(CNN Student News) -- October 12, 2010

KIP KEELEY, LACROSSE HIGH SCHOOL: Hey, guys. This is Kip Keeley here from LaCrosse High School, which is located in Kansas, which is somewhere around in there. Today, we're here with CNN Student News and the wonderful Carl Azuz. Hopefully, Carl will give us a great report filled with some of his extraordinary puns.

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: We'll see what we can do for our friend Kip there. And thank you very much for that excellent introduction. This is CNN Student News. I am Carl Azuz. Let's go.

First Up: Infrastructure Plan

AZUZ: First up, $50 billion. That's what President Obama wants Congress to sign off on. The money would be used for a plan to upgrade the country's infrastructure: roads, bridges, power systems. The president announced the plan back around Labor Day. He wants Congress to approve it when they get back from the November 2nd elections. President Obama says the plan could have multiple benefits. One, it'll help the country's infrastructure. Two, it'll help create jobs. That's his argument. But some Republican leaders disagree. They say this infrastructure plan is just like the stimulus bill that the government passed, and they claim that that bill hasn't created new jobs. They argue the way to do that, to make jobs, is to cut government spending and cut taxes.

Holiday Jobs

AZUZ: There's something coming up that's definitely going to create new jobs: the holidays! With people shopping and shipping more around this time of year, some companies have to bring in more employees to help handle the increased workload. Kate Bolduan checks in with a report on how some businesses gear up for the busy holiday season.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The sounds of the holiday season have long meant big retail business.

FAY CARTER, OWNER, CHRISTMAS ATTIC: Sixty percent of our sales are in the last three months of the year.

BOLDUAN: And also big job opportunities for part-time and seasonal workers.

KIM GRIFFIN, CHRISTMAS ATTIC EMPLOYEE: The extra cash that I can make while the kids are in school will definitely help pay for, you know, piano, ballet lessons. It's going to help at Christmas time. So, if I can continue after Christmas, I certainly will.

BOLDUAN: The economy, though, lost another 95,000 jobs last month, and the jobless rate remains stalled at 9.6 percent. With stubbornly high unemployment across the country, many retailers wonder what will this holiday season bring.

SCOTT KRUGMAN, NATIONAL RETAIL FEDERATION: Be cautious in terms of looking at their staffing models, but also with the amount of inventory they're bringing in.

BOLDUAN: Overall, the National Retail Federation is forecasting a 2.3 percent growth in sales this holiday season. This following a tough couple of years. In 2008, holiday sales dropped almost four percent. And last year, bumped up only slightly. Retailers approaching this season with the recession still fresh in their mind.

Toys "R" Us plans to hire 45,000 seasonal workers -- 10,000 more than last year -- to staff so-called pop-up temporary stores. UPS expects to bring on 50,000 seasonal workers, the total unchanged from last year. But department store Kohl's plans to increase its seasonal staff by 20 percent from 2009. Many stores, like Fay Carter's Christmas Attic in northern Virginia, have already started bringing on the extra employees.

CARTER: We need two to three weeks just to train our staff. So, we try to get everybody ready for the first of October, which is when we actually start our Christmas season.

BOLDUAN: A season, retailers big and small are hoping brings a lot more holiday cheer this time around. Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO)

This Day in History

(ON SCREEN GRAPHIC)

October 12, 1492 -- Christopher Columbus reaches the New World

October 12, 1999 -- The United Nations declares that the world's population hits 6 billion

October 12, 2000 -- A terrorist attack against the USS Cole, a U.S. Navy ship refueling in Yemen, kills 17 sailors and wounds 38 others

Settlements

AZUZ: There's a word we want you to know for this next story. It's moratorium, and it means a delay, or when you stop a certain activity for a specific amount of time. Israel had a moratorium on building new settlements in the West Bank. That's an area that Israelis and Palestinians both say should belong to them. The moratorium ended a couple weeks ago, and construction started right back up. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he might be willing to renew the moratorium if Palestinian leaders will officially acknowledge that Israel is a Jewish nation. Palestinians want Israel to renew that moratorium on building settlements in the West Bank as part of the peace process, but they say that it shouldn't come with conditions. Both of these issues -- Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Palestinian leaders not recognizing Israel -- have been big obstacles to any kind of Middle East peace plan.

Chile Mine Rescue

AZUZ: An update for you now on those rescue efforts in Chile. Officials say that later tonight, maybe around midnight tonight, the rescue could start, and the 33 men who have been trapped underground since August 5th could start coming back up to the surface. The rescue capsule, the Phoenix, was already lowered about 2,000 feet into the hole that the miners will come up through. Officials wanted to do a test run, and they said it went perfectly. Someone asked why they didn't lower the Phoenix the full 2,300 feet. The answer: They couldn't risk that one of miners might jump in. Once the rescue does start for real, the trip up to the surface should take about 15 minutes.

What's the Word?

TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: What's the Word?

to give up or lose by not participating

FORFEIT

That's the word!

Too Good to Play?

AZUZ: A high school football game in Massachusetts was called off last Friday because one of the teams forfeit. St. George's Academy and the Lawrence Academy were both 2-0. But administrators at St. George's decided not to play the game because they said the Lawrence team is too good; the players are too big. Some parents are challenging the call.

JOE KELLY, PARENT: You're telling the kids on the field, look, if you're coming up in life against a situation that seems like it's impossible to win, just give up.

PATSY ROSENBERG, PARENT: I think there is more to it than the winning or losing. And I think that every experience you can learn something from that, and there can be winning moments even in a game that you lose.

AZUZ: The headmaster at St. George's Academy argues that safety should come first. He put out a statement that says, "We have an ethical and moral obligation to protect our student players who have been placed in our care by their parents from possible extreme injuries that could affect the rest of their lives."

Blog Promo

AZUZ: We want you guys to make the call. Should the school get flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct? Or did the headmaster make the right decision, making his students' safety a priority? Hike on over to our blog at ; tell us what you think. You know, we usually tell you to go to our blog to talk about issues like this.

Facebook Report

AZUZ: Last week, though, we did something a little bit different. We asked you to go to to tell us whether you'd return 2 million bucks if you found it just lying in the road. This actually happened; we covered it. Louis says, "two million on the street? That kind of money wasn't lost on purpose; I'd call the cops." Jamie tells us, "I would've kept it. In tough economic times, it makes sense." From Sydney: "The money, if I had kept it, would've been stolen." Daniel says he'd "call the cops, but ask them for a $1 million reward." Elysabeth says, "I'd keep it and spend it for myself, my family and friends. I think this means I'm a bad person." Destiny wrote that she'd "return most of it, but that she might slip a bill or two in her pocket." Joshua writes, "if I took it, I would feel guilty. But if it was five dollars sitting there, I wouldn't feel guilty." It was interesting how a few of you mentioned that.

Before We Go

AZUZ: And finally, the answer to one of life's greatest mysteries: do pumpkins float. Apparently, they do, even when they weigh more than 1,000 pounds. All right, not even close to a major mystery. This is the 3rd annual Giant Pumpkin Regatta, where seafaring souls hop in hollowed-out gargantuan gourds and paddle around a local lake. I wonder if they have special equipment if the gourds take on too much water.

Goodbye

AZUZ: I mean, a pump-kin probably take care of that. Either way, we're sure the event was a row-sing success. Oar at least it looks like it. Gourdness gracious, we told you we'd have some puns today. It's time for us to go. For CNN Student News, I'm Carl Azuz.?

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