CNN Student News Transcript: February 29, 2008

(CNN Student News) -- February 29, 2008

Quick Guide

Top Stories - Find out what President Bush is doing to combat an economic "slowdown."

Suspended! - Discuss a controversy involving rosaries and suspended students.

Understanding Autism - Hear how a 13-year-old girl is using a computer to describe autism

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: Hi, everyone, and happy Friday! We'll be taking big leaps today, from money, to royalty, to a medical marvel. Then, a final leap, about this leap year! Welcome to CNN Student News, I'm Carl Azuz.

First Up: Top Stories

AZUZ: First up, President Bush talks about the economy and the upcoming summer Olympics in Beijing. Israelis and Palestinians trade deadly attacks, killing civilians as well as militants. And a member of British royalty has become a soldier of war.

Let's start off in Washington, where President Bush talked about money. He said the economy was not in a recession. But in what he called "a slowdown." He said he took action by signing a bill that'll give a lot of Americans a check in the mail. The president's hoping people will spend that money and give the economy a jolt. Mr. Bush also said he'd meet with China's president, Hu Jintao, during the summer Olympics this August. The U.S. has accused China of human rights abuses, and President Bush says he plans on bringing that up during their meeting.

Now, to a flare-up of violence in the Middle East over the past few days. In fact, at one point, alarms were going off in Israel as one of our reporters, Ben Wedeman right there, was trying to do his job. The area was being attacked by Palestinian rockets at the time. Israel responded with a series of airstrikes in Gaza, that killed at least 20 Palestinians on Thursday alone. Palestinian medical and security sources say ten of them were militants, and the other ten were people caught in the middle of the fighting.

A member of Britain's royal family, Prince Harry, is on the front lines of the war in Afghanistan. He was sent there in December. Now, CNN and other news organizations knew about it, but the British military asked us to not report it, in order to keep him and his fellow soldiers safe. A web site ended up revealing this news anyway. British military chiefs are pretty mad that the information was leaked. They're thinking about moving him, or possibly ending his deployment altogether.

Shoutout

MICHELLE WRIGHT, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Today's Shoutout goes out to Ms. Vig's U.S. government classes at Glen Burnie Senior High School in Glen Burnie, Maryland! Prince Harry is third in line to the British throne. Who is first in line? Who is first in line to the British throne? If you think you know it, shout it out!Is it A)Prince Philip, B)Prince Charles, C)Prince William, D)Prince Andrew. You've got three seconds. Go! Prince Charles is first in line! His son Prince William, Harry's brother, is the second. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!

Suspended!

AZUZ: If your principal asked you to do something like tuck in your jewelry, would you do it? That is the question. Two students in Oregon didn't do as they were told, and it got them suspended. They say they were wearing rosaries, religious beads with a crucifix at the end. And they say their moms gave them the rosaries as gifts. So, why did the principal kick them out? Reporter Megan Higgins explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGAN HIGGENS, KMTR REPORTER: It started with a crucifix, similar to this one, bought in another country.

UNKNOWN VOICE: Mexico.

HIGGENS: Last week, 14 year old James Salazar and a 16 year old friend wore them to South Albany High School. When the principal asked them TO either tuck them in or take them off, the two teens refused.

MARIA SALAZAR, MOTHER: They told him if he didn't want to take it off to put it under his shirt so that no one could see it and there wouldn't be anymore problems.

HIGGENS: While religious items are not banned, school staff has the right to ask students to remove or cover up items that could symbolize gang affiliation.

JIM HAGGART, ALBANY SCHOOL DISTRICT: And if the principal sees something that might be inappropriate, that might be jeopardizing school safety, then principals are going to take action.

HIGGENS: James was suspended for five days, his friend for three. In a letter sent home, school officials said James was in trouble for defiance and gang related behavior.

MARIA SALAZAR: It's not a good reason because they have one, and I also have one.

HIGGENS: Maria Salazar says her son wears the crucifix as a symbol of his faith, not gang activity.

SALAZAR: The first thing is that he is not a gang member, he's an athlete.

HIGGENS: The school district says the principal was doing his job.

HAGGART: The boy was wearing suspected gang material and the principal took some action on it.

HIGGENS: While the district has never had a gang problem, they aren't taking chances. For now the crucifix is out of sight and the two teens are back in school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

A Word to the Wise

RAMSAY: A Word to the Wise.

Autism: The Mayo Clinic defines autism as a brain disorder that is associated with several developmental problems, mainly in communication and social interaction.

source: www.mayoclinic.com

Understanding Autism

AZUZ: Our next story is about a 13-year-old girl who has autism is redefining it by explaining what it feels like, with a little help from her trusty computer. Avis Favaro explains how.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AVIS FAVARO, CTV REPORTER: This is Carly, a 13 year old who is becoming a remarkable window into the world of autism. Since she was a child it was clear that she had autism and that she couldn't speak.

ARTHUR FLEISHMANN, FATHER: Lay people would assume that she was I guess, in the pilotically incorrect era, that she was mentally retarded.Professionals who we saw identified her as moderately to severely cognitively impaired.

FAVARO: Her parents hired therapists to work with her with intensive training programs. Two years ago she started very slowly typing on her own, spelling words and the computer became her voice.

BARBARA NASH-FENTON, SPEECH PATHOLOGIST: All these words started to pour out of her. It was an exciting moment because we didn't realise that she had all these words.

FAVARO: Then Carly began opening up, describing what it was like to have autism. Why she makes odd noises, why she hits herself.

CARLY: It feels like my legs are on fire and over a million ants are crawling up my arms.

FLEISHMANN: And we were stunned. We realized that inside was this intelligent, articulate, emotive person that we had never met.

FAVARO: And this is what Carly wants people to know about autism.

CARLY: It's hard to be autistic because no one understands me. People just look at me and assume that I am dumb because I can't talk or act differently than them.

FAVARO: We asked Dr. Wendy Roberts to look at a video of Carly and to read some of her writing.

DR. WENDY ROBERTS, AUTISM SPECIALIST: I think that the initial reaction is just that it's incredibly remarkable.

FAVARO: It could be that Carly is a rare case or that her new skills are the result of intensive training.

ROBERTS: What she does is quite uncommon and begs the question of are we given children enough intensive intervention in order to see are we missing probably a fairly small percentage of kids that would have this ability?

FAVARO: Carly has given her therapists advice for those who work with autistic kids.

NASH-FENTON: And the first thing she wrote was "I will tell them never to give up on the children that they work with."

FAVARO: And this is Carly's message for those who look down on children with autism.

CARLY: If I could tell people one thing about autism it would be that I don't want to be this way but I am so don't be mad, be understanding.

FAVARO: Urging the world not to see her as a child with autism, but a normal girl trapped behind the odd behaviors of a mysterious disorder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Promo

AZUZ: We all have to go to the doctor every now and then. But what would going to the doctor be like if you were president? We'll show you Monday on CNN. Check out "The First Patient" to learn about the health demands of being the commander-in-chief. More information including free teaching materials is at CNNStudentNews.com!

Is This Legit?

RAMSAY: Is this legit? It takes exactly 365 days for the earth to orbit the sun. Think this is a no-brainer? Hang on there, smart guy. Watch this next story, and we'll run the question by you again.

Before We Go

AZUZ: Ok, today, as you may know, is February 29th. But you don't see that date too often. 2008 is a leap year, and every leap year we add that extra day to February. Why's that, you ask? Well, here ya go:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: A year that "leaps" has some interesting company. Leapin' lizards. Lords a-leaping. One giant leap for mankind. William Wordsworth penned the line, "My heart leaps up"; LeBron James landed a living out of leaping! And you definitely see presidential candidates hoppin' around this time we go to the polls to put someone in the White House every leap year. But that is just coincidence; we'd actually have leap years regardless of whether we had elections.Here's why: It takes the Earth approximately 365 and a quarter days to revolve around the sun. Every four years, those four quarter days make a whole,and that whole becomes February 29th.

This day is also known as the "intercalary," which sounds like something you get operated on: "The doctor had to take out my intercalary..." But it's not something removed; it's the day that's put in to the calendar. And it creates a curious conundrum for people born on the 29th, like Tony Robbins and Ja Rule: Do y'all celebrate your other birthdays on February 28th? March first? Or just once every four years? Imagine saying you're only one-quarter the age everyone thought you were. Now that's something a lot of folks would truly leap about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Goodbye

AZUZ: Does it take the earth 365 days to orbit the sun? If you were listening closely to the report we just showed you, you'd know the answer. We said it takes the earth 365 and a quarter days to complete a revolution around the sun, not 365 days. So,it's not legit. Have a great day! I'm Carl Azuz, for CNN Student News. E-mail to a friend