Return to Transcripts main page

CNN 10

CNN Student News

Aired March 26, 2002 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN STUDENT NEWS seen in schools around the world because learning never stops and neither does the news.

MICHAEL MCMANUS, CO-HOST: Coming up in today's show, the big night is over but the hoopla continues. We'll have an Oscar wrap up in today's "Lead Story." We move on to the "News Focus" segment where we explore a crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Later, we get a recession reality check. Then in our "Health Report," learn about the dangers of binge drinking and discover ways for you to feel fit.

And welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Michael McManus.

The 2002 Academy Awards turned out to be a beautiful night of firsts. Sunday night's show was the longest ever. According to my watch, 4 hours and 23 minutes. And during that time, "A Beautiful Mind" won best picture. Jennifer Connelly captured best supporting actress for her role in that movie, and the film also got Oscars for best director, Ron Howard, and best adapted screenplay. "Lord of the Rings" also took four Oscars in technical categories. And for the first time there was an animated feature film category and "Shrek" was its big winner.

The real history making, however, happened when the winners for best actor and actress were announced.

Our Joel Hochmuth explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL HOCHMUTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Little did they know as they arrived for Sunday's Academy Awards they were about to make history. Before the night was over, Halle Berry and Denzel Washington would take home the Oscars for best actor and actress in a leading role. It's the first time two African-Americans had won the top awards in the same year.

Berry won for her role as a widow who falls for a racist prison guard in "Monster's Ball." It was the first time a black female had won the top acting award.

HALLE BERRY, ACTRESS: Tonight means that every woman of color should be hopeful because it can happen, you know, and I hope that that's what tonight brings. Will tonight change the industry? I don't know, but if it changes the minds of those people who felt defeated, if now they feel hopeful, eventually those inspired hearts will make a change. I believe that.

HOCHMUTH: Washington won for his role as a corrupt cop in "Training Day." He became the first black man to take the lead actor trophy since Sidney Poitier in 1963's "Lilies of the Field." Poitier was on hand to collect his own lifetime achievement award.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you feel that there will be a time where we will not have headlines saying black actor wins? And do you think...

DENZEL WASHINGTON, ACTOR: Well, do you write for a newspaper?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately, yes.

WASHINGTON: Well then make sure it doesn't happen tomorrow. Just say actor wins.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's very fair.

WASHINGTON: What a chance you have. What an opportunity.

HOCHMUTH: Despite Washington's wishes, it was a headline the newspapers just couldn't ignore. The historic firsts left Hollywood buzzing about whether this was a breakthrough or something else.

ELAYNE FLUKER, "ESSENCE" MAGAZINE: I think the Academy is recognizing just the work. I mean I don't know if it had been because people were African-American that they didn't get the awards. I don't want to believe that. I think these roles were just undeniable.

EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON, AUTHOR, "BEYOND O.J.": There's a breakthrough in terms of what we saw top talent on screen, but I'm also very concerned is that the momentum continue to build and build and we see more African-Americans and Latinos and Asians in other capacities in the film industry, then that's when I'll really know and really be convinced that Hollywood means what it says.

HOCHMUTH: While Berry and Washington captured much of the attention Sunday, they certainly weren't the only ones celebrating.

CNN's Frank Buckley tagged along with a lesser-known group of actors who also wound up winners Sunday, proving the Oscars aren't just for Hollywood's biggest stars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The woman getting makeup was once the girl from Arkansas who dreamed of making it big in Hollywood. And 20 years ago, in "Officer and a Gentleman," she nearly did.

LISA BLOUNT, ACTRESS: Way to go, Paula.

BUCKLEY: Lisa Blount was nominated for a golden globe for this role, and she has worked ever since. But, no one would call her a star. And she was never nominated for an Oscar, until a film came along that she wasn't even in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Tommy O'Dell, and this here is my brother, David.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll know all about him soon enough. But, right now, I just got one question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Y'all got some cold beer?

BUCKLEY: Blount was the executive producer of "The Accountant," nominated in the category of live action short, written, directed and costarring her husband, Ray McKinnon...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have I got your attention now, David?

BUCKLEY: ... with whom she is appreciating every moment.

BLOUNT: We may get back here some time, but we'll never be here for the first time again.

BUCKLEY: McKinnon is another working-class actor in Hollywood, seen briefly in films like "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

On this day, however, he is no bit player. He is an Academy Award nominee.

Also nominated: his costar and longtime friend, Walton Goggins, whom McKinnon met when he played his father in a film some 13 years ago. Goggins, also a well-regarded actor, is here in "Shanghai Noon."

He worked for free on "The Accountant."

WALTON GOGGINS, ACTOR & PRODUCER, "THE ACCOUNTANT": We did it, I think, because our heart was in the right place and we wanted to tell a story, and we wanted to make movies.

BLOUNT: Days before the awards ceremony, Lisa Blount got the star treatment from couture designers, Daniel Cantu and Dolf Castillo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It re-evokes the '50s, and it has an innocent quality about it.

BUCKLEY: And these diamonds to wear, for one night, provided by Van Cleef and Arpels.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an indelicate question, but how much are these worth?

JEAN DOUSSETT, VAN CLEEF & ARPELS: So the necklace is $290,000 and the earrings are $36,000.

BLOUNT: Wow!

DOUSSETT: So it's about...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are wearing a house on your neck.

DOUSSETT: You are wearing a lot.

BLOUNT: Finally, they were on their way on the Oscars, and they allowed us to tag along, the limo snaking through Hollywood, fans lining the street.

BUCKLEY (on camera): I don't want to get you guys crazy, but look at all these people on the side over here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow! Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unbelievable. And they have absolutely no interest in us whatsoever!

BUCKLEY: But, as they walked up the red carpet, they were stars for a day. Finally, the moment arrived. And the winner is:

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ray McKinnon and Lisa Blount, "The Accountant."

RAY MCKINNON, WRITER, "THE ACCOUNTANT": We'd like to thank the Academy for this wonderful honor in a category that still allows for a person who is just burning to make a movie to load a camera in the back of his daddy's old truck, gather up some talented dreamers and do it. And if the stars align and the fates conspire, that person might find themselves standing right here at the good God almighty Academy Awards.

You know, by the time they called the names out, I just wanted it to be over with. But when they called our name...

GOGGINS: I wanted it to last for a lifetime, you know.

BUCKLEY: The night working-class actors joined Hollywood royalty.

Frank Buckley, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: Starvation is a problem across much of Africa, but perhaps no where is it worse then in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The country's three-year-long civil war has created one of the worst humanitarian disasters. The United Nations paints a grim picture for the region's future unless both peace and food shipments resume.

For more on the crisis facing the Congolese people, we have two reports beginning with Suzanne Kelly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE KELLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Christine Betili is doing her best to harvest hope in a country ravaged by war.

CHRISTINE BETILI (through translator): Right now life is heavy. Everything seems dark and I don't think much about the future. I just hope that one day things will get better.

KELLY: A vegetable garden, perhaps her last chance to protect her children from starvation. It's a condition that affects 16 million people in her country. But Christine thinks she just may beat the odds.

BETILI (through translator): But only because of the vegetable garden. It really makes a difference because now at least we have vegetables when there is no money for meat.

KELLY: It was just last year that she brought two of her children here to a nutrition center where aid workers gave her hope along with the seeds, tools and training she needed to start growing her own food. But the roots of the starvation problem in the Democratic Republic of Congo run deep, planted years ago by a bitter civil war. It was a war that divided the country and caused food routes to come under attack by armed bandits. Now farmers are too afraid to travel the roads that lead to the cities, leaving many people virtually cut off.

LT. COL. MANDRYX STANKO, U.N. MISSION TO CONGO: I can tell you it's terrible. People need everything what you can imagine.

KELLY: The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization says the Democratic Republic of Congo now has the biggest increase in the number of malnourished people in the world. Evidence of that is found in the faces of the children. In some areas, one in every four children under the age of five suffers from malnutrition, a condition that kills thousands and shows no signs of letting up unless something changes.

AD BPIJKERS, U.N. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION: We have to do our utmost that this war is ending, that peace will prevail and that farmers can again produce for the big cities which are now very cut off of the supplier's line.

KELLY: But until that happens, the reality is this, living in bombed out houses and relying on self-grown gardens like Christine's to make sure there is something to eat.

Suzanne Kelly, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CATHERINE BOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Barges under United Nations escort, coming in to dock at a remote river port in the heart of the Congo. To get here, they've crossed the front lines of the war, and all along the riverbank, people have considered that something to celebrate.

MAJ. CHARLES NAKEEMPA, U.N. OBSERVER: What they plainly said was that with the arrival of the boat we think is the arrival of peace also.

BOND: It's not, unfortunately, the arrival of peace, but it is the first time in three or four years that barges have arrived here. Good reason for the Port Authority to turn out to work, unpaid but still spotless and still smiling.

This river convoy the initiative of a Congolese bishop who last November heard of the U.N. escorting a convoy's emergency supplies up river and decided this area needed them too. Vehicles and drums of gasoline. Below deck, a hidden cargo of soap, medicine, seeds and tools and more than 200 tons of salt. The bare necessities of life to be unloaded here in Benedebeli (ph) and distributed to the poorest of the poor, an exercise that could take three months in a dostis (ph) six times the size of Belgium. It's an aid convoy, but its trade not aid the organizers of this convoy want to see resume.

CASSIE KNIGHT, RELIEF WORKER: And what we're really aiming to do with this project is open up the river to normal transport.

BOND: In theory, the Congolese government and the two largest armies who oppose it have pledged to allow free movement of food supplies. In practice, though, organizations say that's simply not happening.

Bishop Nicolas Djomo says there's only one way to change that.

NICOLAS DJOMO, CONGOLESE BISHOP (through translator): The convoy isn't a long-term solution, that's not possible he says. There must be peace.

BOND: Peace, people say, that's what they want so that these, the first boats here in several years, won't be the last.

Catherine Bond, CNN, Nairobi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: After last September, Washington experienced an immediate drop-off in tourism. Schools across the country canceled trips to the nation's capital for fear of another attack. One school in particular affected by this was Grayslake Middle School in Illinois. But they decided not to let a trip cancellation get in the way of enjoying the monuments and the museums.

Keith Oppenheim explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This presentation was made possible by the Iwo Jima team and by viewers like you.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In one room, Iwo Jima.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On our wall we have about 500 names.

OPPENHEIM: In another, the Vietnam Memorial.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our mission was actually Apollo 11.

OPPENHEIM: Down the hall, the Air and Space Museum. What's going on? Last October at Grayslake Middle School, the annual eighth grade trip to Washington was canceled due to concerns about travel safety after September 11. Then, an alternative idea just took off.

JOHN GENDRON, PRINCIPAL, GRAYSLAKE MIDDLE SCHOOL: Well if we can't go to Washington, D.C., what about bringing Washington, D.C. here to Grayslake?

OPPENHEIM: The eighth graders created 18 different sites and monuments and did their homework. Sarah Deal learned to be a tour guide at the recreated Holocaust Museum.

SARAH DEAL, STUDENT: If you had a blanket, which would be very rare, it would either be infested with lice or stolen.

OPPENHEIM: There is the president and first lady at the White House, of course, and overall a sense they all need to get to the real D.C. soon.

CASSIE CLARK, STUDENT: You know you just want to go and actually see what you've been working on all this time because it's pretty interesting once you get into it.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): It might be unfair if I didn't mention that the kids here remain disappointed that the trip was canceled, but the truth is because the Grayslake students did more research and less traveling, they probably learned more about Washington by not going there.

DEAL: I have -- I have gained so much knowledge. It is -- it is -- it is incredible.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): In Grayslake, Illinois, I'm Keith Oppenheim reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Exploring our world, here now is CNN STUDENT NEWS "Perspectives."

MCMANUS: The final week of 2002's first quarter is underway, and while some companies are warning investors that quarterly profits will fall short of forecasts, others have a much rosier outlook. You might be surprised at which industries are bringing in a profit.

CNN's Brooks Jackson gives us the lowdown on some interesting economic highs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKS JACKSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What kind of a recession is this? Cosmetic surgery is absolutely booming. More face lifts more breast enlargements, lots more wrinkle removing Botox injections. Overall, 48 percent more procedures last year than the year before.

Vanity is expensive. Practically none of this is covered by health insurance. Americans still have the money.

And how about this? Sales of motor homes are picking up. One manufacturer of those $150,000 fuel sucking land yachts, Winnebago, racked up record sales last year and just announced it's building a new factory to accommodate rising demand. Overall, motor home sales were up near 11 percent in December, compared to a year earlier. What's going on?

(on camera): The happy fact is there's increasing evidence the recession is over and that it was one of the mildest on record.

(voice-over): Though manufacturing lost more than a million jobs, dotcom and telecom bubble blew up on Wall Street, the travel industry was creamed by September 11. And now, Enron. But the U.S. economy is bigger than all that.

Truth is, the vast majority of Americans have quietly been doing just fine, spending more on things like dining out. The restaurant business improved last year, despite everything. Up nearly 1 percent, after inflation. And full service restaurants are growing faster than fast food joints.

And get this, sales of real yachts are up, too. Bigger, more expensive boats, and more of them. With prices averaging $342,000 each, the number of big in-board cruisers sold last year was up better than 1 percent. Some recession.

(on camera): In most recessions, personal income goes down. But in this one, income per person, after inflation and after taxes, has continued to grow. This big blip last year was the $300 per person income tax cut, paid in advance.

(voice-over): But even in December, after those Treasury checks stopped coming, disposable income per person was half a percent higher than a year ago. 3.7 percent higher than two years ago, five percent higher than three years ago.

In the recession of 1982, unemployment hit 10.8 percent. This time, it peaked at just 5.8 percent, before heading down last month. So the worst is probably over, but historically speaking, it wasn't all that bad.

Brooks Jackson, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: In today's "Health Report," binge drinking. It's no secret that alcohol abuse could be a big problem on college campuses, have you ever wondered why? A new survey may provide some answers as John Zarrella reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whether college students are of legal drinking age or not, it probably doesn't startle you to hear them say they have no problem getting their hands on alcohol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like buying orange juice or apple juice at the store. It's the same thing.

ZARRELLA: During their years at the University of Maryland, seniors Amber Vinton (ph) and Allison Hall say alcohol was and is...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very available.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, it's so available.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's getting stricter, but it's very available.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even if you're not 21, like you can find someone who is that can get it for you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's getting harder, but it really is available.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

ZARRELLA: Researchers say availability is perhaps the single biggest factor keeping binge drinking rates among college students from declining.

HENRY WESCHLER, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: If you control the sale of high volume alcohol and cheap alcohol, this may very well help reduce the rate of binge drinking.

ZARRELLA: Henry Weschler, director of college alcohol studies at Harvard University, has conducted binge drinking surveys since 1993.

(on camera): Weschler defines binge drinking as five or more drinks in a row by a man, four or more in a row by a woman. And this heavy drinking must take place at least once every two weeks. Weschler calls college binge drinking a deeply entrenched behavior.

(voice-over): What surprises Weschler is that the percentage of college students who fit his binge drinking criteria has remained an unchanged 44 percent for eight straight years despite a series of positive trends. Fewer students live in fraternities and sororities, where Weschler's research shows, there is a much higher rate of binge drinking; more students live in substance-free dorms; increased educational materials about drinking; and fewer students coming from high school already binge drinkers.

Wendy Hamilton is president elect of MADD.

WENDY HAMILTON, PRESIDENT ELECT, MADD: The good news is that 56 percent of the kids are either abstaining from alcohol or they're drinking only occasionally.

ZARRELLA: In areas where schools and communities work together enforcing laws and pushing education, there's less binge drinking, she says.

HAMILTON: Places where they've reduced the accessibility of alcohol they've gotten rid of the happy hours at the beers -- at the bars and the nickel a bottle and the pitcher sales, they've done keg registration, they've done really good enforcement on the under age drinking laws.

ZARRELLA: Researchers say as long as a six pack of beer is cheaper than a six pack of soda and just as easy to get, parents will have to face the reality that there's a 44 percent chance their college aged son or daughter is binge drinking, at least once every two weeks.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: Usually when a letter is sent home from school and addressed to your parents it's either good news or bad news about your grades or behavior. How about a letter informing mom or dad that you're overweight? Well it's happening in a school district in Pennsylvania and also in a county in Florida. The letters are carefully worded and suggest possibilities to parents for changing their child's eating habits. So far, 380 letters have gone out in Pennsylvania.

Now many have mixed feelings on this, but health professionals are quick to point out hard facts on the issue. According to the CDC, 60 percent of adults in the U.S. are overweight, along with 13 percent of adolescents. Doctors have long warned that if you are overweight, you have an increased chance of heart disease and other problems, including diabetes.

OK, now let's talk solutions. Exercise is important, but when you're younger, there are some things you should know, especially if strength training is part of your program.

More now in our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIET DUFFUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pumping iron is great for strengthening the heart and building muscle in adults Experts say the same holds true for kids.

PAM STAVER, YOUTH FITNESS SPECIALIST: All of the research really points to the fact that it's very healthy, as long as it's monitored, as long as the children don't have too much weight. Because we're still dealing with -- you know, their bones are developing, their muscles are developing. Their whole skeletal system is still growing.

DUFFUS: Experts say kids can start strength training as early as age 12. It will help prepare their body to play sports, improve flexibility and posture. But keep in mind, the program must be tailored for them. Studies suggest hard training and bad technique can restrict their growth and delay puberty.

STAVER: Very important to stress safety guidelines. All movement should be done slowly, very controlled. In fact, I think it's a really great idea -- before you even introduce any kind of equipment to a child, whether it's a soup can or a flat band or a tube or a very light weight -- that you go through the exercise very, very slowly without the piece of equipment so that you can look at their form. So that you can make sure that they're -- you know, they're in good alignment. And then go ahead and slowly introduce the resistance.

DUFFUS: Health experts agree educating children early about the benefits of exercise can help curb the increase in childhood obesity. For "Feeling Fit," I'm Juliet Duffus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Sick of cellulite, there may be a way to get rid of the fat. A weight lifting program of pumping iron three days a week called the anti-cellulite workout targets problem areas. Made up of five basic exercises, researchers have found that an eight-week course of just 20 minutes a session seemed to make a difference, a difference that can lead to better health and legs.

MCMANUS: Well it's that time of year again, a time when college students traditionally put down the books and head to the beach. But this year some students are taking a break from spring break travel.

Our CNN Student Bureau reports on how September 11 may be keeping some college kids closer to home and how that might mean bargains for others.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AIXA DIAZ, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Spring break is a tradition almost as old as the institution of college itself. Every year, nearly six million students seize the opportunity to get away, if only for a week. And it's not long after September that these students start preparing for their much-anticipated vacation.

CHRIS CHAPPELL, TRAVEL AGENT: Most people will come in and say I want to go somewhere warm and cheap with my friends.

DIAZ: But this year things are different. Last semester's terrorist attacks left spring travel far from the minds of most college students, even during the months that historically account for 90 percent of spring break bookings.

CHAPPELL: We're finding this year that a lot of the people are booking early, but then again, a lot of people are also waiting to the last minute to decide whether or not they want to go.

DIAZ: The resulting drop in spring travel plans has left empty spaces in resorts that are normally booked solid. This translates into last minute travel bargains for the Johnny-come-latelys that would normally be out of luck.

CAROLINE GOULD, BOSTON UNIVERSITY STUDENT: It was nice that we could find something that, you know, was a nice vacation, a place that we wanted to go, staying at a decent place, on a real airline that -- and it was only four weeks before. We were lucky.

DIAZ (on camera): While some students are still waiting last minute to make their plans, travel agents don't seem worried. They are optimistic this spring break season will be a profitable one.

(voice-over): Profits have never been a problem for spring break vendors in an industry that has seen substantial year-to-year growth. Analysts have predicted a 10 percent drop in spring break travel this year leading many vendors to slash their prices, and for students, that means great deals that include everything from the flight to hotel to guide books. But there is good news for the travel industry, many students are not letting the changing world affect their travel plans. While the students may be booking late, they are still booking.

CHAPPELL: And students are students. This is the thing we found even after September 11, they still want to go on spring break, they still want to go have a good time and they're still coming in and buying spring break as well.

DIAZ: Aixa Diaz, CNN Student Bureau, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: OK, if you're looking for spring break travel tips, look no further, we'll tell you all you need to know online at CNNstudentnews.com. We'll also clue you in on an environmental headline. Read up on what one group is calling the 10 most endangered parks in the U.S. We've got the full story.

And for those trying to figure out how to pay for college, you won't want to miss tomorrow's show. While you're weighing your options, don't forget to consider my rich uncle. Well, not my rich uncle, but it's like -- well it's too confusing to explain now. We'll have details tomorrow in Wednesday's "Chronicle."

I'm Michael McManus. In the...

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com