Katherine McNamara: Hey guys! KatherineMcNamara here from Freeform’s“Shadowhunters,”and Channel One News starts right now.
Arielle: All right,Kat is coming up in just a bit, but first,I am Arielle Hixson.
Keith: And I am Keith Kocinski.
Arielle: And we are going to begin today in Puerto Rico. It has been one month since Hurricane Maria devastated the island.
Keith: And Arielle, life on the island is still far from normal. One major problem is water: Some of it nowappears to be contaminated.
Words are tough to describe Martina Rivera's grief.Martina's husband,Jorge, died Friday.Doctors say he came down with a bacterial disease known as leptospirosis.He was initially misdiagnosed and sent home. Four people are suspected of dying from the disease, which is spread through contaminated water but easily treatable with antibiotics.
And now, nearly four weeks since Hurricane Maria made landfall, people are asking what is taking so long. The government says it will be handing out 1 million purifying tablets as well as 20,000 high-volume water filters. It is important because a lot of people are getting desperate.
The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA,says it has received reports of people attempting to get water from wells contaminated by chemicals used in industrial operations.In the town of Dorado, just 15 miles west of the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan, people are coming from far and wide to get clean water and bags of ice. And finding clean water is only part of the issue.
The hurricane knocked out all of Puerto Rico's power when it tore across the island. Less than 20 percent of the grid is back online, and, while hundreds of large generators have been brought in, roughly half of the territory's 51 sewage treatment plants are out of service.
Puerto Rican government officials say they need 200,000 gallons of diesel a week to pump water. FEMA is only providing 120,000. Hospitals — among many others — are left on their own to find the remaining fuel.
Mike Byrne, the newly appointed FEMA coordinator, defended the agency's response.
Michael Byrne: Do I wish it was done faster?Am I applying the resources to get it done faster? You’d better believe I am, but it's gonna still take time.
Keith: At the Canovanas Medical Center, the power had just gone out, and officials don't think they will be able to get it back until December.
Dr. Carlos Mellado: I think that my frustration is the response to the federal government;I was expecting more. But we need to continue working because all the patients need medication.
Keith: Some help is on the way. Last week, the House of Representatives passed a $36.5-billion disaster aid package. It includes nearly $5 billion in loans for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, hopefully helping the people of Puerto Rico find some peace and their basic needs like food and water.
Keith Kocinski, Channel One News.
Arielle: Thanks,Keith.
Now, there has been a lot of talk recently about the difference between what President Trump saysand what his advisers say, especially in areas of foreign policy and national security.And it is causing some confusion about America's policies in the world.
The U.S. secretary of state and President Trump have admitted they disagree on foreign policy, and saying that publicly is pretty rare in D.C. politics.One of the sticking points between Trump and Secretary Tillerson? The Iran nuclear deal.It was put in place by President Obama and is aimed at making sure Iran doesn't make nuclear weapons.
International monitoring agencies say it is working, but President Trump says it is not. He promised to rip it apart on the campaign trail.
President Donald Trump: The Iran deal is a disaster!
Arielle: But the secretary of state, whose job it is to advise the president on foreign policy and international agreements, has publicly said we should stick to the deal. For now, we are, but the president wants Congress to make the conditions tougher.
Another area causing a big rift: North Korea.The president has said the secretary of state is wasting his time by talking to them. But the man who runs the U.S. military, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, says diplomacy — talking with North Korea to work out our differences — is the best way. Those are the same feelings that are coming from Tillerson, who said he will continue to negotiate with North Korea.
All right, up next, one fiery actress on screen goes above and beyond in the classroom.
Arielle: Now we are heading out of this world. For the first time, scientists have detected gravitational waves from two stars colliding. And get this:Some are saying this discovery could spark a new era in astronomy.
Picture this — 130 million light years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, two collapsed stars smashed into each other.The explosion created a burst of lightand sent gravitational waves across the universe.This collision was the first time scientists were able to see gravitational waves with a telescope.
This changes the way scientists look at the universe.One scientist explained it by saying,“Imagine being deaf and then suddenly being able to hear — now you're going to study things differently.”
Gravitational waves were predicted by Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity back in 1916 and are ripples in spacetime.Using new technology, two years ago, gravitational waves were detected when two black holes crashed into each other. Three scientists recently won the Nobel Prize this year for their work on it.
But black holes don't emit light or heat, the way stars do, so this was the first time the waves were not only detected but also visible to the eye.
Scientists say they will use this new data to help them get a deeper understanding of our universe and the way it works.
And did you catch today's Word in the News? Black hole, which is a region of space having a gravitational field so intense that nothing can escape from it — not even light.
And to find out more about how NASA explores black holes, check out ChannelOne.com.
Now, this next story takes us to the big screen — up close and personal with one of Hollywood's brightest young stars,Katherine McNamara. And I am not kidding on the "bright" description. Here is Cassie Hudson with her story.
Cassie: From hunting demonsto casting shadows, KatherineMcNamara's role on the Freeform show“Shadowhunters” keeps her busy.
For the, like,two people who don't watch the show, what is this show about?
McNamara: It follows the story of this girl named Clary who, on her 18th birthday,finds out that she is a shadowhunter and comes to realize that all the legends are true: vampires, werewolves, warlocks, fairies, angels, demons, every story you've ever heard growing up as a child — it exists.
Cassie: But when she isn't slaying it in the supernatural world,you can catch the young actress playing the role of student.
McNamara: I actually — I’ve always been a huge nerd. I've always loved school; I've had this kind of thirst for knowledge from a very young age, but that was actually instilled in me by one of my preschool teachers. Shout-out to Miss Vicki, because I love her.
She, I guess, saw something in me — that I loved learning. And she pulled me aside and said, “Okay, now you're going to do this. And now you're going to read this book; now you're going to learn addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, all of these things.” It just gave me this hunger for learning.
Cassie: And Katherine made her education a priority, even while working as an actress.
McNamara: And so what I would end up doing is getting up at seven, doing work until it was time to do the reading, working in between, going to the show and then, "Oh,I have to study for tomorrow’s work,” so I'm up till 3 a.m. and then sleeping for a few hours. But ultimately, it's all about prioritizing. If you really want to dosomething with your life, if you really are passionate about something, you'll make the time for it.
Cassie: By 14 she graduated with honors from high school.And at 17 she was able to get her college degree from Drexel University taking online courses.
McNamara: BecauseI had my business degree, that's helped me exponentially in my career. I can read my own contracts. I can sort of manage the different people I work with and run my career like a business. You know, a lot of kids see school as, like, a chore or as something that's not very fun. But my whole life, my perspective on learning has been that it's a way to expand your horizons and learn about things that you don't have access to.
Cassie: Cassie Hudson, Channel One News.
Arielle: Very impressive!
All right, guys, it is time to head on out of here, but we will catch you right back here tomorrow.
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