CNN Student News Transcript: June 5, 2008

(CNN Student News) -- June 5, 2008

Quick Guide

China Quake Lake - See how some young survivors are coping after China's recent earthquake.

Extreme Measures? - Hear why a parent is upset about her son's alleged punishment at school.

2007-08 Your Top Stories - Discover what topics garnered the most comments on our blog this year.

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: Just two days to go before we take off for summer break. How many days are left for you? Thanks for spending part of this Thursday with CNN Student News. From the CNN Center, I'm Carl Azuz.

First Up: China Quake Lake

AZUZ: First up, authorities in China are anxiously watching the water rise toward the top of a dam created by last month's massive earthquake. They're waiting to see if a spillway that was built to relieve pressure on the barrier will hold up against the threat of major floods. If you've been following our show, you know that this dam was formed by landslides that blocked up part of a river, creating a so-called "quake lake." About 200,000 people have been evacuated from the danger zone.

Many of the victims of this earthquake were students, like you, who were in school when this thing hit. The recovery process can be a long and difficult road after this kind of disaster. But Wilf Dinnick shows us how some of the youngest survivors are slowly returning to normalcy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILF DINNICK, CNN REPORTER: It is all too much for four-year-old Shang Tian Zhoo: his first time back to class since that day. He fled his school during the earthquake, then watched it collapse. He cannot go above a first floor, says his mother, near tall buildings, and he wakes up most nights, yelling earthquake. Difficult for some of the littlest victims of the quake. Children now have makeshift schools, replacing the ones that were destroyed. Here in the city of Shifang, tents were donated, toys from parents and volunteers trying to make life normal, like celebrating a fourth birthday.

"Our first goal," says principal Shuan Jia, "is to make the children feel safe. And only then can you talk about what they experienced." Psychological counselors have been dropping into schools like these. Stanley Siao is from Peiking University. "To help these children, you must use teamwork," he says, "and make sure they know they are not alone." So, they sing a song everyone knows: Making Dumplings, something you love, that you share and care for. "What we try to do," says this teacher, "is show the children they are together and loved." This is desperately needed; nearly seven thousand schoolrooms, according to the government, were destroyed in the earthquake.

These are the fortunate children; at least one parent still alive. This school is in a city with good teachers, but still resources are stretched. "There are so many children with nothing now," say Shang Tian Zhoo's mother, "they really need good doctors. No one counted on so many of the other children, like mine, needing good help, too." "Do you want to come back to school later?" she asks. "No," he says. "I want to be with my mom." Still not sure when little Shang Tian Zhoo will be ready to start school again and can get his life back as a child. Wilf Dinnick, CNN, Shifang, China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Is this Legit?

GEORGE RAMSAY, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Is this Legit? Same-sex marriage is illegal in all 50 United States. This one is false. It's currently against the law in 49 states, but Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriages in 2004.

Story Updates

AZUZ: And California is getting ready to follow suit. Last month, we told you about a ruling by the state's supreme court that declared a ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional. That decision is set to become final on June 16th, and courts can start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples the very next day. But opponents of same-sex marriage are working to add an amendment to November's election ballot that could give voters the chance to decide on the issue. California officials are verifying whether the amendment has the required support.

And some big news in the race for the White House: A top fundraiser for Senator Hillary Clinton tells CNN that Clinton will suspend her presidential campaign this week. The New York senator won the South Dakota primary on Tuesday. But she came up short in her bid to win the Democratic Party's nomination, losing out to Barack Obama.

And at long last, relief in another story we've been following recently. The trials of the toilet on the international space station appear to have reached an end. Astronauts fixed the facility's only restroom yesterday, thanks to a spare pump that was rushed from Russia to Florida for a last-minute ride aboard space shuttle Discovery. The toilet had been malfunctioning for two weeks, but now, those problems have been flushed away.

Extreme Measures?

AZUZ: Coming back down to Earth now, if you act up during class, you might expect to get detention or make that long walk to the principal's office. But one student claims when his teacher told him to stay seated, she used some adhesive assistance to make sure the punishment stuck. Kim Stark of affiliate KEZI in Eugene, Oregon, has the tale of the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECKY FAILE, MOTHER: I don't want her teaching anymore.

KIM STARK, KEZI REPORTER: Becky Faile is upset. She says her nine-year-old son Austin told her some disturbing news last Wednesday night.

FAILE: Right before we put Austin to bed, he said, "By the way, mom, I was taped to my seat today at school." And I was like, what? Yea, what happened?

STARK: Austin told his mom he wasn't obeying his teacher when she told him to stay seated, so she used duct tape and tied Austin to his chair.

AUSTIN LANHAM, ALLEGEDLY TAPED STUDENT: She just walked over with a roll of masking tape and taped me down.

STARK: Becky says her son sat like that for over an hour.

AUSTIN: Here, my knee, kind of right there. Right there. Right there. Double taped around my stomach, and my chest are double taped around.

STARK: Austin's parents had him share his story with the superintendent.

FAILE: He called us. He told us he had talked to her. She admitted that she did it. They escorted her off the grounds on Friday.

DON KORDOSKY, SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: We placed the teacher on paid administrative leave. We're doing an investigation, and we are going to meet with the teacher on Thursday, this coming Thursday.

STARK: Becky says she's worried the teacher will be back to work soon. And Austin is scared to return.

FAILE: We tried taking him to class, and he just really started crying. He was really upset, just about being left there at all. We didn't realize how emotional he was about it till we tried leaving him at school. So, we brought him home.

STARK: Superintendent Don Kordosky says this is unlike any accusation he's ever dealt with.

KORDOSKY: Never, no. New one for me.

STARK: Kordosky doesn't want to share many details until after the investigation is complete. As a mother, Becky says she just wants justice served.

FAILE: But if I personally as a parent did that to a child, CSD would come take the kid out of my house. You know, if I could lose custody of my kid if that happened in my house, why should a teacher be allowed to do that to a student? And they're gonna give her what, 10 days of leave and slap her on the hand?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Promo

AZUZ: You know we're talking about this story on our blog! Sure, the school year might be wrapping up, but our blog is gonna be updated all summer long. So, head to CNNStudentNews.com and share your thoughts today!

2007-08 Your Top Stories

AZUZ: Today, we looked through our blog and pulled the posts that really got you talking this year. This is the stuff from the blog that shares a superlative with your homecoming queen: most popular.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Presenting, in order, our Top 5 most popular blog posts of the year! First up, our Salute to Teachers. A total of almost 600 of you worldwide answered the question, "Who was your favorite teacher of all time?" There's no way we could list all of your responses here, but, like all of these postings, they'll be up for you to read for as long as our blog is!

Numero dos: the Getting Paid to Study story. A combined total of nearly 400 comments came in, many saying that an Atlanta-area program that paid students to get tutored was a bad idea. Some argued it offered no rewards for the students who do what they're supposed to do anyway; those who disagreed said anything that paid students while upping their grades was worth an A.

In third place: a controversial school experiment on segregation. For one day, students at a Kansas high school who were considered "dark-skinned" got special privileges. This was meant to show how racial separation affected people, and it netted more than 200 comments.

Just behind that was one of the biggest international stories we've covered on CNN Student News: the Iraq war. 197 opinions have come in calling the war everything from a "bad idea" to "necessary for America's security."

And pucker up for number five: It was all about PDA when two South Carolina students were expelled for kissing on the school bus. It violated the school district's code of conduct, and brought in comments from 187 viewers. We'll be blogging all summer From A to Z at CNNStudentNews.com!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Before We Go

AZUZ: Before we go, a little lesson in linguistics. In Greek, aptera means "wingless flight." And on the road, it means this thing. It might look more like a spaceship than a car, but this three-wheeled wonder could soon be the most fuel-efficient vehicle on the road. In fact, the first prototype checked in at 230 miles per gallon! The company that produces it claims the newest model can go coast to coast on a single tank of gas. With fuel costs on the rise, the Aptera team is eagerly accepting reservations.

Goodbye

AZUZ: That's where we drive off the lot for today. But come on back tomorrow for our last show of the school year.