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Obama`s Postponed Executive Order on Immigration; What Stays Unknown about ISIS; Drought`s Severely Affected California`s Lakes; Inventing Flying Bikes
Aired September 08, 2014 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I`m Carl Azuz. We are kicking off a new week and ten minutes of commercial free current events. First up,
President Obama is postponing his planned executive order on immigration. Now, let`s break this down. An executive order is a policy, a directive
that presidents can issue on their own. It doesn`t go through Congress, but it`s more limited than laws that do. With Congress divided between
Democrats and Republicans and compromise not in the air, President Obama has issued nearly 200 executive orders, some on controversial issues.
He promised to give a new on immigration before the end of the summer, but he now says he`ll wait until after the midterm elections. The president
says this will give him more time to explain his decision to the public, but some analysts call this a political move, saying he`s trying to keep
divisive issues from hurting his fellow Democrats in November`s congressional elections. Some groups that support immigration reform say
he needs to take action now, and some lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans say he needs to go through Congress to reform immigration law.
A strategic dam in Iraq, a terrorist group trying to get control, U.S. airstrikes called in to help Iraqi forces. Sounds familiar? The same
scenario played out last month at a dam in the Tigris River. Yesterday, it happened at the Euphrates River. Iraqi forces have been fighting ISIS or
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. It`s the terrorist group trying to get control of strategic places like the Haditha Dam. It provides water to
millions of people in western and southern Iraq, so the last thing Iraqis and the U.S. want, is for it to fall into hands of ISIS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know much more about ISIS now than we did a few months ago. We know how brutal they can be, how well financed,
how powerful. But one we don`t know about ISIS would still feel values. For starters, how big is their fighting force? On the low end of the
estimates, you get around 10,000 people, and the high end around, 80,000. This is in part because ISIS is forming alliances with people who share
their radical ideology.
Now, that does that make these other groups members of ISIS or just temporary partners in crime? You can`t really say.
How much land does ISIS control? Again, if you look at some maps, you see relatively thin sanctions of northern Iraq and Syria under ISIS control.
But if you expand to say let`s talk about all the areas where ISIS has influence or followers. Then you start picking up places like Jordan and
Lebanon and even Europe. And the United States. It`s hard to say how many of these people are dedicated to it or if that represents real influence by
ISIS.
What does ISIS want? They want a caliphate. This would be a country, a state ruled by a supreme religious leader who enforces strict Islamic law
on the people underneath this person.
Now, they want to have this right now, it appears in the area spanning Iraq and Syria, along that border, but the question is will they be satisfied
with that. If they get that country would they then want more land, more people, more power? Do they have designs on striking the United States?
There have been videos that suggest that ISIS leaders would like to raise their flag over the White House. We don`t know how much of that is actual
planning and how much of it is bluster. Security experts say, it all has to be taken very seriously.
And finally, that brings up a big questions: what can anyone do about these terrorists? Because despite airstrikes and talk about international
cooperation, this remains the biggest unknown about ISIS.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A healthy and full lake in northern California. There`s only one problem: this picture is three years old.
And now I`m walking on top of that very same bridge, take a look. It is a virtual desert. This is what drought looks like in the state of
California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: And not just any drought, California is more than two years into the worst drought and it`s recorded history. Its governor has declared a state
of emergency, farmers have lost their crops. New research published in the journal "Nature" suggests that the drying up of groundwater in the Central
Valley could change pressure in the earth and trigger more earthquakes. Experts say they`ll be small, not much damage, but the droughts damage has
been done.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIMON: Where I`m standing is a powerful symbol of California`s crippling drought. This is like Mendocino in northern California, and it`s pretty
much dried up. Normally you`d see people out in the water using their boats, but right now it`s just pretty much a desert.
The lack of rain has pushed nearly 80 percent of the state into either extreme or exceptional drought categories. Those are the highest levels.
And most of the major reservoirs, the water that sustains so many communities throughout the state, those are less than half full. It`s so
dry that thieves are actually stealing water. A father and daughter living off a water tank in the Central Valley say they`ve been ripped off eight
times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s horrible. We go without showering, we can`t flush our toilets, we can`t wash our hands.
SIMON: At Hearst Castle, a popular attraction for tourists, they had to drain the reflective Neptune pool earlier. The sparkling blue water has
given away to a skateboarders fantasy. The drought also having an impact on food prices. Meat and produce rising as much as six percent, according
to the USDA, fast food chains like Chipotle and In and Out Burger that raised their prices. We are also seeing a new phenomenon on what so called
drought busters. People coming through communities, looking for water wasters, leaky sprinklers, things of that nature. And public parks, some
cities are no longer watering the grass, and you can see brown patches in places like Santa Barbara along the waterfront.
It`s been a very long summer, and there was just no end inside for this drought.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: To request a mention right here, go to our transcript page, at cnnstudentnews.com. Today`s schools from east to west: Scarborough Middle
School in Scarborough, Maine, where the Red Storm is brewing. Welsh High School in Welsh, Louisiana, where they greyhounds outran everybody. And
Granite Bay High School in Granite Bay, California, no one`s messing with grizzlies.
"Star Wars" gave us speeders, "Back to the Future" part two gave us hoverboards, the Jetsons gave us a flying car. At least, gave us the dream
of these things. The next step, a real one may just be the hoverbike. An engineer is turning two wheels into fans, and he`s well aware that if his
idea doesn`t fly, a similar one might .
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS MALLOY, ENGINEER: When I was younger, I always wanted to fly. Always drawing different flying vehicles, always dreamt about booting off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chris Malloy is an engineer. His passion is making things fly.
MALLOY: I ended up to have a bike that has all the properties of helicopter and flies like helicopter, but has a freedom and look of a
motorcycle.
This is a sky model of our full size hoverbike. The (INAUDIBLE) thrust and hovers like a helicopter, but pushing it down with these propellers. In
order to move forward, we decrease the thrust on the front and increase the thrust on the rear. And it`s time to go backwards.
In order to rotate, we change the speed of the propellers while skipping the thrust the same.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Malloy always starts out by using scale models, put camera on one, and you get a sense of what it might be like to fly the real
thing.
Malloy is well aware that he has competition that he is in a hoverbike race, teams in Los Angeles and the Czech Republic who are also developing
hoverbikes, but Malloy believes his machine will be the most versatile.
MALLOY: Turbobike (ph) is very different, because it`s been designed as an aero vehicle, it`s not designed as a toy.
So we can deploy it in an emergency areas to we can - (INAUDIBLE) is autonomous, so we can ferry goods and people in without there needing to be
a pilot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More men tests are flight are planned in the next few months. Malloy will again be the test pilot. The first, he hopes of the
true Hovercyclist.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Another invention today, it`s been said that the men`s home is his castle. And while this one may not be big enough to live in, it is real,
it is made of concrete. It was constructed by a 3D printer, a big one. One made out of chains, rails and motors. The contractor`s invention lays
out in concrete and whatever pattern he programs. He hopes it will be the future of construction, capable of printing a 3600 square foot house in
about a week.
That would leave an imprint on construction. Imagine setting designs on something like that. Fashioning a concrete plan, a building on the idea of
a printed house. That`s an engineering fit that breaks down walls, yo. CNN STUDENT NEWS is back tomorrow with more current events and probably
more puns.
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