MITT ROMNEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. Chairman! And delegates! I accept your nomination for president of the United States.
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CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: And that makes it official. Hi, everyone. I`m Carl Azuz. Thank you for wrapping up the week and the month with CNN STUDENT NEWS. After months of primaries and debates, campaign events in a week-long convention, the Republican Party officially has its presidential and vice presidential nominees. Paul Ryan addressed the Republican convention on Wednesday.
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PAUL RYAN, REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. Chairman, delegates and fellow citizens, I`m honored by the support of this convention for vice president of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
RYAN: Ladies and gentlemen, these past four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the White House.
(APPLAUSE)
RYAN: What is missing, is leadership in the White House. After four years of getting the runaround, America needs a turnaround and the man for the job is Governor Mitt Romney.
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AZUZ: His running mate set the stage on Wednesday, then it was Mitt Romney`s turn to take the podium yesterday and give what some analysts call the defining speech of his political career.
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ROMNEY: I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed.
(APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: But his promises gave way to disappointments and division. This isn`t something we have to accept. Now is the moment when we can do something, and with your help, we will do something.
(APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: Now is the moment where we can stand up and say, I`m an American, I make my destiny. We deserve better. My children deserve better. My family deserves better. My country deserves better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: In states along the U.S. Gulf Coast, the rain will not stop. Isaac was downgraded to a tropical storm on Wednesday, and downgraded again to a tropical depression yesterday, but it was still drenching the region. That led to severe flooding in some areas. You can see this neighborhood already under water, concerns about rising water levels in other areas led officials to announce mandatory evacuations for tens of thousands of people. On Wednesday, rescue workers helped save around 100 people who did not evacuate in time. As of Thursday, there was one death reported in connection with Isaac: a tow truck driver was hit by a falling tree while he was trying to clear debris off a road in Mississippi.
When you see images of natural disasters, like the ones from Isaac, you might wonder what you can do about it. There is a way to get involved and support the victims of this disaster and the organizations helping them. Go to the spotlight section at cnnstudentnews.com, and click on "Impact to your World: find out how you can make a difference.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this legit? The Paralympic Games developed from a sports competition for injured World War II veterans.
This is true! That competition was held in England in 1948.
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AZUZ: The Paralympics are back in England this year, in fact, they kicked off early this week, and while the competitors aren`t exclusively military veterans, like they were in 1948, there are a growing number of vets taking part in the Paralympics. Matthew Chance has more on the trend.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a very sobering thought, but there are now more military veterans injured in battle competing in the Paralympics than have been for years. If it weren`t for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, people like John Allan Butterworth could have had very different lives.
And each has a remarkable story of survival. Derek Derenellegy (ph), now a gold hopeful in the discus, had his legs blown off in Afghanistan. He says he was being zipped into a body bag when Army medics noticed he still had a pulse. Samantha Bowen, a Royal Artillery gunner, was so badly injured in Iraq, she says her comrades couldn`t recognize her. Now, she is a key member of Britain`s Paralympic sitting volleyball team. Captain Nick Baton lost his legs in Afghanistan, and he is hoping for a medal in rowing. Former Gurkha soldier, Netra Rana, was injured in Afghanistan, too; sport, he says, has restored his self respect.
NETRA RANA, BRITISH SITTING VOLLEYBALL PLAYER: We just don`t want to, you know, just sit on the corner and hide. We just want to come forward and just do what we want to do, and just the -- mentally tough (ph), you know, being in the army.
CHANCE: These are not athletes given to regret.
JOHN ALLAN BUTTERWORTH, BRITISH PARA-CYCLIST: And what I think of it now, is this is one of the best things that have ever happened to me. It`s kind of, you know, I`ve met new people. I`ve, you know, tried different things, different sports, and to do the things I never did before. And yes, it kind of made me the person I am today. You know, I`ve changed, since, you know, I couldn`t use my arm, but I think only for the better.
CHANCE: It`s testament that sports can change lives for the better, even lives shattered by war. Matthew Chance, CNN London.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s time for the "Shoutout." Who was U.S. president in 1894 when Labor Day became a national holiday? If you think you know it, then shout it out! Was it, Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt or William McKinley? You`ve got three seconds, go!
Labor Day became a national holiday during Grover Cleveland`s second time in the White House. That`s your answer, and that`s your "Shoutout."
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AZUZ: For a lot of people Labor Day means the end of summer. Wrapping up family vacations, getting back to school. The original goal of the holiday was to honor workers, and the idea of it first came up about a decade before President Cleveland and Congress made it a national holiday. Towns all across the country hold Labor Day parades, but the first one of those happened in New York City on September Fifth, 1882, it`s estimated that around 10,000 workers were in the parade. It took another five years for a state to declare Labor Day as a legal holiday. That happened on the other side of the country in Oregon. And then in 1894, it became a holiday for the entire United States. Labor Day always falls in the first Monday in September. This year, that`s this coming Monday, the 3rd, a lot of schools and offices will be closed, and we will be off on Monday as well to observe the holiday.
College football is back. The season officially starts this weekend, although there were already a few games last night. The return of the players also means the return of the refs, and a lot of times officials only get noticed when they make a bad call, but one college ref`s groundbreaking career has been getting attention since it started five years ago.
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GERALD AUSTIN, FOOTBALL: An NFL scout from Jackson, Mississippi called me and said -- said, Gerald, I got an official I want you to look at. This is a really good official, and they are ready for college football, and I said, what`s his name? And he says, her name is Sarah.
SARAH THOMAS, CONFERENCE USA OFFICIAL: The first year I began playing sports, I started playing softball. I love just a competition. I had an aunt and she asked me one Christmas when I was going to go out and play basketball. And I said, they don`t have a girl`s league, and she said, well, go try out for the boys` team. So I did. Just because I was a girl they never told me I couldn`t play. But they did say, if you are going to go out there, you`ve got to be able to hold your own. So, I think it made me tougher, it didn`t stop me. Whatever I`m involved in, is 100 percent or don`t do it.
When you step on the football field, I don`t know, it`s just a sense of gratification that, hey, I`m on this field, I`ve got a job I`ve got to do. I know I`m not going to work the perfect game, but you are not going to convince me of that until I finish the fourth quarter. You try to go out and work the perfect game. And that`s just such a huge challenge. So that`s -- that`s the passion I have.
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AZUZ: Some people wonder if twins share a special connection. Check out these two.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys ready?
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AZUZ: I don`t know if it`s extrasensory, but it`s certainly extra cute. The best part is how the YouTube video starts, with the two of them looking at each other like, all right, let`s do this.
After watching this synchronized sensation, I think we can declare it official. Dancing babies, for the twin. Some choreography sets a high bar. This one was more like a high chair! But it`s time for us to boogie on out of here. We hope you enjoy the Labor Day weekend. We will be back on Tuesday, with the start of our coverage on the Democratic convention. See you then.
END