Scott: What is up? It is Friday, March 27. I am Scott Evans and Channel One News
starts right now.
Let's get to headlines, and first up, there is new information about the final moments on
Flight 9525, the plane that went down over the French Alps this week. Investigators say
the co-pilot intentionally brought down the plane.
Authorities say the cockpit voice recorder reveals that German co-pilot Andrea Lubitz
locked the captain out of the cockpit after he apparently went to use the bathroom.
Lubitz then manually set the plane on a descent.
Investigators say the captain is heard on the voice recorder pounding on the door trying
to get back into the cockpit. But the 28-year-old co-pilot did not respond.
German and French investigators say Lubitz had no terrorism background and had a
U.S. pilot’s license after training in Arizona.
Family members of the 150 who died on board are heading to France to be near the
crash site. And a moment of silence was held yesterday in Germany for 16 high school
students and two teachers who were on their way back from Spain when the plane went
down.
Next, we head to Oklahoma. That's where residents are now getting an up close look at
the damage caused by powerful tornadoes that tore through several neighborhoods.
Homes have been completely reduced to piles of rubble in Sand Springs, Oklahoma,
just outside of Tulsa. The twister also plowed through this mobile home park, killing one
person. And several others were hurt.
Storm chasers caught the tornado on video as it touched down.
Boy: Everybody was just screaming and crying.
Scott: The same storm ripped off the roof as dozens of kids were in a gymnastics class.
They all took cover in the basement until firefighters came to their rescue.
Girl: I was scared, and all we did was praise God that we were still alive.
Scott: To the south in Moore, near Oklahoma City, a tornado ripped off the roof of the
South Gate Elementary School. It comes just two years after a powerful tornado killed
24 in the town.
So far, tornado season has been slow, only two dozen hitting the area. Typically there
would be about 120.
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It has been two weeks since an Oklahoma University college student was seen leading
a racist chant in a video that went viral. He is now speaking out with an apology.
Levi Pettit: Let me start by saying that I’m sorry, deeply sorry. I'm so sorry for all the
pain that I’ve cause, and I want you all to know that directly from me. Although I don't
deserve it, I want to ask for your forgiveness.
Scott: Levi Pettit was seen in this video leading OU students in a song about lynching
blacks and barring them from their fraternity.
The video sparked protests on campus and outrage across the country. Pettit was
expelled from the university, and the fraternity was permanently shut down.
African- American leaders who met privately with Pettit said they accepted his apology.
Ok, for all you Kraft macaroni and cheese lovers out there, the pasta is getting married
to Heinz ketchup. But relax. The combination is happening in the boardroom, not in a
bowl.
Well, it is not like a real marriage. But in business when two companies merge, it is
definitely a business marriage.
Kraft foods and H.G. Heinz announced a merger this week expected to top $40 billion.
The new company will be called Kraft Heinz Company. And it would join brands like
Oscar Meyer, Stove Top, Jello, and Heinz ketchup under one brand, making the new
company the fifth largest food company in the world.
Alright coming up, it is teens behind the wheel, captured on camera and totally
distracted.
This week we brought you a story about teen drivers in New Jersey who are required to
put a red decal on their license plates to show everyone that they are new drivers. And
we got a lot of feedback on it.
Marissa said, “Teens aren't the only ones who cause accidents. Some adults are more
immature than some teens."
Emily said, “When I was a new driver people would always cut me off. So this is a great
idea because it gives other drivers a heads up.”
And Miss Ratterree said, “My students said it wouldn't work because they share a car
with their parents."
Now, the decal can be taken off depending on who is driving. It is only attached by
Velcro.
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Now to follow up on that story, we are taking a look at a new study that shows
distractions are even worse for teen drivers than originally thought. Tom Hanson has
more
Jacy Good: The date was May 18 of 2008. In the morning I graduated with honors and
had my dream job lined up. I was so ready to kinda take on the real world.
Tom: It was a day that should've been one of the brightest in Jacy Good's life. But it
turned tragic.
Jacy: And my parents and I left college right around 2 o’clock in the afternoon. We got
about half way home. The same time on the intersecting road, coming to a red light,
was an 18-year-old- young man. A senior in the high school there. His mom told him he
could use his phone while he was driving if he did what was "safe."
Tom: The teen driver ended up running the red light.
Jacy: And as he did that, this 18 -wheeler swerved to try and miss him, and slammed
full force into my family's station wagon.
Tom: About 30 tons of cargo slammed into her car at 90 miles per hour, instantly killing
both of Jacy's parents. But Jacy held on.
Jacy: Both of my feet were broken, my wrist was broken. Both my lungs were collapsed.
And I had a traumatic brain injury.
I think the neurosurgeon gave me about a 10 percent chance of living through the
night.
It's every moment of every day of my life that’s impacted because of this one choice that
was made.
Tom: A new report out this week by the non-profit auto group AAA finds that distraction
is a factor in 58 percent of moderate to severe teen accidents, four times the U.S.
government estimate of 14 percent.
The report says the cellphone is so consuming, half of all the teen agers who caused
rear end collisions were still driving at full speed.
AAA analyzed 1,700 teenage car accidents, all captured on videotape. And in clip after
clip, watch how the eyes of the driver are so attached to their phones, they leave the
road on the right, or cross the center line to the left, often without realizing what's
happening.
This young man using his phone looks both ways, but seems so mentally distracted. He
doesn't see the car that hits him.
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Peter Kissinger: They took no evasive action. They didn't break. They didn't steer. And
thank God there wasn't a young child that ran in front of the car.
Tom: According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, texting is banned for teen
drivers in 48 states and D.C. And 37 states and D.C. ban any kind of cellphone use for
inexperienced drivers.
But many teens are doing it anyway, thinking that they can somehow do it safely.
The other main distraction for a teen behind the wheel, talking to passengers.
Kissinger: If you add a second passenger, second teenager to a teen driver, it
automatically doubles the risk of that person being in a crash.
Tom: That's why AAA and other organizations are pushing for more laws that restrict
young drivers, often called a graduated driver’s license. Like limiting how many people
can be in the car with a teen driver and how late at night a teen can be behind the
wheel.
It is something Jacy is also pushing for.
Jacy: When you start to look at our brains, and say what's going on, when you’re not
paying attention to the road, you just can't be a safe driver.
Tom: Tom Hanson, Channel One News.
Scott: This week, we are heading under the sea for the Next Big thing. But before you
get your scuba suit out, let’s see what you thought about last week's idea.
We told you about silent dance parties where you shuffle your feet to the beat of your
own drum wearing headphones. Well, at least your own headphones. So this way, you
are the only one that hears the music, keeping noise levels down for your neighbors.
So, is it the Next Big Thing?
Fifty-one percent of you said yes, shhhh… party on. Forty-nine percent of you said no,
turn down for what?
There is one company working to design and build the city of the future. And unlike the
cities we live in now, these are under water.
As climate change raises sea levels, many cities face the near certainty of flooding in
the future. By the year 2100 forecasts show water levels climbing by five or six feet.
That means cities like New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Miami could see streets and
homes under water.
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That's why one Japanese company called Shimz is thinking forward and designing a
whole city under the ocean.
It starts out by building a submerged city of concrete, using a spherical shape to
withstand water pressure. That concrete is then reinforced with rustproof metal bars.
It would then float in the deep sea kind of like a space ship.
And Shizm says living in the ocean would allow access to unlimited food, energy, and
the potential to create fresh water.
Power would come from ocean thermal energy conversion, where electricity would be
generated by using the difference in temperature between water on the ocean surface
that’s heated by the sun and cold deep sea water.
And the sea spherical pods would be placed along an ocean spiral network that would
connect the world seas.
So, what do you think? Are underwater cities the Next Big Thing? Well, head to
Channelone.com to weigh in.
And that’s going to do it for us this week. Have an awesome weekend, and we will see
you on Monday.
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