Cannot pass variable into CURL in .SH file. Works in Bash

Cannot pass variable into CURL in .SH file. Works in Bash

This code works directly in Bash.
$ var=/2013/08/21/politics/nsa-fisa-court/index.html
$ curl www.cnn.com/$var
However, if I put the exact code into a .SH file and call it from Bash I get:
curl: (52) empty reply from server
What am I doing wrong?