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STUDENT NEWS

Syrian Civil War Reaches Into Turkey; Rapping a Cure for Stuttering?

Aired October 5, 2012 - 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: Should a guy be allowed to play on a girls` volleyball team? We asked, you answered and we`re going to share some of your opinions on today`s show. I`m Carl Azuz, this is CNN STUDENT NEWS, awesome.

The civil war that`s been raging in Syria for a year and a half has reached across a border. The nation of Turkey is north of Syria, more than 90,000 Syrians, people who left their homes because of the fighting are leaving in refugee camps inside Turkey. On Wednesday, a Turkish town on the border, Akcakale, was hit by Syrian artillery fire. Five people were killed, and Turkish officials say, Syria has accepted responsibility for the shelling and said it won`t happen again. But Turkey responded. It launched artillery fire against military sites inside Syria. First, on Wednesday, and again, on Thursday. Turkey`s parliament also voted to allow the government to send Turkish troops in the other countries. And official said, "Turkey has no interest in a war with Syria, but Turkey is capable of protecting its borders and will retaliate when necessary."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today`s first "Shoutout" goes out to Mrs. Johnson`s class at Woodworth Middle School in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

The first televised U.S. presidential debate featured which two candidates? Here we go. Was it Lincoln and Douglas, Reagan and Carter, Kennedy and Nixon or Bush and Clinton? You`ve got three seconds, go!

In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon faced off in the first presidential debate shown on TV.

That`s your answer and that`s your shoutout.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: President Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney got different reactions after their first presidential debate. A Republican strategist said Governor Romney rose to the moment, a Democratic strategist said President Obama didn`t bring his A game. CNN/ORC international poll showed viewers thought the same way. 67 percent thought that Governor Romney won on Wednesday night. The latest polls heading into the debate showed President Obama leading in the race for the White House. So, who do you think won the debate and do you think this will have an impact on the election? If you are already on Facebook, come talk to us about it, at Facebook.com/cnnstudentnews.

Next up today, a labor dispute involving a professional sports league: that sounds familiar, we`ve seen it with the NFL, the NBA, even NFL referees. Now, it`s hockey`s turn. The NHL was supposed to start its season on October 11th supposed to. Yesterday league officials announced they are canceling the first two weeks of the season. The NHL and its players can`t agree on a new contract for how the sport`s revenue gets split up. Eight years ago, a lockout forced the league to cancel its entire season.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Time for a "Shoutout Extra Credit." Which of the statistics is not part of the Major League Baseball`s triple crown? You know what to do. Is it batting average, stolen bases, home runs or runs batted in. Put another three seconds on the clock and go.

If you guess anything besides B, I`m afraid you struck out. Stolen bases are not part of the triple crown. That`s your answer and that`s your "Shoutout Extra Credit."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: 14 men have won the triple crown. Paul Heinz was first way back in 1878, Ted Williams and Rogers Hornsby, each one at twice, Frank Robinson won it in 1966, Carl Yastrzemski won it in 1967, and then no one for 45 years until now. Miguel Cabrera, the Detroit Tiger third baseman, became the newest triple crown winner this week. And it came right down to the wire. When the season finished up on Wednesday, Cabrera led the American league in RBIs by 11. He was first in home runs by one, and his league leading batting average was 3:30, second place was 3:26. Plus, Cabrera had four stolen bases.

Next up today, we are going to switch from sports to science. Stuttering is pretty common when kids are learning to speak. For some people, though, it becomes a chronic condition meaning it doesn`t go away as they get older. Although in some cases it does go away when people sing. There are a few possible explanations for this: one is that we use a smoother voice to sing than to speak, one that`s easier to get out. Another reason has to do with which side of our brains we use for music. That`s something that Dr. Sanjay Gupta looked into for a report on stuttering. Dr. Gupta, set this up for us.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carl, I want to introduce you to a young man from Toronto, who`s found a way to make his stutter disappear. You see, when Jack Zeldin raps, he is relying more on the right side of his brain instead of the left. That`s more used for language. And you are not going to believe this, but check out Little Jake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE ZELDIN: Hey, you could (inaudible) yeah, you could go and join my circle.

GUPTA: Listening to Jake Zeldin rap, you`d have no idea that he suffers from a speech disorder that`s so debilitating that this 13-year old used to keep to himself.

ROBYN ZELDIN, JAKE`S MOM: He started speaking at the age of two, and pretty much, I mean with single words that wasn`t so bad, but then when he would get into sentences with the couple of words, two or three words, that`s when it started to come out.

ZVI ZELDIN, JAKE`S DAD: Those who love Jake, knew he needs to get the words out, let him finish what he`s speaking or saying.

GUPTA: But many others tormented him. He was bullied. Not only by his classmates, but by his teachers as well.

JAKE ZELDIN: One teacher was like, and I was just doing this voice in drama class, and I was like hey, and then like the teacher is like, I don`t know what`s more annoying, that voice or your stutter.

GUPTA: Jake`s parents, Robyn and Zvi, invested a ton of time and money into therapy for their son, but nothing worked. Then, when he was ten years old, a profound breakthrough at a summer camp.

JAKE ZELDIN: I was doing this rap battle and I was like -- hey, I`m kind of good.

GUPTA: Now, Jake is performing as Lil Jakes. Smooth as can be. The rhythm or cadence of rapping makes it easier for him to get the works out without stuttering.

JAKE ZELDIN: Don`t you want to (inaudible), come on!

GUPTA: One night last December, Jake got his big break.

JAKE ZELDIN: I got backstage at a concert, and rapped (inaudible).

GUPTA: Jakes`s brother Cole recorded the encounter and uploaded the video to Youtube. So far, 200,000 views and counting.

COLE ZELDIN, JAKE`S BROTHER: It`s awesome, I get to go wherever he goes. Meet cool people.

GUPTA: And for all those who used to torment him, the haters, they now serve as motivation for Jake to perform for crowd of 20,000 people.

JAKE ZELDIN: I`m just like you! I`m sticking with a dream!

My big dream is to have fun and to make music, and it`s coming true right now.

GUPTA: From Jake to Lil Jakes. Stutterer turned rapper and role model.

JAKE ZELDIN: Lil Jakes, on CNN, let me introduce.

(APPLAUSE)

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: We got about a 1000 comments on our blog after Wednesday`s volleyball story. Mariangela calls a boy playing on the girls` team unfair, saying he is stronger and gives the team an advantage. Ben runs cross country and says the boys and girls are split up because the boys are stronger. He thinks it should be the same way with volleyball. Most of you, though, believe Jenson Daniel should be allowed to play. The split was 80-20. Kelsey believes this goes back to the Title IX debate running that we need to be fair to both genders and allow them both to be treated equally. Billy thinks that if women can play men`s football, why shouldn`t men be able to play women`s volleyball? Tetra agrees that if girls can play in a boys` baseball or football team, boys not being allowed to play in a girls` sport isn`t fair. Anna is a volleyball player and says Jenson`s expertise could help other players to learn more, and Adam thinks that Jenson should be allowed on the team as long as all other girls` teams have the opportunity to have a boy as well.

All right. I will be the first to admit that out "Before We Go" segment can be a little corny sometimes. This one`s no exception. We are going to put a political spin on it, though, since that`s what the owners of this Tennessee corn maze did. They took some election inspiration, cut the maze to feature the faces of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Eight years ago, the family first used the maze to bring customers out to buy pumpkins. Now, the maze and its political presentation are the main attraction. It sounds to us like a classic flip flop, but it`s an impressive grassroots program. Some people might even call it, a-mazing. We figure that`s all the puns (inaudible) corn tag, but since you are all ears, we are going to let Lil Jakes to rap things up for us. Have a great weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE ZELDIN: No, I can do it, this again, I can write it all, I can do it with my mighty pen, you can go and join my circle, I got a big nose, everybody call me Urkel, I like the color, yeah, yeah, it`ll be purple because it pops, and plus like I`m 21, I`m a lone wolf, yeah, you know, I`m climbing and surviving because I do it in my high school. You know that we fly -- fly like in flight school, yeah, you know, I got it, you got it, and then you let them know, everybody go, because I rock it at a mighty show. You can see me every day, I have my own parade, and everybody, they know my name, and they`d be screaming, they are cheering and then they hate it because everybody-- you`d better, you better believe it -- CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

END