Your source for current events, fun features and puzzling puns.

You're gonna see why in a few minutes.

First up, though, we're updating you on a standoff in the US state of Oregon.

On our January 8th show, which you can find in the archive of our website,

we reported on a man named Ammon Bundy

and a group of armed protestors who took over an unoccupied federal

building in rural Southeast Oregon.

Some of the demonstrators are still there.

But yesterday, eight people connected to the standoff were arrested,

including protest leader Ammon Bundy and four others at a traffic stop.

That's also where a demonstrator identified as LaVoy Finicum

was shot and killed. Law enforcement officials say

it's not clear who fired first, police or the protestors.

The demonstrators say Finicum had his hands in the air when he was shot.

A local sheriff says the death didn't have to happen

and he called for the occupiers of the federal building to leave.

The demonstrators say that's something they will not do.

We're moving one state to the south now.

In the city of Pacifica, California, there's a state of emergency and this is why.

It almost looks like a scale model of a dangerous cliff side.

Because it's real, officials have asked residents of homes

and apartment complexes to get out.

The rapid erosion of the coast has been blamed on storms caused by El Ni o.

The backyards of some properties have already been washed out to sea.

But even though city officials have labeled the properties

unsafe and ordered residents to leave,

some people say they're not going anywhere.

They don't think the danger is imminent.

It's not the first time homes in this area have been evacuated.

Storms have been eroding these cliffs for years.

Officials say relief organizations like the Red Cross

have been contacted to help support those who've had to abandon their homes.

Northeastern US is where we're starting today's call of the roll.

From Hancock, Maine, please welcome the Hornets.

Hancock Grammar School gets things going today.

From Bridgeport, Connecticut, we've got some presidents watching.

They're presiding over Warren Harding High School.

And from the capital of South Korea, that's Seoul,

please welcome our viewers from Whimoon High School.

Great to have you watching.

Ellis Island is in Upper New York Bay.

It's only about 27 acres in size.

For awhile it was used for landfill.

In the early 1800s, it was a fort.

At one point it was a detention center for people

suspected of supporting US enemies.

But it's most famous as the gateway to America.

For millions of immigrants from the 1890s through the 1950s,

Ellis Island was where they were identified,

recorded and given permission to enter the US.

Part of that process included physical exams

and there is a lesser known area of Ellis Island that housed the sick.

I go down this hallway.

I'm going to be going to the hospital built to restore the health

of people suffering from minor injuries, broken bones, goiters.

Even babies were born in this building.

These immigrants were expected to do physically demanding work.

And if they found that you didn't have the physique

or the capacity to do that kind of work, they'd possibly deport you.

Go down this hallway though, you're gonna go to the contagious

and infectious disease hospital that we're talking about.

Diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough, tuberculosis, trachoma.

Hopefully I survive it, then I can return to the immigration process.

You're gonna see some barbaric treatments.

They would be the medical treatments of the day.

For the most part though, this is the first time the third- class

patient would ever see the inside of a hospital. Each pavilion is the same.

It's gonna be a very large open room, in the back,

where patients going to be as far from the hallway as possible.

There would have been 14 beds in the room,

each bed positioned between each of the windows.

There were private rooms, but if you had a private room, you likely were either psychotic,

or you perhaps had tuberculosis.

These are the isolation wards of Ellis Island.

The people here are gonna be suffering from serious diseases,

maybe multiple diseases.

So one of the cruel ironies of this room is the better view you have of the statue.

It's least likely that you're gonna survive your disease before getting to the United States.

This is the autopsy amphitheater,

it's gonna be a darkened room, this surgical lamp's gonna illuminate the autopsy space.

You're not gonna find too many people dying of malaria

in the city hospital of New York.

Doctors wanna come out to see an autopsy being performed on an immigrant.

If you worked here at Ellis Island, you likely lived here.

This is the staff house, very important medical officers lived here

with their families, feet away from people dying of diphtheria.

Children playing in here, enjoying Christmas.

40 % of all Americans can trace an immigrant who came through Ellis Island.

So these stories need to be told,

it requires guides and volunteers to actually mine these stories

and then share with the people as they come here to visit Ellis Island.

Okay, just as an athlete dreams of pro sports or an actor dreams

of the big screen many of those who are in band or in a band

have dreams of success in the music industry.

And you probably know enough about it to expect

it's a pay your dues profession. You have to earn your success.

So what does that look like? CNN caught up with a group of songwriters

who showed us some of the challenges of making music in the streaming age.

This is captured by.

It's lunchtime at the Manhattan studios of songwriter producer team The Eleven.

1: 04 PM And they're starting on a brand new song.

Brothers James and Matt Morales and their partner Dave Rodriguez are collaborating

today with singer songwriter Ginette Claudette.

They start with a chord progression. It's got that New York radio, Latin.

And then the song's core message.

I'm anticipating being with you, kind of vibe.

Got me waiting, kind of thing. Those are just the words that I'm playing with.

So we're just half an hour into the process and things are progressing really quickly.

This is not the romantic notion of songwriting that you might think,

the thunderbolt of inspiration that just happens.

These guys are under intense pressure to keep churning out music as quickly as possible.

There are a lot more songwriters, I would say today,

because the technology allows us to do that.

Technology makes everything so much faster and quicker, we have to expedite the process.

Three hours in and a song is starting to take shape.

The Eleven got a lucky break four years ago when a friend

and music manager spotted one of their tracks.

That lead to a publishing contract with one of the world's biggest

publishing companies, Sony ATV, and the work started flowing.

We've had with Meghan Trainor, Sean Jessie McCartney.

Their's though, is a rare success story.

Jason Blume, a 20 year veteran of the industry,

who's written songs for Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys,

says this is the most difficult time he's ever seen for songwriters.

I personally have had a situation where more than a million airings

on YouTube earned me $ 30.

Streaming has not caught up in terms of the payments,

and it's almost impossible for songwriters to earn a living.

So what do songwriters do? We have to write amazing songs.

Good is not good enough anymore.

It's a message keenly felt by this group,

even with the extra money they earn from producing their own music.

Now if you write a hit record and you have 5 %

of a smash multi platinum selling record,

5 % may not sound like a lot but the music business is a business of nickels

and dimes and if you make enough nickels and dimes

you can make a lot of money.

After five hours of work they have the skeleton of a new record.

Is it gonna be a hit? We hope so, it's hard to say, we don't get to make that call.

The laughter, is nervous, in an industry where profits are spread ever thinner,

that next big hit, means everything. CNN, New York.

A 14 year old from Kentucky holds the Guinness World

record for solving a Rubik's Cube.

He lined up all the colors on the three by three block in less than five seconds.

Well, this robot's a little faster.

It gets the job done in just over one second using a computer application,

several cameras, some stepper motors and some 3D printed robot

arms to position the cube.

Its builder say they've created a puzzle solving machine

worthy of a new world record.

If they made it more complicated, it could be a Rubik's Goldberg machine.

Only if you folks are gonna get that like those who can really solve a Rubik's cube.

It's a mental block, a square deal, a challenge measured in cubits.

Still, puns about it always make for a colorful conclusion

to CNN Student News. We hope to see you tomorrow. I'm Carl Azuz.