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CNN Student News Transcript: May 18, 2011

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CNN Student News - 5/18/11
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(CNN Student News) -- May 18, 2011

Download PDF maps related to today's show:

Vicksburg, Mississippi
Ireland
Jordan, Syria and Israel

Transcript

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

UNIDENTIFIED PRINCETON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT: Hi, I'm Artemis.

UNIDENTIFIED PRINCETON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT: I'm Demeter.

UNIDENTIFIED PRINCETON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT: Aphrodite.

UNIDENTIFIED PRINCETON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT: And Zeus. Carl A-Zues.

UNIDENTIFIED PRINCETON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT: And you're watching CNN Student News.

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Thanks for that toga-rrific introduction. I'm Carl a-Zeus, and I decree that the next 10 minutes will be commercial-free. So, let's go ahead and get you the headlines.

First Up: Vicksburg Floodwall

AZUZ: Levees along the Mississippi River seem to be holding, but there's still a lot that could go wrong. That was the warning from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal yesterday. This extreme flooding has forced more than 4,000 people out of their homes in both Mississippi and Louisiana. During a tour of the flood damage, Governor Jindal talked about how people in his state are coping.

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL, (R) LOUISIANA: These are tough people, they're resilient people. They've been through a lot. They've been through four hurricanes, they've been through an oil spill. They'll get through this. I've talked to a lot of families. Nobody's happy about it, but they're moving their property, they know exactly where they will go to evacuate. The good news is you get the sense people, given the amount of time they've had with the forecast, they're doing what they can to help secure their property.

AZUZ: There are two kinds of flooding going on. One is intentional. In order to keep water away from major cities, engineers have opened up flood gates to direct water toward less populated areas. The other flooding -- a primary concern -- is on the Mississippi River itself. The floods have worked their way through nine states, leaving behind images like you see here in Vicksburg, Mississippi. A local sheriff says, for some of the people affected by these floods, recovery may never come.

SHERIFF MARTIN PACE, WARREN COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI: Just in this area that we're traveling, we probably have 100 homes, most of which I don't see much hope of ever being able to be repaired.

AZUZ: Martin Savidge filed this next report from Vicksburg, standing next to a floodwall that residents are hoping can hold back the tide.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

SAVIDGE: This actually had to be constructed in three days. There was nothing here that prevented the river from flowing into the heart of downtown Vicksburg. So, the city workers built this thing. It is built out of oak and poplar. They started using railroad ties, but they ran out of those. So, they began putting them down, layer after layer, tar in between, and then they've got these steel trusses right here that are also holding it up. The chains, by the way, because the wood swells with all the water that's against it. And the water, by the way, on the other side, is about 3/4 of the way to the top.

It is the entire watershed of the Mississippi River now pressing against this levee right here. And the real question, of course, is it going to hold? Well, take a look down here. It's already starting to gush out in a number of places down here. You can see on the walls how it's already seeping and weeping through the wood.

The Mississippi and the Yazoo desperately want to come right through here. And this is the only thing, as we say, that is the protection for the downtown Vicksburg area. I asked the guy who built it, what do you think, did you build it high enough? He took a long pause. He looked at it and he said, "I sure hope so." And a lot of people are hoping that right now.

(END VIDEO)

I.D. Me

TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: See if you can I.D. Me! I'm a country that got its independence from the United Kingdom. The colors on my flag are green, white and orange. My national holiday is March 17th. I'm Ireland, and I'm home to more than four-and-a-half million people.

Queen Visits Ireland

AZUZ: Ireland got its independence from the U.K. back in 1921. And for the first time since that happened, a British monarch is visiting the Emerald Isle. Queen Elizabeth II arrived yesterday wearing green. Could be seen as symbolic; green is Ireland's national color. The nation is near Great Britain, but a royal visit has been difficult before now because of decades of conflict between the two countries.

Yesterday, the Queen laid a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance. Some experts called that significant, because the memorial pays tribute to those who fought for Ireland's independence from Great Britain. Some people thought this kind of visit would never happen. Others didn't want it to. Some Irish groups say it's not acceptable for a British monarch to visit Ireland.

Middle East Policies

AZUZ: The White House says that during a speech later this week, President Obama will offer new ideas about U.S. policy in the Middle East. His administration is focusing a lot of attention on that region of the world now. Yesterday, President Obama welcomed Jordan's King Abdullah II to the White House. The two leaders were planning to discuss some of the political unrest that's been happening around the Middle East.

During the meeting, President Obama also talked about one of Jordan's neighbors: Israel. He said it's important for Israelis and Palestinians to restart negotiations toward a peace plan. Meanwhile, U.S. and European officials are looking at ways to pressure another Middle Eastern nation -- Syria -- into stopping its crackdown on political protests.

Shoutout

STAN CASE, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Today's Shoutout goes out to Mrs. Reichenbach's social studies classes at WACO High School in Wayland, Iowa! Where would you find a tympanum? You know what to do! Is it in: A) An orchestra, B) A television, C) A space shuttle or D) An ear? You've got three seconds -- GO! The tympanum is part of your ear. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!

Career Connections

AZUZ: Your tympanums help you listen to me for 10 minutes a day. But who makes sure that what you're actually hearing sounds good? Tomeka Jones is here to tell us whose job it is.

TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: That huge responsibility belongs to sound designers, like Tangela Green. She says it requires focus and creativity, just like with any other job. Carl, what do you think are the keys to success in your position?

AZUZ: Definitely focus, and having a little pun once in awhile.

JONES: I agree with you there. And Tangela's answer comes from an author named Napoleon Hill, and she asked me to share this with you guys: "If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way."

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TANGELA GREEN, CNN SOUND DESIGNER: When we hear "3,2,1" we're going to start the show.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Standby. Five, four, three, two, one.

RICHELLE CAREY, HLN ANCHOR: I'm Richelle Carey. This is HLN News Now.

GREEN: It's sort of like a sound key master. You want to make sure that the right sounds get in and the right sounds get out, sort of like a DJ who sits and spins records. We've got about 10, maybe 15 seconds and we're going to hear Richelle talk; let's make sure I get her mic. Yeah, I hear her mic. So I'm just going to push this fader up, number one, and I'm going to hit this button.

CAREY: Complete strangers are helping tornado survivors....

GREEN: So, now we're on H. I've killed her mic, and pushing her mic back up and the music goes away at this point. So now, the only audio we get is the anchor's mic. This is called an encode system; it's a digital system. It's sort of like if you can imagine your iPod, it has a whole bunch of music tracks in it. We don't really use a lot of music that you can buy in the store. We have a library of what we call "cuts" of music that we use to tell a story.

Server a, server b, server c, and they're all like three little VCRs, but they're digital. There is no tape, everything is digital. We use those to play sound and different little interviews and snippets, and a thing we call packages, which is like a report that has already been produced.

We did tape programming. I learned how to move the faders, how loud the music should be, how loud an anchor's mic should be. I learned how to mix different effects, basically shape the sound of the program, because the music gives a mood to the programming.

(END VIDEO)

Blog Promo

AZUZ: You heard Tangela's advice for success. Now, we're asking for your advice on studying! No easy answers; we're looking for your creative study methods. Share your tips on our home page, CNNStudentNews.com!

Homepage Promo

AZUZ: And home is where the news is! At least it can be, if you make CNNStudentNews.com your home page! We're winding down the school year. Our last show is on June 3rd. But the news won't stop over the summer, and neither will we. Make us your home page and then make sure to check in while school's out!

Before We Go

AZUZ: Before we go, some guys might serenade their girlfriends. This soldier got the band Train to do it for him. A personal concert's impressive. But he also managed to find a message in the lyrics.

BAND: Marry me.

AZUZ: She just thinks the band's singing one of its songs until he pulls out the ring. That look on her face: priceless. Yes, he's proposing. And yes, she said yes. All of it happened right here in the CNN Center on our food court.

Goodbye

AZUZ: I guess he got the nerve to say more than hello in that cafe. It's an engaging story, especially since he had the right Train-ing for the moment. How does the band feel about the whole thing? I'm sure they gave it a ringing endorsement. We sure hope you'll tune in for more CNN Student News tomorrow. We'll see you then.