When Alabama closed a regional hospital, the warden of Metro Jail says that the population of people with mental illness doubled at their facility. Trey Oliver says they often see the same people over and over again, people who should have a different kind of around-the-clock care. Oliver gives his Brief But Spectacular take on why incarceration can’t solve mental illness and life at his jail.

Jason Johnson, a reporter for Lagniappe in Mobile, Alabama, gives his Brief But Spectacular take on how local reporting helped tell the story of mental health care in Alabama, and why journalism matters in educating the public on this story.

Washington state is growing in terms of population and budget, but the number of reporters covering politics in Olympia, its state capital, has declined. And according to Northwest News Network political correspondent Austin Jenkins, “state houses are the incubators” for national public policy. He shares his brief but spectacular take on being "overwhelmed" in order to keep viewers informed.

Dr. Jedidah Isler has an unusual job: she studies supermassive black holes in space (they're called blazars). She’s also one of the few black women in astrophysics and is trying to change that. Dr. Isler, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth College, shares her brief but spectacular take on why inclusivity is so important in science, technology, engineering and math.