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CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Fridays are awesome! Thank you for taking 10 minutes out of your Friday to check out CNN Student News. From the CNN Center, I'm Carl Azuz.
AZUZ: First up, the economy. Last semester, this semester -- you've heard about it -- the issue just dominating headlines for a while now. Today, though, we're going to look at specific numbers. The first one: 480,000. That is the number of people who filed initial jobless claims last week; basically, filing for unemployment for the first time. That's the highest it's been since mid-December. And some experts had expected the number to go down from the previous week. Instead, it went up by about 8,000.
Second number: 10,000. That's a big one when it comes to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, because that gives an idea of how the entire stock market is doing. And yesterday, the Dow dropped 270 points, dipping below 10,000 for the first time since early November. It di finish the day just above that line, though.
The third number: $1.9 trillion. That is how much the U.S. House of Representatives voted to increase the country's debt limit. The Senate approved the same amount last week. Debt is the amount of money that the country owes, and if it borrows more than that limit, it can have serious consequences on the economy. Right now, at about $12.4 trillion, the U.S. is pretty close to its current debt limit. This increase is expected to cover what the country would need to borrow through the start of 2011.
AZUZ: Next up, a tea party that's big enough to fill a convention hall. We're talking about the Tea Party political movement; Tea being an acronym for "taxed enough already." This thing exploded last year, holding protests around the country to speak out against what it saw as overtaxing and overspending by the U.S. government. The Tea Party is made up of hundreds of groups, and its first national convention, being held in Nashville, Tennessee, is meant to bring those groups together.
While Tea Party supporters may be united in their anger, many are divided about the future of their movement. Some members are upset about outside groups taking control. They think the Tea Party should be more of a grassroots organization, one that's run by the people who are part of it. There's also disagreement about this convention. The organizers think it's an opportunity to bring local Tea Parties together to support the movement's goals. But some Tea Party supporters are upset that the convention's being run by a company whose aim is to make money. They're not happy about the entrance fee to the event.
Brown Sworn In
AZUZ: A candidate who was supported by the Tea Party is now the newest U.S. Senator: Republican Scott Brown sworn in to his new office Thursday. He won a special election in Massachusetts to fill the Senate seat left open by the death of Ted Kennedy. Brown's win means Democrats no longer have a 60-seat supermajority in the Senate. Senator Brown says he's looking forward to getting to work.
Blizzard Warning
AZUZ: Well, Punxsutawney Phil may have gotten this one right. Severe winter weather, the forecast for parts of the northeastern U.S. today. Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. could each get at least a foot of snow over the next day or two, and experts are predicting a blizzard in New Jersey and Delaware. Those states could see up to two feet of snow. And Jersey might actually experience what's called a white-out. That is when there's so much snowfall, it just gets hard to see. And that, as you can imagine, can make for some very dangerous driving conditions.
Is this Legit?
TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Is this legit? Haiti's two official languages are Creole and French. Legit! And Haitian Creole is actually based on French.
AZUZ: Learning how to read and write those native languages could be a challenge in the wake of last month's devastating earthquake in Haiti. Thousands of schools were destroyed in the capital city of Port-au-Prince alone. But for some students, class is back in session. And as John Vause shows us, the lessons are offering, at least for some, a sense of comfort.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In a world turned upside down, the morning school bell at St. Marie's was a familiar, reassuring sound. It didn't seem to matter much that class was held in a tent, the kids sitting on damaged desks pulled from the rubble or under a piece of tarp, or even in a cemetery.
JACQUES MATHIEU, HISTORY TEACHER: Bonjour.
MATHIEU'S CLASS: Bonjour.
VAUSE: That's where Jacques Mathieu was teaching history; 28 of his 45 students turned up.
MATHIEU [TRANSLATED]: "It's as if they were thirsting for school," he says. "They were happy when they arrived, happy to be back in the classroom."
VAUSE: Israeli counselors gave teachers a crash course in dealing with post traumatic stress. They say the first month after a disaster like this is crucial.
What do you do during this period?
MOSHE FARCHI, CHILD PYSCHOLOGIST: During this period, we try to encourage them to go out of this feeling of being a victim into being a survivor.
VAUSE: And to do that, children are encouraged to talk about what happened.
UNIDENTIFIED HAITIAN STUDENT, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR [TRANSLATED]: "The house fell down and I almost died," this little boy told his class.
VAUSE: Many struggle even to say the word earthquake.
UNIDENTIFIED HAITIAN STUDENT, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR [TRANSLATED]: My grandma was screaming, "Where's you mom?" Then my mom came and were all at peace even when "the thing" was happening.
VAUSE: Their old school is a pile of rubble. Two students died here, and five teachers are still unaccounted for. Thousands of schools in the capital collapsed just like this one. By one estimate, as many as 80 percent have either been destroyed or were badly damaged. Experts say it will take years to rebuild this country's education system just to get it back to how it was before the quake, when it was considered to be one of the worst in the world. It's hard to know for sure, but St. Marie is one of a handful of schools to have re-opened in Port-au-Prince so far. The government still hasn't announced plans for the rest of the school year. But for a few hundred students, school is in. And for a few hours, life seems just a little bit like it was before "the thing" happened. John Vause, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
(END VIDEO)
Blog Report
AZUZ: Hundreds of you logged onto our blog at CNNStudentNews.com to comment about the earthquake in Haiti, and we thank you for that. We're always looking forward to your comments, and we're always impressed at how intelligent and insightful they are, so we appreciate it.
We had a lot of comments coming into our blog this week. This is what you're saying about a Whole Foods plan to give deeper discounts to fitter employees. Martha writes: "It's easier for some people to stay in good shape than others. Maybe instead of focusing on weight, Whole Foods can focus on its employees' physical activity and nutrition. This way, Whole Foods can focus on being healthy rather than being skinny." Corinne argues that "healthy or not, people should all pay the same price for foods." Robert says, "If you work hard enough to lose weight and succeed, you should be rewarded." But he understands why some people think it's unfair because, he says, "sometimes you're overweight and it's not your fault." And Todd writes, "To encourage people to lose weight and offer a discount is a great "weigh" to help our economy and hopefully will be a national trend." Todd, love the pun! Now you'll notice, everybody here used only his or her first name. And that is the only way to get on our blog.
Shoutout
MATT CHERRY, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Today's Shoutout goes out to Mrs. Spiess' social studies class at Bryan Middle School in Bryan, Ohio! Where is the New York Giants' stadium located? You know what to do! Is it in: A) Brooklyn, B) Queens C) Manhattan or D) New Jersey? You've got three seconds -- GO! The New York Giants play their home games in New Jersey. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!
Giant Stadium Demo
AZUZ: They just won't be playing those games in this Giants Stadium, at least not any more. 33 years after it opened, Giants Stadium is coming down. Wrecking crews started taking apart the structure yesterday. The process is expected to last through July. A lot of times, you might see an implosion take down an old stadium. But that doesn't work here, because the site is too close to the new Giants Stadium. That's in New Jersey too. And that's where the team will play its home games starting next season.
MLK Papers Promo
AZUZ: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: He was the face of the U.S. civil rights movement, and his written words offer a look into Dr. King's personal determination and private courage. "MLK Papers: Words that Changed a Nation" airs at 8 p.m. Eastern this Saturday on CNN. Our free curriculum guide for the program is in the Spotlight section; you know where to find it: CNNStudentNews.com.
Before We Go
AZUZ: Before we go, one man's dream to make a car out of a banana! Okay, the real thing is actually bigger than that. There we go! He's actually designing the car to look like a banana, 'cause that makes more sense and can probably fit more people. The fruit-focused fabricator says he doesn't care if people think the idea of a banana car is stupid. He likes it! And his goal is to drive this thing around the world.
Goodbye
AZUZ: Banana or not, that does sound appealing. Well, it's time for us to split, so we hope you like that pun. We hope you have an even better weekend. We'll see you on Monday when CNN Student News returns. I'm Carl Azuz.