NEWSROOM for March 14, 2000
ANNOUNCER: Seen in classrooms the world over, this is</s>CNN NEWSROOM. RUDI BAKHTIAR, CO-HOST: Thanks for making NEWSROOM part of your Tuesday. I'm Rudi Bakhtiar.</s>TOM HAYNES, CO-HOST: And I'm Tom Haynes. We begin today with a head count in the</s>U.S. BAKHTIAR: In "Today's News": Census 2000. Why is this population survey so important?</s>JOHN THOMPSON, CENSUS 2000: It's used for deciding where to put schools, where to put hospitals, how to put roads in, community services.</s>HAYNES: "Your Health" is the focus of Tuesday's desk. Today, the added benefits of being buff. Sure, it can make you look good, but how else can lifting weights benefit your body?</s>DR. BARRY FRANKLIN, WILLIAM BEAUMONT HOSPITAL: As your muscles get stronger, the load on your heart actually is less.</s>BAKHTIAR: In "Worldview," dealing with a difficult past and a unique way of coming to terms.</s>CYNDY FUJIKAWA, ACTRESS: And I feel like I knew him but I didn't.</s>HAYNES: Then, power in numbers. We "Chronicle" the Latino community and its new importance in U.S. politics.</s>JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, UNIVISION NETWORK: Eight years ago, we didn't have access to almost any presidential candidate. Now-a-days, we have -- the two most important candidates speak Spanish. We have almost continuous access to them.</s>BAKHTIAR: In today's top story, stand up and be counted. Starting this week, Census forms are being delivered to 98 million U.S. households. Why is it important to fill them out? Results help determine such things as where schools are built and how people are represented in Congress. On March 1, 1790, Congress authorized the decennial U.S. Census. Article 1, Section II of the U.S. Constitution states: "Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers. The actual enumeration shall be made within every subsequent term of 10 years."</s>KENNETH PREWITT, DIRECTOR, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU: One hundred percent of the American population gets what we call short-form questions. It's only about six or seven questions. It takes about 10 minutes to fill the form in. One out of six, then, the other 17 percent of the population gets long-form questions. They get about 50 more questions. And that has to do with information on a large number of topics: housing conditions, education, occupation, veteran status, disability, travel to work for planning, say, energy, or planning transportation programs.</s>BAKHTIAR: In the past, the U.S. Census Bureau has been criticized for inaccurate headcounts.</s>PREWITT: Take a city like San Antonio. We estimate that we missed about 40,000 people in San Antonio in 1990. About half of those were children, so they lose out on their school construction, on their text book purchases, because they're planning for one size of school enrollment and they get a different size.</s>BAKHTIAR: For an in-depth look at the national count we have two reports, beginning with Jonathan Aiken.</s>JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Constitution requires the United States to take a good, long look at itself every 10 years through a census. But other than changing the size and shape of congressional districts every decade, what's in it for you in filling out the form?</s>JOHN THOMPSON, CENSUS 2000: It's used for deciding where to put schools, where to put hospitals, how to put roads in, community services.</s>AIKEN: The census is also how $185 billion a year is distributed to the states based on population. (on camera): So if you don't fill out your census form, Congress doesn't know where you live, and then your state doesn't get as much money as it should from 25 major federal programs. (voice-over): Sixty-three percent of Medicaid allocations are distributed using the census. And federal grants and programs ranging from foster care to food stamps, job training, even the number of 911 operators in your area, are all determined by the census, which is also used for things the government doesn't provide.</s>BRYAN BOULIER, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIV.: They're also used by firms for making their own planning decisions about where to locate facilities; for example, whether it be factories, whether it be shopping malls, stores.</s>AIKEN: The census has been criticized because it doesn't count everybody. It's estimated in 1990 it missed 5 million people, roughly 2 percent of the population, including, advocates say, many of the homeless.</s>STEVE CLEGHORN, COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP FOR THE PREVENTION OF HOMELESSNESS: The census, I think, had taken a street count which seemed very, very low to those of us who were working with homeless people.</s>AIKEN: Now, the homeless themselves are being recruited as census takers, and the agency is reminding all Americans the information on census forms goes to no other federal agency: not the INS, the FBI, CIA, even the IRS. Jonathan Aiken for CNN, Washington.</s>FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Church and state work together at this mass at St. Joseph of the Holy Family in Harlem, where Brother Joel Magallan, an advocate for Latinos, preached the importance of completing U.S. government census forms this year. The efforts at St. Joseph's, part of a national effort by the Census Bureau to use churches and other community organizations to help increase the number of responses to the 2000 Census, which dropped to nearly 65 percent in the 1990 Census. And officials believe the church may be an especially effective way to reach new immigrants, who might otherwise be afraid to fill out Census forms.</s>REV. PHILLIP KELLY, ST. JOSEPH'S OF THE HOLY FAMILY: That you would be able to trace back to a household or to a place who was there, how many people were there, and that somehow that would be used in terms of deportation or recrimination.</s>BUCKLEY (on camera): But the use of churches and religious leaders is only one of the ways the Census Bureau is reaching out. For the first time ever, the Census Bureau is also spending money to engage in a full-scale advertising campaign. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CENSUS 2000 AD) ANNOUNCER: Fill out your census. It helps determine public funding for emergency equipment.</s>BUCKLEY (voice-over): T.V. ads, a part of the $160 million campaign designed to show the importance of reflecting an accurate count of different communities; figures that help to determine how much money a community receives from the federal government. In the Queens Borough of New York, where officials say a third of the population is immigrants, the 1990 Census undercounted, according to the borough's president, and thus left Queens under-funded.</s>CLAIRE SHULMAN, QUEENS BOROUGH PRESIDENT: All of the things that people need to survive, we supply it, no matter where they're from or whether or not they are here illegally. So it's very important that we get an accurate count.</s>BUCKLEY: A count that is just beginning. Most U.S. households expected to have a census form in hand by the end of March. Frank Buckley, CNN, New York.</s>BAKHTIAR: In a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll taken last month, 83 percent of those questioned said the census was useful, while 14 percent said the census was a waste of money.</s>HAYNES: These days, weight training is for everybody, just check out any gym you go to. And when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. After all, there are three basic components to fitness: flexibility, endurance and strength. Now, working out with weights and doing resistance training can help tone muscles, and strengthen your cardiovascular system. In today's "Health Desk," Holly Firfer pumps up the volume.</s>HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are no doubts about the benefits of exercise. For years, science has shown moderate aerobic exercise, just 30 minutes a day, three to four times a week, can lower your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and weight, reducing your risk for a heart attack and stroke. Now, the American Heart Association says, weight lifting and resistance training can do the same.</s>DR. BARRY FRANKLIN, WILLIAM BEAUMONT HOSPITAL: Resistance training can actually improve cardiovascular function, and it can do that by reducing the heart rate and blood pressure response to lifting or carrying objects. As your muscles get stronger, the load on your heart actually is less.</s>FIRFER: You don't have to lift a lot of weight to get the benefits. Doctors recommend just a single set of eight to 15 repetitions, using eight or 10 different exercises, two to three times a week with light weights, can do the trick.</s>RICH BOGGS, CEO, BODY PUMP, INC.: Women are always conscious of "I don't want to be big." That is not what happens at all. People who work out regularly with Body Pump look very lean, very toned, not big.</s>DR. BOB GOLDMAN, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ANTI-AGING: But in essence, if their arm is this big, but there is a lot of fat around it, and they lift weights and they resistance train, their muscle diameter will actually get smaller because they will lose the fat around the muscle and then they'll have lean muscle mass.</s>FIRFER: And pumping iron isn't just for the young.</s>FRANKLIN: Especially with respect to older people, it has tremendous implications in terms of keeping people functional, keeping them able to cope with independent living. And last but not least, it reduces the potential for osteoporosis, which of course is a major problem, especially for older women.</s>FIRFER: But before you get too pumped about pumping up, consider these warnings: the older we get, the more brittle our bones may become, and lifting weights that are too heavy can cause joint damage and broken bones. And doctors also say, people with preexisting heart conditions, like an irregular heartbeat, valve problems, or uncontrolled hypertension should be evaluated before starting any kind of exercise. Holly Firfer, CNN, Atlanta.</s>ANNOUNCER: Teachers, make the most of CNN NEWSROOM with our free daily classroom guide to the program. There you'll find a rundown of each day's show so you choose just the program segments that fit your lesson plan. Plus, there are discussion questions and activities. And the guide highlights key people, places and news terms. Each day, find hot links to other online resources and previews of upcoming desk segments. It's all at this Web address where you can also sign up to have the guide automatically e-mailed directly to you each day. It's easy, it's free, it's your curriculum connection to the news. After all, the news never stops, and neither does learning.</s>BAKHTIAR: In "Worldview" today, our upcoming stories will help you realize the importance of families and the roles and relationships which make up these special groups. We'll learn about a Japanese- American actor with a hidden past -- his story told today through his daughter's eyes. And we'll check out China, where siblings are becoming more and more rare. China is a huge country in Eastern Asia. It covers one fifth of the continent. Only Canada has more territory. It's probably a good thing the country is spacious. China is the largest country in population. Over one billion people live there. That's about one fifth of the world's population. China's burgeoning population has prompted its government to strictly enforce a one-child-per-family policy. But the plan isn't foolproof. Rebecca MacKinnon explains.</s>REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): It's Saturday dance class at the Beijing Children's Palace. Twelve-year- old Li Ang has no plans to go professional, but his parents think dance lessons will give him poise and confidence. "We didn't have these opportunities when I was growing up," says his mother. "Now we're in a position to bring him up well. We can't let him lose out." Neither Li Ang nor any of his classmates have brothers or sisters. They're products of a one-child-per-family policy, strictly enforced in China's cities for 20 years. Many adults call them "little emperors."</s>YANG KIA, CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST (through translator): Everyone will be an only child and they'll all be selfish.</s>MACKINNON: Some believe this new "me" generation could chafe at China's authoritarian government.</s>KIA (through translator): When families had a lot of children, kids were told to obey authority and not to ask why. Only children are likely to be more skeptical about authority and less likely to believe propaganda.</s>MACKINNON: Only children were almost nonexistent when these folks were young. Back then, having lots of sons and grandsons was the only form of old age insurance. Today's one-child policy and the rise of these "little emperors" in China's cities would not have been possible without pensions, insurance and retirement homes. Seventy-eight-year-old Zang Fu Qin (ph) says she's not dependent on her grown children because she has a pension and plans to move into a retirement home when she gets too old to move around. But in the countryside, it's a different story. Insurance or pensions are rare and people still rely on sons to support them in their old age. So in most places, peasant farmers are allowed to have a second child if the first one is a girl, who, according to Chinese custom, will join her husband's family when she marries.</s>GU BAOCHANG, POPULATION COUNCIL (through translator): In the past with the high birth rates, if you had a daughter as the first- born, you could keep having children until you had a son. But now the country does not want you to have more children. Those who have a daughter as the first-born and second-born regret it. They want to guarantee that one of those children is a boy.</s>MACKINNON: The result is that China's orphanages are filled with baby girls, many abandoned by parents who failed to have a son and want to try again. Another deadly consequence: higher infant mortality rates for baby girls. An increasingly skewed ratio of boys to girls in many parts of the Chinese countryside has alarmed authorities. (on camera): Chinese officials admit the problems caused by the one-child policy will be hard to solve without a nationwide insurance and pension system so that China's peasant farmers no longer have to rely on their children for support in their old age. But the question is: Where will the money come from? (voice-over): Right now, 10 percent of China's population is over 60. But in the next 25 years, that percentage is expected to double because another result of the one-child policy is that fewer children will be born as older people live longer.</s>ANELLA HEYTENS: You basically have one child supporting, you know, two parents and four grandparents. So in the future, that is going to be a problem because, you know, you're not going to create enough funding to fund the aging of the population. Which means that China's "little emperors" had better enjoy the pampering while it lasts. When they grow up, they could have a heavy load to pull, and a lot of taxes to pay. Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN, Beijing.</s>HAYNES: More now on the relationships between child and parents as we take a trip back in history. You may have heard about internment camps in the U.S. in early World War II. Thousands of Japanese citizens living in America and thousands of their American- born family members were sent to internment camps on the West Coast. That period of time is represented in the movie "Snow Falling on Cedars." Other films and plays also touch on that incarceration. Today, Stacey Wilkins reports on one woman's search into the past and her reflections on her Japanese heritage.</s>STACEY WILKINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Actor Jerry Fujikawa is a familiar face. From "M.A.S.H." to "Chinatown," even a Jerry Lewis movie. The Japanese-American character actor's Hollywood career spanned 35 years.</s>JERRY FUJIWAWA, ACTOR: Perhaps now we could see the famous blimp.</s>WILKINS: But behind the smiling face on the big screen, there was a secret life of pain and struggle.</s>CYNDY FUJIKAWA, ACTRESS: And I feel like I knew him, but I didn't -- not really.</s>WILKINS: Cyndy Fujikawa tells the story of her father in the one-woman play "Old Man River." The 38-year-old actress later worked with Emmy Award-winning director Allan Holzman to capture her family's story on film, a story her father took to the grave.</s>ALLAN HOLZMAN, DIRECTOR, "OLD MAN RIVER": She found out the same time that her father was married before that she had a sister who she, you know, never knew of before.</s>WILKINS: The story began during World War II. Separated from his Caucasian Wife, Jerry Fujikawa was sent to the Manzanar internment camp. His wife left him, taking their children with her. After the war, Fujikawa started over with a new wife and a new family, including Cyndy and her two brothers. He would never see his first family again. His secret would remain buried more than 20 years, until one day when Cyndy's mom let it slip.</s>C. FUJIKAWA: Oh, yes, your father was married before the war -- 1939, wasn't it, Jerry? And he had two little boys and a little girl, too. Well, the little boys are both gone now, honey. They both died. But the little girl is probably still alive somewhere, and we don't know whatever become of her.</s>WILKINS: The search was on. Cyndy spent the next 11 years writing letters, searching for the sister she never knew. Her perseverance finally paid off when she located her stepsister Terry (ph) in Alaska. But it was too late for Jerry Fujikawa. He died in 1983 without ever having seen his oldest daughter all grown up, and both daughters together. (on camera): Cyndy Fujikawa is still searching. She recently went to Japan to track down more relatives her father never knew. (voice-over): Accompanied by fiancee Dennis Murphy, they tracked down relatives who still live near Hiroshima. She continued the search in Tokyo looking for more facts about his forgotten family, and more missing pieces of her father's and her own lost Japanese heritage. Stacey Wilkins, CNN, Atlanta.</s>HAYNES: It's back on the U.S. campaign trail today for "Chronicle" as the electoral process runs its course. Delegate votes for 19 percent of the U.S. population are up for grabs today in six states. There will be six primaries and two caucuses because Texas Democrats hold both primaries and caucuses. Of those, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas will have open contests. This means any registered voter can vote in any contest. Florida, Louisiana and Oklahoma will have closed contests, meaning voters have to cast ballots within their own registered parties. On this day, 26 percent of delegate votes needed for the Democratic nomination are at stake, and 33 percent of the delegate votes needed for the Republican nomination are on the line. One of the states voting today, Florida, has a large delegate chunk, and the state's large Latino population will be pivotal. Maria Hinojosa looks at how Hispanic media are factoring into the 2000 election.</s>MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If it's not the music, it's the food. Whether they've been here two years or two generations, Miami's million-plus Latinos like the flavor of home. So when it comes to politics and the two Spanish-speaking candidates for "el nuevo presidente," Latino voters seem to want Latino reporters asking the questions.</s>JORGE RAMOS, ANCHOR, UNIVISION NETWORK: One of the most serious problems, as you well know, of the Hispanic community is the incredibly high dropout rate of its students.</s>HINOJOSA: The United States' estimated 30 million Latinos are plentiful in several important vote-getting states, like California, New York, Texas and, of course, Florida, where this weekend's Calle Ocho Festival drew potential voters more focused on Cuba than on campaign finance.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They normally focus more on the cultural issues. They talk a lot more about Cuba and, you know, the people that are Hispanic are looking at things that have to do with their country.</s>HINOJOSA: That means the presidential candidates are talking often to Jorge Ramos, the anchor for Spanish-language Univision, the fifth largest network in the United States.</s>RAMOS: Eight years ago, we didn't have access to almost any presidential candidate. Nowadays, we have -- the two most important candidates speak Spanish. We have continuous access to them.</s>HINOJOSA: "El Nuevo Herald," which reaches more than 79,000 readers in south Florida, has tripled its number of national political reporters.</s>JEANETTE RIVERA, POLITICAL REPORTER, "EL NUEVO HERALD": I think for the longest, we were ignored, phone calls were never returned, or we would get a message on our machine three days after the fact.</s>HINOJOSA: This time, it's the other way around.</s>VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I'm the one worried about getting more access now, not Univision or Telemundo or the others. I'm seeking them out.</s>HINOJOSA: Now, the Spanish-language media say not only are they getting more attention from the candidates, but so are Latino issues.</s>RIVERA: Readers want to see more stories about immigration issues, about health care issues, about education.</s>HINOJOSA (on camera): If the Spanish-language media helps the candidates reach the nation's 6.5 million Latino voters, the payoff can be big. In the last presidential election, Latino voters helped Bill Clinton become the first Democrat to win the state of Florida in two decades. Maria Hinojosa, CNN, Miami.</s>HAYNES: Now, journalism is not the only arena in which Latinos are making their presence known. They make up the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. Coming up this May, we'll examine this issue in "Viviendo en America" It's a series we first brought you last fall. We'll take an in-depth look at the language, culture and politics of Hispanic Americans. And we'll bring it to you May 1 through the 5th. That's "Viviendo en America" right here on NEWSROOM. Rudi, back to you in the newsroom.</s>BAKHTIAR: Thanks, Tom. Finally, we have a special birthday greeting to deliver. No, not to anyone in particular, but to the piano. Three-hundred years old and still going strong, the piano has gone through many incarnations over the centuries. From harpsichord to keyboard, Bruce Morton walks us down a musical memory lane.</s>BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You know Washington's mall. But if you visited this week, you might hear something new: the sound of music, curator Patrick Rucker playing Chopin, part of an exhibit three stories underground, celebrating the 300th birthday of the piano. That's an 1850 square piano, by the way, the kind people had in their homes before they had uprights. This is the baby, a Grand piano made by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence in 1722. Just three left. This one doesn't play anymore. It was different from the harpsichords he'd made. Strings got hit, not plucked, which meant you could play loud or softly.</s>PATRICK RUCKER, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY: I think Cristofori set out to try to increase the dynamic range of keyboards, and of course that's why we call them pianos, because it could play both soft, piano, and forte, loud.</s>MORTON: It was a big hit. Serious composers -- Beethoven, Mozart -- wrote for it. Star players -- Franz Liszt, Frederick Chopin -- were the rock stars of their day. Grand pianos got bigger: iron frames, 88 keys instead of 60-some, led by American companies like Chickering and Steinway. Listen to Liszt on this Steinway Grand. At the same time, piano makers aimed at the home with squares and uprights, and this darling -- sewing kit, makeup table and practice piano -- did everything but make the toast.</s>RUCKER: By the end of the 18th century, it was very much a toy of the nobility and the wealthy. But by the 19th century, it was taken up with a vengeance by the middle classes, and into the 19th century many piano manufacturers had a goal of a piano in every home.</s>MORTON: The piano kept evolving: player with the notes on rolls of paper. This one doesn't work, but there's Scott Joplin on tape to remind you of this old sound. Duke Ellington played this white Steinway Grand. You can hear him, too. Irving Berlin gave the museum this one. He learned to play on the black keys only. The key of C -- all white keys -- is for people who study music, he said. And his piano has a lever so he could change key without changing the keys he hit. This is Liberace's rhinestone piano. Do not attempt to fix the one in your house up like this. So happy 300th, piano. You've kept changing -- keyboards may be next -- but you keep on making wonderful sounds. Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.</s>HAYNES: OK, tell everyone you played the piano.</s>BAKHTIAR: Yes, I used to play the piano.</s>HAYNES: She's dying to tell you she plays the piano.</s>BAKHTIAR: Used to play the piano; don't play it anymore, ever since I started working on</s>CNN. HAYNES: No time, yes.</s>BAKHTIAR: And on that note, we'll say goodbye.</s>HAYNES: See you guys later. Take care.</s>BAKHTIAR: Bye.