a country train line, an isolated town of just a few thousand people. The tourists are flocking here to snap what they call a once-in-a-lifetime picture of her, Tama the cat, or as she's known to the Wakayama Railway, SuperstationMaster. The cat in a conductor's hat greets travelers like Michiko Yoshihara, who traveled nearly six hours by train and spent hundreds of dollars to see Tama. Tama belongs to the grocery store next door, but started hanging out at the train station. The train line heard about Tama and decided on a whim to start promoting her as the stop's stationmaster. Well, trainloads of tourists started turning up, merchandise started flowing, and so did the cash, turning Tama into the ticket for one town's turnaround.
Before Tama, this train line was almost always empty and nearing bankruptcy. Not only has she brought this train line back to life, she has single-handedly pumped $10 million U.S. into the local economy.This is the $10 million cat. Seeing is believing, says the town that's living an economic turnaround amid a national and global slowdown. Why would so many spend so much on a little cat? "It's a chance to take a break from the problems facing Japan," says Haruto Maeda, who took the day off work to see Tama. "Call it an accident of life," says Kishigawa's Buddhist monk, Takeo Teranaka. "Perhaps other towns should find their own special thing and maybe they'll see this kind of benefit, too." Tama now lives full-time at the station with her mom and a friend, the prize of the town's locals, who say in these tough economic times, they'll take a gift horse, or cat, where they can get it. Kyung Lah, CNN, Kishigawa, Japan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Before We Go
AZUZ: Before we go, a few haunting Halloween images. Everyone dreams of seeing his name in lights. Thanks to this iReporter's light painting presentation, now I can. And these creative carvers fashioned their festive fruit to look like Frankenstein. Those bolts in the neck look really really good. And finally, one of Ms. Henry's middle school students not only carved his own creature, but managed to include the CNN logo on it! Awesome!
Goodbye
AZUZ: And just to get in the spirit, we carved our own pumpkin. So, enjoy the weekend, remember to set your clocks back on Sunday, and have a happy Halloween from CNN Student Booooos.
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