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The Collapse Of Affordable Internet?; Campus Protests: Now, And Then. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired May 03, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: What`s up, party people? I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10. Happy Friday, Friyay.
Before we get started, let`s go on and show our teachers some love. Tell them to push that pause button, give them a handshake, a high five, a bro
hug, a sister squeeze. Let them know you appreciate them.
All right, let`s get you your news. As many as 60 million Americans will have to pay more for their internet bills, this is after a government
program they rely on runs out of funding. It`s called the Affordable Connectivity Program, or ACP. And it passed in 2021 as part of a Bipartisan
Infrastructure Bill.
Low-income Americans could apply to the ACP and receive up to $30 per month to help pay for the internet. The ACP started with $14 billion, but it`s
now set to run out of money by the end of this month. Some lawmakers from both parties want to put more money into the ACP, but so far efforts have
stalled in Congress.
President Joe Biden and other advocates for the bill, including some internet companies, say the ACP funding is vital to help low-income
Americans access everything from telemedicine to online classes. But many conservative Republicans are upset about how much money the government is
spending on programs like the ACP, putting America further into debt. And the commissioner of the FCC says, quote, "the money has run out," unquote.
Without Congress stepping in, the ACP will expire at the end of May. That will force millions of Americans to pay more for their internet or lose
their connectivity.
Next up, the unrest happening on college and university campuses across the United States has continued this week, even as officials have expelled
students and police have arrested hundreds of protesters.
Although these images may look scary, as CNN`s Brian Todd shows us, the recent student protests have actually been largely peaceful, especially
when you compare them to college protests of the past.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 1968, student protesters at New York`s Columbia University take over several buildings and briefly even
take the dean hostage. One of the buildings they seized, Hamilton Hall, which students occupied during recent protests at Columbia.
TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: 1968, the first time it was occupied, Hamilton Hall was the scene of a dramatic police action that
resulted in the arrests of 700 people.
TODD: Those protests against the Vietnam War had been taking place for years on college campuses across America and would continue for a few more
for years from Columbia to Cal Berkeley, to Kent State.
In 1969, student protesters at Harvard took over and occupied university hall, marching school officials out of the building. The primary difference
between then and now, the scale of the violence.
While skirmishes have broken out at UCLA, and some other campuses during the current demonstrations, these protests have been for the most part,
peaceful. In the Vietnam era, violence broke out routinely and on many campuses, students often brawling with police.
PROF. JULIA REUBEN, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Disciplining students, calling in the police, having protests removed, that tended to increase the sympathy
for protesters, build the size of protests and also increase the voice of more extreme activists.
TODD: In two horrific episodes, the Vietnam era violence turned deadly. In May 1970, on the campus of Kent State University, Ohio National Guard
troops opened fire on student protesters, killing four of them and injuring several others.
Days later, during racial injustice protests at Jackson State College in Mississippi, Police fired at a dormitory, killing two students and injuring
a dozen others. Possibly a closer comparison to what`s going on now took place in the 1980s, when students across America protested against
apartheid in South Africa.
They called on schools to divest themselves from companies groups that supported the apartheid regime in South Africa, much like students are now
calling oncologists to divest themselves from Israeli linked companies.
Another dynamic that hasn`t changed across these arrows of protest.
PROF. LAUREN DUNCAN, SMITH COLLEGE: They`ve got a lot of energy and they`re idealistic and they like to protest when things feel unjust or seem
unjust to them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Ten second trivia.
What is the collective name for single-celled, microscopic organisms that live in the soil, water and animals?
Bacteria, blood, DNA, or virus?
Answer is bacteria. The number of bacteria, did you know, that you have in your mouth is more than the total number of humans on Earth. That is wild.
All right, is there a sustainable alternative for fashion? Maybe fabrics with 0% animal or plastic? Is that even possible?
Well, actually it is. This London-based biotech company, Modern Synthesis, has developed a way to create low-impact textiles using bacteria. Yes, you
heard that right, bacteria.
But to create raw materials using this process at a mass scale like the fashion industry would need, it will be costly. Just how much is the
question? Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Strong, lightweight and versatile. But this material isn`t like anything you know. It`s been created with bacteria.
Biotechnology startup Modern Synthesis is learning from and collaborating with living organisms to make brand new low-impact textiles.
DR. BEN REEVE, COREN:-FOUNDER, MODERN SYNTHESIS: Bacteria are really amazing. Sometimes they can be harmful, but most of the time they`re really
beneficial. We use bacteria to make sourdough bread, cheese, yogurt. We can work with bacteria to make even more exciting new products.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The aim? To create sustainable alternatives to traditional fabrics and help curb emissions and pollution associated with
the fashion industry. Key to the company`s process is cellulose, a type of fiber with a higher strength-to-weight ratio. It`s known as nature`s
building block. It makes up materials like cotton, wood and bamboo. It all starts here, with a bacteria invisible to the human eye.
It`s called K. rhaeticus and it`s isolated from kombucha, fermented tea.
REEVE: We feed that with sugars and then it produces nanocellulose, which is a special, fine, strong form of cellulose.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s eight times stronger than steel on a fiber level.
REEVE: We can then process it, manipulate it at the nanostructure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We use green chemistries to process the material to add additional functionalities, whether that be waterproofness or just
aesthetic properties like color and different patterning. We then form the material together with a natural textile.
REEVE: And that allows us to customize the kind of strength and flexibility in new ways.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The final products are 100% animal and plastic free. But to create products on a mass scale, like the fashion industry is used
to, is costly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the long run, I`m confident that we can create materials that can sit at the same price points as those that we use today.
And to use existing equipment from the textile industry and the food industry so that we don`t have to build everything from scratch.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Modern Synthesis is part of a growing number of companies in the next generation material space, producing new textiles
from raw materials such as mushroom mycelium, algae or bacteria.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the first time, we`re able to offer the aesthetic and the performance of the materials that we use every day, but without the
plastic and without the animal. And I can`t stress how hard that is.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: All right, I got to admit, today`s story, getting a 10 out of 10 is a little bit cheesy or a lot cheesy. Check this out, 24-7 cheese vending
machines. This cashless wonder is stocked with an assortment of cheeses with names like Intergalactic, Tree Hug and Field Day. But it`s not just a
cheese dispenser. It`s also complete with crackers, jams and even charcuterie.
Maybe it`s time for your school to get one of these. It would take your snack game to a whole new level.
All right, thank you for an awesome week, everyone. We`re going to show some love today. How about to Mrs. Brown`s class at Scammon Bay, Alaska.
Fly high, Eagles.
And let`s go to Winnebago Middle School in Nebraska. Follow the Bego way. Be safe, arrive on time, give respect, get respect and own your actions.
That is great advice.
It has been such a blessing to spend this week with you. Thanks for spending some time with us. Go out and make an awesome weekend. Make
someone smile. Remember, you are more powerful than you know.
I`m Coy Wire and we are CNN 10.
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