CARL AZUZ, HOST, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Hi, I`m Carl Azuz and this is CNN Student News traditional versus virtual. How would you prefer to go to school? That`s what we asked on our blog. Today we`re sharing what you had to say.
First up though, a deadly riot breaks out after a soccer match in Egypt. This happened yesterday. Once the match ended, fans from both sides rushed the field.
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AZUZ (voice-over): You can see in this video the scene was just chaos. People hit each other with rocks and chairs. In the fighting, at least 73 people were killed. More than a thousand fans were injured. The Egyptian military sent two planes in to get the visiting team, some of its fans and some of the injured out.
A CNN contributor, who`s researched soccer in the Middle East, says you sometimes do get violence between soccer clubs, but he said he`s never seen anything this big before.
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AZUZ: If you want to own a company, it`s not as difficult as you might think. One way you can do it is to buy some of the company`s stock. You won`t own the entire company, but you will own part of it. Before you can do that, though, the company has to go public and to make its stock available. And the first way it does that is through something called an IPO, an initial public offering.
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AZUZ (voice-over): That`s what Facebook did yesterday. It went public and filed for an IPO. Experts predicted it would be the biggest IPO ever for an Internet company. Five billion dollars -- now that`s not what the company is worth. It`s how much money experts think Facebook is looking to make from its IPO.
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AZUZ: So what does this mean for a company to go public? What are the potential pros and consumption of this? Christine Romans has some answers.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, HOST, "YOUR BOTTOM LINE": IPO stands for initial public offering.
An IPO is when a company, whether it`s a mom-and-pop little store that`s getting bigger and bigger, or say, a social network conceived in a Harvard dorm room that now has 500 million people who follow it, can get on the radar, get -- attract capital and basically grow up.
Companies want to go public because they want to unlock the value in their enterprise. When you can get investors to pay to buy shares of your company, and then those shares are trade on a stock market, like the NASDAQ or the New York Stock Exchange, it also gets you money.
When you go public, investors are putting money into your enterprise. It allows you to raise money quickly.
One of the down sides is when you are a public company, you are scrutinized by the government. You have to, every quarter, file your numbers, your balance sheet, to the Securities and Exchange Commission so that your investors and so that the markets can see exactly what you`re doing.
If you`re a private company, you don`t have that kind of scrutiny. You don`t have investors selling their stakes in your company if you have one or two bad quarters. So that`s one of the reasons why private companies like to stay private.
Well, eventually, it`s everyone, like you and me. Initially, at an initial public offering, it`s the big names who get in. It`s some of those original private investors, they usually get a good shot. Founders of the company get a good shot to buy more if they want.
Facebook is the Holy Grail of IPOs. It would be probably the biggest tech company IPO in history. Facebook already has 500 different private investors basically. And when you get to that level, that threshold, that`s when the Securities and Exchange Commission says, OK, now you`ve got to open your books. Now you`ve got to file and become a public company, you`re getting too big.
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AZUZ: We`re turning to U.S. politics now. With Florida`s primary in the rear view mirror, the leading Republican presidential candidates are setting their sights westward. That`s where several of this month`s contests take place.
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AZUZ (voice-over): This Saturday we have the Nevada caucuses. The main caucuses start on Saturday as well. Those last a week. On February 7th, Colorado and Minnesota hold caucuses, and Missouri holds its primary election. And the month wraps up with primaries in Arizona and Michigan.
We`ve talked a lot this week about delegates. Right now, we`re pretty early in the game. None of the Republican candidates has more than 10 percent of the number of delegates they need to win the party`s nomination.
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AZUZ: After Florida`s primary, CNN`s John King and Wolf Blitzer talked about how the numbers could shake to going forward.
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JOHN KING, HOST, JOHN KING U.S.A.: So we`re done with January. Now we`re on to February. Right now, February`s the month that looks like it`s built for Mitt Romney. I`m going to do this the hypothetical at home.
If you`re a Ron Paul supporter, Newt Gingrich supporter, Rick Santorum supporter, you might not like this. But let`s say hypothetically Mitt Romney runs the calendar in February. The Nevada caucuses, Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado.
Missouri`s a little complicated in how they award it, but I`m going to give it to him here. There`s another process later on. But Maine is a state where you had better watch Ron Paul here. But for the sake of argument, I`m going to give it to Mitt Romney again. Ron Paul could win the state of Maine.
So we get through February 11th there, and then you have the two big contests in February at the end, Arizona and Michigan. Again, this is a hypothetical.
I`m just saying if Mitt Romney runs the month of February, he would get to 256, Gingrich, Santorum and Paul would stay right there, 1,144 is what you need. So that`s a big lead, but, Wolf, it is a very, very long way to the finish line, which is why Newt Gingrich says I`m going to stay in the race, because then we move on to March.
March 3rd, the Washington caucuses, again, I`m going to give that one to Ron Paul. He may win one of these caucus states. That`s for the hypothetical, give that one to Ron Paul. He could win more than one, but let`s give him one there.
Then you move on here, Super Tuesday. This is why Gingrich is in the race right here. But you see Virginia flashing, an important point. Newt Gingrich is not on the ballot, a Southern state. This could come back to haunt him as this goes on. He also hasn`t filed some delegate slates in Tennessee, so he could win the state and not get all the delegates.
But this is a hypothetical, giving some states to Romney. You see them dark red. The southern states, Oklahoma to Newt Gingrich, that gets Gingrich, Romney`s still pulling ahead, but coming now -- let`s go through the month. Let`s just split right there, Kansas, the Virgin Islands in there. Then we come again. This is why Gingrich says he`ll stay in the race. You get Alabama and Mississippi.
If you give those over to Gingrich, then we`re moving on again. The Missouri caucuses, I told you that, it`s a two-step process. I give it back to Romney there again. For the sake of argument, we`ll give Puerto Rico. And then you come here.
Illinois would be Romney. You get later, Louisiana, another southern state. We`ll give that to Gingrich for the sake of argument. And here`s where Gingrich wants to stay in the race. Wisconsin, Maryland, the big prize of Texas.
Remember when Rick Perry jumped out, he endorsed Speaker Gingrich. So again, for the sake or argument, we`ll give up here to Mitt Romney, down here to Newt Gingrich, look what happens with Texas, Wolf. We could get to the point where we`re at April 3rd and Romney is ahead. And I`ll take this off now, because he`s closer to the finish line. He`s closer.
But Gingrich is in the ball park then. That`s what he`s hoping, to take this race on to then, and make it a case.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See if you can ID me. I`m a North American rodent that`s part of the squirrel family. I`m sometimes called a woodchuck, marmot or whistle pig. And today is a very big day for some members of my species.
I`m a groundhog, and I stuff myself in the summer and early fall so I can hibernate during the winter.
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AZUZ: And it is one serious hibernation. A groundhog curls up into a tiny ball. Its body temperature drops. Its heart rate slows down to four beats per minute, and it stays that way until early February, when its hibernation ends. February 2nd, according to American tradition, it`s what happens that makes today special for the species.
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AZUZ (voice-over): It`s Groundhog Day. According to tradition, if the groundhog sees its shadow, we`re in for six more weeks of winter. This is last year`s ceremony in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. It`s home to Punxsutawney Phil. He`s the most famous whistle pig prognosticator, but more than a dozen states celebrate with their own groundhogs.
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AZUZ: Traditional school or virtual school? Would you rather be physically in class or learning online?
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AZUZ (voice-over): At cnnstudentnews.com, 63 percent of you were learning toward traditional school; 37 percent liked the idea of online virtual learning.
Cole says he`d rather take real classes. With online classes, you have no teacher to ask if you`re stuck, and you`re mostly just staring at a computer screen.
From Krysta, "Kids need to also learn communication skills. Without that, they won`t know how to interact with other people."
And Delaney says, "I wouldn`t have all the friends I have if I attended virtual school. Traditional school gives you a chance to interact with other students."
Cala tells us that a virtual school w2ould be safer, because there`s no bullying, and there are no students who are talking while you`re trying to work.
Jordan agrees that virtual school would keep some kids from getting bullied. If you have a computer at your house, you have peace and quiet to concentrate.
But Mar says, "I don`t have the self-motivation to keep up with virtual school."
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AZUZ: Before we go, a birthday surprise for one kindergartner in Utah.
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AZUZ (voice-over): This poster shows the things that Bailey loves. That includes her dad, who`s been serving in Afghanistan.
While she was sharing it with her class --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guess what, Bailey? Turn around.
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BAILEY: Dad, (inaudible).
AZUZ (voice-over): Awesome stuff. Bailey`s dad has served for seven years. This is the first time he has lived at home since Bailey was born.
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AZUZ: Bailey was probably going to have a happy birthday anyway, but having her dad there to celebrate with her, just icing on the cake. We hope you have a great rest of the day. We`ll see you again tomorrow for more CNN Student News.