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Monstrous Snowfall in Buffalo, New York; Pros and Cons for Building Keystone XL Pipeline; Working for College While Studying; World Can Run out of Chocolate; New Baby Giraffe in Zoo

Aired November 20, 2014 - 04:00:00   ET

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

CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: I`m Carl Azuz. And welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. First up this Thursday, November 20th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: This is an historic event, I believe when all is set and done, this snowfall may break also - it`s a record, and that`s saying

something in western New York and in Buffalo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: That`s because average snowfall in Buffalo, New York is about 94 inches per year. The city`s gotten 72 inches since Tuesday, and has caused

emergencies. At least six deaths in region have been blamed on this winter storm. It`s monstrous. People were trapped in cars, firehouses were

turned into shelters. Residents aren`t even allowed to drive in south Buffalo where rescuers are using 18 snowmobiles to answer emergency calls.

Buffalo is located on Lake Erie. It often sees lake effect snow when cold air passes over warmer water, picks up moisture from the lake and dumps

snow on Erie`s east or south of the lake.

Buffalo is not the only shivering city. Every U.S. state saw freezing temperatures this week and arctic air brought snow to half of them.

There`s a pipeline network that moves tons of crude oil from Canada to the U.S.

It`s called the Keystone pipeline system. It stretches about 3800 miles in all, and there`s one piece of the project that hasn`t been completed. It`s

called the Keystone XL pipeline, and a company named TransCanada needs U.S. approval to finish it.

That approval has been stalled in the U.S. government. It passed last week in the Republican controlled House of Representatives, but it failed this

week by one vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate. It`s likely to come up again next year when the new Congress starts.

Polls have indicated most Americans support the pipeline, but what`s blocking its completion?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Keystone XL pipeline extension would stretch about 1200 miles, most of it in the United States, from Alberta,

Canada down to Nebraska. There are lots of pipelines out there, some of which would connect with this, so why all the fuss about this extension?

First of all, the environment. Opponents say that they fear that this will spoil the landscape. If there`s a spill that can contaminate ground water,

hurt humans and animals, and they say this is dirty oil, a type of oil that when it`s burned produced more greenhouse gases.

Supporters say the company that wants this, TransCanada has already promised much more robust safety measures that rail shipments are rising

already to bring this oil in, and the rail shipments are riskier than the pipeline would be.

Second issue, jobs. Supporters like to cite a study that says somewhere around 42,000 jobs or more would benefit from this pipeline. That includes

not only people who work on it, but people in restaurants and hotels, and supply houses, but opponents say that`s all temporary, that`s for one or

two years while this thing is built. In the end, maybe only 50 permanent jobs coming out of this.

So, that raises the real question: why would you want to build this thing at all? It`s only 36 inches across, doesn`t really make a difference.

Supporters say yes, it does. It means about 830,000 barrels of oil a day coming into the United States from a secure ally reducing our dependence on

overseas oil from places like Venezuela or the Middle East.

Whereas opponents say look, it is just not worth it. For all those various reasons they`ve already cited, even as supporters continue to say look,

it`s time after all this debate to dig the trenches and to get this pipe into the ground.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Nerd is an interesting word. Dictionaries define it as either meaning a stupid or a smart person. It was likely first used in 1950, in

the Dr. Seuss` book "If I Ran the Zoo." I`ll sail to Ka-troo and bring back an It-Kutch a Preep and a Proo, a Nerkle, a Nerd and a Seersucker

too." Kind of nerdy for knowing that. It`s random.

New report in our series on affording the cost of college: federal work study jobs can give you the chance to work part-time while you are in

school, but a school has to participate in the government program, and not all students qualify for it. Private school, in particular, is expensive.

Sticker price including room and board for the average U.S. private college, more than $42,000 per year.

But at Blackburn College in Illinois, it`s just under $24,000 per year. The price comes down when students work at it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some universities are starting to look like resorts with pricy amenities like SPAs rock walls and swimming

pools, and they are passing along the bill to students. Tuition expenses have risen more than 1200 percent since 1978, but Blackburn College in

Illinois is keeping tuition cost low. Thanks to a little thrift.

Blackburn College is expanding. It has a $2.5 million renovation project. But a novel way to pay for it. Student work crews.

You can see where students for years have been literally laying the bricks.

HEATHER BIGARD, BLACKBURN COLLEGE: We do maintain a pretty lean organizational stuffing structure, and that is done with the expectation

that we do use students to supplement those labor needs.

ROMANS: And it`s not just construction jobs. 90 percent of the student body works ten hours per week on campus. In everything from gardening to

security to administrative positions. IN exchange, they get tuition credit.

(on camera): But you see the parents who say, oh, I don`t want my kid to go to school to work. I don`t want them to be distracted. I want them to

go to spend four years to learn.

BIGARD: We do have that. We do have parents that question that piece of it, and what we explain to them, that this is an enhancement, this is an

enhancement to their overall portfolio that will make them more marketable upon graduation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, guys, can you grab me 431? Sophomore Joha Esparaza manages Blackburn`s moto vehicle fleet.

ROMANS: They call your generation debt. Does it worry you at all?

JOHN ESPARAZA, SOPHOMORE, BLACKBURN COLLEGE: By the decisions that I`ve made with school, not really, because going to Blackburn I know I`m saving

a lot of money. I came for the work program because I felt that with baseball and school and a job I wouldn`t have time to get distracted by

videogames, or going out to parties. I actually went to (INAUDIBLE) University. They had big pools, nice buildings, newer dorms, but it was

kind of a distraction. I`m here for an education.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Our transcript page at cnnstudentnews.com is the place we look for your "Roll Call" requests. We got one all the way from Yokosuka yesterday.

It`s a seaport in Japan where you`ll find the Yokosuka Naval Base and where we are glad to be part of the day at Nile C. Kinnick High School. Mannford,

Oklahoma is next. Mannford Middle School is there. And the pirates are watching today. And we`ll wrap things up in Doral, Florida. We`ve got the

firebirds. They are at Doral Academy Preparatory School.

Quick, what`s one food you can`t leave without? Well, there is no one food we can`t leave without. But there`s a food that enlivens a love for eating

among those eaters who love it that you probably never think would run out: chocolate. A new report indicates there could be a shortage on the

horizon. Will it lead to an achocalypse?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first problem is us. According to "The Washington Post" world citizens consumed all of the cocoa produced last year, and then

consumed and additional 70,000 metric tons. Yes, tons from our reserves. There are a whole bunch of new chocoholics in India and China who want to

partake as well.

Chocolate giants Mars Incorporated, maker of M&Ms, Snickers and Three Musketeers is among the chocolate makers who have predicted that if we

continue to gorge ourselves at the current rate, demand for chocolate will outpace supply by 2 million metric tons by 2030.

Now, the international cocoa organization is downplaying these projections calling them very overstated.

MARK SCHATZKER, FOOD WRITER, BLOOMBERG: Everyone else I talked to said, good luck with that. There really are reasons to be concerned. As the

world population gets bigger, and emerging markets continue to grow and gain wealth, they are eating chocolate, and we are running out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it`s not all our fault or that of our appetite. The second threat to our beloved cocoa bean is nature. Droughts and a crop

decimating disease called frosty pod (ph) have left supplies low.

So, what is a chocoholic consumer to expect? Well, higher prices and less flavor for starters.

As growers start to grow new more productive variety, we are going to end up doing the chocolate what we`ve done to tomatoes, what we`ve done to

chicken, what we`ve done to strawberries. We are going to turn into carryboard (ph), and that is the scariest thing of all.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Before we go, he`s 6 foot 8 and 186 pounds. But he`s just a baby. We are talking about Buttercup. He`s the giraffe on the right. At four

days old, he`d never been outside. You are seeing him take his first steps out of the barn at the Santa Barbara Zoo. He`s feeling the wind for the

first time. Hearing the birds for the first time. And though he may look a little awkward, he seems pretty comfortable in his adventure. Seems like

a pretty giraffable guy, not afraid to stick his neck out, explore new heights, hoof it around the habitat. It`s no tall tale that from head to

tail Buttercup`s buttered up viewers at the zoo. CNN STUDENT NEWS hopes to see you Friday.

END