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Tom: Hey everyone, it is Thursday, January 21. I am Tom Hanson, and Channel One News starts right now.

Let's start off with headlines, and first up, nearly all of the schools in Detroit, Michigan, were shut down yesterday as the teachers called out sick, and it all happened while the president was in town for a visit.

At least 80 schools in Detroit were closed. That is 46,000 students forced to stay home because teachers keep calling in sick as a way to protest. It has been going on for weeks, but yesterday was the largest sickout yet, forcing just about the entire school district to shut down. The teachers are protesting school conditions, like large classes, buildings that are falling apart and low pay and benefits.

Kids have been complaining that some classrooms have no heat.

Julianne Murray: Sometimes our class complains because it’s too cold.

Tom: And many of the teachers tried to get the attention of President Obama. He was in town speaking to auto workers and attending the International Auto Show, trying to highlight the turnaround in the American auto business.

The big tennis tournament, the Australian Open, began this week, and there was talk about a different kind of racket. Investigators say they have evidence that players took bribes to lose games so that gamblers could win bets. 

Secret files claim that eight unidentified players competing at the Australian Open are on a list of tennis pros who allegedly got paid to lose on purpose. That list was compiled by the Association of Tennis Professionals and leaked to the British Broadcasting Corporation and the website Buzzfeed.

The accusations go back years, but tennis officials insist their sport is clean.

Chris Kermode: Tennis has invested over $14 million to address this issue of corruption, and it is constantly being reviewed.

Tom: World number one Novak Djokovic says he was offered $200,000 in 2007 to lose a first-round match in Russia.

Novak Djokovic: I was approached through people that were working with me at that time; they were on my team. And of course, we threw it away right away.

Tom: More than 70 are suspected of throwing matches. The vast majority have not and will not be disciplined because their alleged offenses took place before an anticorruption rule was established in 2009. Since 2010 the Association of Tennis Professionals has disciplined 18 people, including a lifetime ban for 5 players. As of now, none of the names on the report have been made public.

All right, coming up: it is movies’ biggest night, so why are some stars ripping up their invitations?

Tom: Okay, well, it is the time of year when Hollywood's biggest stars turn out for one of the most prestigious awards in the movie biz, the Oscars. But now that the award nominations and the invites are out, some are saying they are going to be skipping the show. Azia Celestino explains why.

Azia: What do you know about the recent Oscar nominations?

Woman: They were all white.

Woman: It’s happened before, so it’s not really surprising.

Woman: I know that movies are being made with actors who aren’t white, so, I mean, that doesn’t really explain the lack of diversity there.

Azia: For the second year in a row, all those nominated for Hollywood's biggest award,

the Oscars, are white.

David Oyelowo: For 20 opportunities to celebrate actors of color, actresses of color, to be missed last year is one thing — for that to happen again this year is unforgivable.

Azia: Now actors are speaking out, some saying they won't attend and won't support the Academy Awards.

Jada Pinkett Smith: I will not be at the Academy Awards, and I won't be watching.

Azia: The top nominations this year went to movies like Leonardo DiCaprio's survival film The Revenant or Jennifer Lawrence’s Joy. But even in movies with a diverse cast like Straight Outta Compton, minority actors were overlooked.

The Oscars are organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the nominees are chosen by a 6,200-member voting body, 93 percent of whom are white, 74 percent male.

Tyler Perry: All this would go away if they revealed the votes. If you look at a movie like Straight Outta Compton, right, just say it got 1,000 votes, and The Revenant got 1,001 votes — is that racism, or is that just this is the way the votes went?

Azia: The president of the academy is promising more diversity.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs: We're all disappointed. I mean, last Thursday was a little bit of a shock.

Azia: But some Hollywood heavyweights say it is not just the Oscars; the entire industry needs to change. In a statement to Variety magazine, George Clooney said, "I don't think it's a problem of who you're picking as much as it is how many options are available to minorities in film, particularly in quality films. We need to get better at this.”

Azia Celestino, Channel One News.

Tom: Now the academy says it is trying to be more inclusive, recently inviting 300 new members of color to its ranks. But keep in mind that is only about 5 percent of the people that make up the current vote.

All right, after the break, we are checking out the science behind some spectacular sunsets.

Tom: All right, for centuries artists and photographers have been chasing the sun trying to capture that perfect sunset.

Keith: Yeah, Tom, but now you can get your geek on with a new website that will help you predict when to take that perfect pic. 

Once a day, like cosmic clockwork, the sun slides through the sky for its nightly slumber. We know it is going to happen. The only question: will it be a beauty or a bomb?

Jake Deflitch: This is probably one of my favorite sunsets. Yes.

Keith: Jake Deflitch chases the beauties.

Deflitch: I was gonna remember where I took this, and, you know, and how gorgeous it was.

Keith: Jake and his friend and meteorologist Ben Reppert…

Ben Reppert: For December standards, this is not a cold map. That is for sure.

Keith: …and student Steve Hallett think they have figured out how to predict the perfect sunset moment.

Reppert: There really was no reason that we couldn't create this thing.

Keith: Steve is the group's programmer, a 19 year-old sophomore who taught himself how to code.

Steve Hallett: We decided to go along a scale of vividness, how bright — I guess you could say the "wow” factor.

Keith: It took him about three weeks to write the algorithm, the computer calculations.

Hallett: The deeper the red, the better.

Keith: Their model takes into account high or low clouds, moisture, pressure and up to 20 conditions using 14 gigabytes of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, known as NOAA. Their program then posts a map every six hours to the group's website: .

Hallett: The model is sniffing out some pretty good sunset in Southern California.

Keith: Residents on the East Coast may have seen this spectacular pink sunset Thanksgiving weekend. These guys called it. This is their map, three hours before the show began.

Hallett: Those oranges and reds were pretty much right over New Jersey, right over Philadelphia, right over Delaware. That is exactly what gorgeous looks like. The sunsets that make you go “wow” is what the algorithm is searching for and, I think, what we are all searching for.

Keith: It is a search with a lot of followers. Type in "sunset" on Instagram, and you will find 85 million photos of evening's golden hour.

And enjoying a sunset can mean more than just a good photo. It can also give us a brighter outlook. Author Linda Wasmer Andrews has written 13 mental health books and an article for Psychology Today titled "How Admiring the Sunset Changes You for the Better."

Linda Wasmer Andrews: When people experience awe, it can lead to a decreased tendency to have self-centered thoughts and an increased tendency toward prosocial behavior, so you’re actually more prone to being cooperative, more prone to being generous toward other people.

Keith: The effects are temporary, so Linda says you should enjoy a dose of awe every day at dusk. And it is okay, she says, to capture the heavenly wonder with cameras or canvas as long as you take some time to enjoy it.

And the sunsets continue on , from Paris to Turkey to China. You guys have got to check them out.

And a quick reminder, guys: I will be on Twitter today at 5 pm Eastern time answering your questions, so make sure to shoot me a message using the #Ch1Chat.

Tom: And you know what, Keith, I bet you will get a ton of questions about what it was like visiting the Arctic when you did your series on Mars. And speaking of Mars, before we go, here is one more thing to keep your eye on the sky. 

From January 20 to February 20, sky watchers are in for a special treat: five planets will align in the sky. The five bright planets lined up from left to right are Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter. This is the first time the planets have aligned since 2005, and the best time for viewing is before the sun rises.

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