Tom: Hey everyone, it is Tuesday, April 12. I am Tom Hanson, and Channel One News starts right now.
First up today, federal investigators are working to unravel a huge spying case apparently taking place in the U.S. Navy. Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin is accused of passing secrets over to China.
The lieutenant is accused of five counts of espionage and attempted espionage, three counts of making false official statements and five counts of communicating defense information to a person not entitled to receive said information. Specifically, the documents said Lin communicated secret U.S. defense information to a foreign power. U.S. officials identified that foreign power as China.
Lin worked as a flight officer on the Navy's EP-3E reconnaissance aircraft, which conduct electronic eavesdropping operations. Officials say Lin's job gave him access to information that could put America's national security in danger. Lin's arrest recently became public, although he was arrested eight months ago. He is currently being held at the U.S. Navy Consolidated Brig in Chesapeake, Virginia.
All right, after the break: Imagine not having enough water to wash your hair and being worried about every drop. Keith Kocinski shows us what some are calling a mega drought.
Tom: While some parts of the world are facing rising water, other parts are drying up, including the West Coast. Last year Keith caught up with a family dealing with dwindling water supplies in California, and today he shows us what it all has to do with climate change.
Keith: Scorching heat, devastating droughts, wildfires burning out of control — some of the biggest threats to our future in a warming world.
Deke Arndt: The simple definition for drought is when we don't have enough water to do what we need. The drought is dangerous because it is a creeping hazard; it basically — you don't know it’s there until it's there.
Keith: No one knows this better than the people in the Golden State. The nearly
40 million people in California are dealing with an intense five-year drought — one of the biggest in modern history — costing billions of dollars a year. For some people it is so bad their faucets have dripped to a halt.
Julian Craddock: Every drop counts, no matter if you're in a drought or not.
Keith: For 18-year-old Julian and her family in Tuolumne, California, this drought is hitting close to home.
Normally there would be about 10 feet of water in this well, but if you look down here now during the drought, there is only about 18 inches, which is pretty much nothing at all. It is important to monitor because on some days their well totally runs dry.
Would you say it is pretty stressful not having water?
Julian: Yeah, because you really gotta watch what you’re — you gotta really pay attention to what you’re doing. It's just this hassle not being in your own, like, home setting and not being able to shower and drink water when you want to. You gotta really conserve. And you just want to grab a glass and get water, and you can't do that when there's no water to use.
Keith: From timed showers to collecting water in buckets at every faucet, no drop is lost at Julian's house.
Julian: Like, brushing my teeth and, like, putting makeup on is pretty difficult. Usually I just use this to rinse it out, and then rinse your mouth out. You’re putting this on. It gets on — sometimes it gets on my hands, so after I’m done, I usually just use this, and your hands are clean.
Keith: All with the same water?
Julian: All with the same water that you brushed your teeth with.
Keith: And everyone is pitching in with some pretty interesting ways of saving some H2O.
So what is that, Jordan?
Jordan Craddock: It’s — I call it my sleeping cap, and it helps me keep my hair down at night so I don't wake up with crazy hair and have to use water to wet it down and comb it.
Keith: As we drive around Julian's neighborhood, the signs of drought are apparent. Even on her school's campus, reminders are all around.
Julian: Like right there, the — like, there’s usually, like, flowers and stuff there, and that's all dead.
Keith: Because they can't be watered?
Julian: No, it can’t be watered. None of this is watered.
Keith: So is this extreme weather event connected with a changing climate? Well, scientists say it is difficult to say climate change "caused" the drought. Instead, they say a warming Earth is making droughts more intense.
Arndt: The concern with climate change is that certain parts of the world, especially the drought-prone parts of the world, will likely see an increased risk of either more frequent or longer lasting drought. Water availability is probably one of the biggest risks and vulnerabilities that we see in a warming world.
Keith: And rising temperatures and changing weather patterns are also causing dangerous heat waves, when temperatures soar for days on end.Last week the White House released a report that said heat wave deaths could worsen by 2030 due to climate change, killing thousands more.
And a lack of water and scorching temps are also prime ingredients to spark these. Two of the three biggest wildfires in California's history happened over the last five years.
Many in California are working to adapt. The government now restricts how much water residents can use. Homeowners are replacing grass with more desert-friendly landscaping.New ways of irrigating are being looked at as over 80 percent of California's water is used to grow food and for livestock.
Luckily, for the first few months of 2016, California has been drenched with rain and snow caused by a weather event called El Nino.This has helped to recharge many reservoirs and get water to those who need it the most, but the state needs much more to recover.Many areas are still considered to be at extreme or exceptional drought levels.
In Julian's community those in most desperate need require huge tanks to store thousands of gallons of water that is trucked in.
Mike McConnell: Hauling drinking water in a truck is not the long-term solution. I think for years we’ve needed to change the way we use water. The silver lining is this will force that change.
Keith: On this day Mike's crew is making a special delivery.
Julian: Having a tank, I think, is gonna help out a lot, and we're not gonna have to deal with, like, the stress of constantly, like, conserving water.
Keith: It is great news for Julian and her family but only a temporary solution to what is going to be a long-term change. Keith Kocinski, Channel One News.
Tom: And since last year, heavy winter precipitation has helped Julian and her family's well gain back much of the water it lost, but California is still really short on water. According to NASA, it is 13 trillion gallons short. And you can find out if you are a water waster — just take our quiz over at ChannelOne.com.
All right, coming up, a group of L.A. teens face off for a cooking challenge.
Tom: It is a culinary showdown for some California students, and Azia is here with more.
Azia: Yeah, Tom, over the weekend 19 students in Los Angeles put their minds and their taste buds to the test to create a master menu. Check it out.
These students from six Los Angeles schools faced off in the kitchen for the Cooking Up Change culinary competition. Their challenge? To serve up healthy and tasty lunch
on the school district's budget: $1.14 per meal.
Laura Benavidez: This competition is an opportunity for them to literally come up with their own recipe using our budget and our regulations and our ingredients.
Fahim Rahman: When I first had school food and, like, learned about this challenge, I was like, “It's not really that hard to make good food.” But then, when I saw the price list and everything, I realized, “Whoa, this really costs a lot. Making this for, like, a thousand kids isn't really easy at all.”
Azia: The teams of two to three students created menu items that are low in calories, fat, sugar and sodium.
Fahim: We want them to enjoy it, and then we also want to make it healthy and introduce more people to eating fruits and vegetables.
Azia: The dishes were then judged by a panel of expert chefs from the food service industry on taste, appearance and originality. Throughout the year students across the country compete in these local cook-offs for the Healthy Schools campaign.The winning teams will head to Washington, D.C., for the finals, where they will prepare their dishes, meet with policymakers and share their thoughts on healthy school food.
Fahim: What we hope to do with our recipe is to make kids crave the food, mark it down in their calendar for when they're going to be able to eat it.
Azia: Azia Celestino, Channel One News.
Tom: That is so cool.
All right, guys, that is all the time we have today. We will see you tomorrow.
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