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Students: This is Mrs. Butcher’s seventh-grade class from Macomb, Illinois, and Channel One News starts right now! M - A - C - O - M - B. Macomb!

Tom: There we go! Some proud kids from Macomb Junior–Senior High School in Illinois getting us started. Love the energy, guys.

All right, first up today, President Trump and the first lady made a trip to the grieving city of Las Vegas yesterday. As soon as they got off Air Force One, they were greeted by state and law enforcement officials who are trying to make sense of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

The president and the first lady made a visit to a local hospital to speak with some of the 500-plus people who were injured when a shooter opened fire from his hotel room onto a country music festival Sunday night in Las Vegas. Fifty-nine people were killed.

President Donald Trump: We met patients that were absolutely, terribly wounded, and the doctors, the nurses — all of the people of the hospital have done a job that's indescribable.

Tom: And they visited first responders, like police officers and firefighters, who rushed to the aid of the victims.

Meanwhile, police continue to investigate the scene, combing through the shooter’s hotel room, where they found two dozen weapons and bullets.

President Trump has hinted there will be a future conversation about gun laws, but for now, the focus is on the investigation and showing support for the survivors.

All right, so, as you know, Puerto Rico, a couple weeks ago, was hit pretty hard by Hurricane Maria. The island was no match for Maria's force, and still today more than 90 percent of Puerto Rico has no power.

Food and water are starting to trickle in, but it has been a huge struggle for the people there, including many hospitals trying to deal with sick people. And get this — the damage is expected to be around $70 billion worth. And Azia is here to give us a little more on this U.S. territory.

Azia: Yeah, Tom. So this tragedy has really brought to light the unique relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico and brought up questions about whether the slow response was because Americans didn't realize that the 3.5 million people in Puerto Rico are also Americans.

A recent poll showed that nearly half of Americans did not know that the people born in Puerto Rico are American citizens and have been for 100 years. The poll also found that those who did know they were citizens were more likely to support sending aid.   

I had a chance to visit Puerto Rico just before the hurricane hit to learn more about the island’s history and relationship with the U.S. and what Puerto Ricans want for their future. 

Julio Correa: Us Puerto Ricans, we've been American citizens for a century. Our citizens have died for the United States.

Azia: Eighteen-year-old Julio Correa lives in Puerto Rico and says he wants the same rights as American citizens on the mainland. 

Correa: What we're asking for is a better quality of life here in Puerto Rico. And I think — and everyone here thinks — that it would happen with statehood.

Azia: Over the summer Puerto Ricans like Julio voted for full statehood, wanting the island territory to be the 51st state of the U.S. And Puerto Rican representatives are pushing the case to Congress, which has to make the final decision.

Correa: I'd love to see a path forward where I can live here and vote for the president of the United States, where I can live here and vote for my congressman, where I can live here and, you know, have a quality of life that's equal.

Yarimar Bonilla: There's these moments, like either the hurricane or economic crisis, where suddenly people in the mainland United States are reminded that Puerto Rico is even part of the United States.

Azia: Yarimar Bonilla is a professor of Caribbean studies at Rutgers University.

Bonilla: These places have citizens also, that are also American and that are also part of the fabric of the nation.

Azia: Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth, so even though the island has the same president as the United States, residents here can't vote in the presidential election.

Puerto Rico doesn't have a vote in Congress. The residents don't pay the same taxes, and the island even has its own constitution. Why is this the case?  

The United States gained control of Puerto Rico back in 1898 during the Spanish-American War, but it wasn’t until 1917 that President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones Act into law, making residents here U.S. citizens.

Fast-forward to 1952, when the island became a commonwealth, which means it is not a state, but it is not independent either. And that has made it more difficult for the island to get out of its current crisis: massive debt.

Bonilla: Part of what really fueled the crisis that Puerto Rico finds itself in is that it borrowed more than it could pay back. But the reason why it was allowed to borrow so much was because of Puerto Rico’s relationship to the United States.

Azia: The island's debt stacks up at more than $70 billion, resulting in a crisis that left many on the island without jobs, causing hundreds of thousands to move to the U.S. mainland.

Ana: It's difficult for us, the young people, because we are starting out and we have to stay here. I think the majority look for other opportunities in the United States. There are some people who stay, but it's very little.

Bonilla: Also, as people migrate, there's less people paying taxes, and so the government will have even less resources with which to provide services to the population.

Azia: If another country or even a state faced this kind of debt, it could declare bankruptcy. But Puerto Rico's status means it can't do that, so the island needs the federal government's help.

Bonilla: Some say that statehood is now less possible, because who wants to admit a bankrupt state?

Jose Coss: We're not really needed in the United States. I mean, we have a debt that the United States Congress will not take.

Azia: That is one of the reasons Jose Coss thinks Puerto Rico should break away from the U.S. and become a new country.

Coss: Now, we have our own culture, our own people, our own mentality and dynamics of working, so I think that Puerto Rico should be independent from the United States. There are a lot of things that are limiting us just because of that relationship.

Azia: And now the debt crisis is infinitely worse with the new disaster unfolding on the island. President Trump tweeted last week: "Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble."

San Juan's mayor, Carmen Yulin Cruz, says the biggest priority now isn't the debt, but saving lives.

Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz: This is the time for action. Let's not talk about the debt.

Azia: Azia Celestino, Channel One News.

Tom: Definitely lots happening in Puerto Rico. And you just heard today's Word in the News: bankruptcy. That is when a person or business is unable to pay off their debt. They can file with a federal bankruptcy court for legal protection, but, in the case of Puerto Rico, as Azia just told us, that is not an option.

All right, after the break, a group of students learning to manage their money one dollar at a time.

Tom: Okay, Emily is here with today's Gen Money. Now, it is no secret that young people struggle when it comes to managing their money, right?

Emily: Yeah, and that is why I am here, to help you — and maybe you too — out.

Tom: Right. I didn't know that you were good with money.

Emily: Well, I am really not, but there is one teacher who has got some good advice for you, so listen up to her — not me!

Oh, high school, where your only worry is…

Alicia Buerster: College, for sure.

Emily: That is pretty much it for Alicia Buerster, a senior at Newton Community High School in Illinois. Like most teens, she is not too stressed about her money or what she spends it on.

Alicia: Food and clothes.

Emily: But this week, she is worried about paying a few bills.

Alicia: I didn't think it'd be as hard, but it's a little, little stressful.

Emily: But paying bills is how you get a sense of financial literacy, which is how to manage money. And business teacher Gail Turner is making sure her students know all about it in her classroom. 

Gail Turner: I was raised where my family didn't talk about that, you know. So when I started out in the world, I wasn't very knowledgeable. I had to learn from my mistakes.

Emily: Through a budget simulation, students receive a paycheck and budget to pay their bills, like car insurance, rent and loans, getting a taste of the adult life and all its responsibilities. 

Turner: I don't want to scare them, but I want them to get an idea of, “Hey, you know, this is what my parents are going through, and this is what I'm going to have to go through if i don't have all my ducks in a row.”

Emily: So they can send their students, like Alicia — off into college and the real world better prepared.

Alicia: I didn't realize, like, all the different things that you have to keep accountable, what you have to pay for to make sure you can just, like, make it through every day, you know.

Emily: Emily Reppert, Channel One News. 

Tom: There you have it; definitely some sound advice. Plus, we have got more stories about making money and spending it right. That is over at . Check it out.

Well, that is it for us today, but we are right back here tomorrow.

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