(upbeat music) - [Gabriel] Coming up next on NewsDepth, Biden and Trump have secured their presidential nominations.

Nick gives us some insight on fair voting.

We meet a photographer keeping her neighborhood picture perfect.

Jeff tells us about some notable extinct species in this week's Spot on Science.

NewsDepth is now.

Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump earned enough delegates to secure their party presidential nominations.

Hello everybody, I'm Gabriel Kramer.

Thank you for joining us.

On Tuesday this week, registered voters in Ohio took to the polls to decide which candidates would represent their political parties in the upcoming general election in November.

A registered voter is a person who was qualified to vote and has their name recorded in the voting district where they live, who was qualified to vote in the United States?

People who are at least 18 years old and citizens of the US.

The presidential candidates we will see on the ballots is November are former President Donald Trump, for the Republican Party, and current president Joe Biden, for the Democratic Party.

After primary wins in more states last week put both candidates over the top securing enough delegates to win their party's presidential nominations.

A win in Washington state made it official for Donald Trump and President Joe Biden wrapped things up with a win in Georgia.

He will officially be nominated at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August.

Voters in 16 states and American Samoa held primaries and caucuses last week.

More states hold nominating contests on Super Tuesday than any other single day of the primary season.

One of those states is North Carolina, where both Democrats and Republicans are trying to boost Hispanic voter participation.

According to the census, there are more than 440,000 people in North Carolina who identify as Hispanic who are eligible to vote, but about 293,000 people who identify that way are actually registered.

Ellie Ingersoll has more.

- [Ellie] Both parties are hoping to increase Hispanic voter participation.

The Republican party strategy includes recruiting more diverse candidates.

While here in North Carolina, the state democratic party has revived its Hispanic caucus.

- What this Hispanic caucus will be is an attempt to reach out to that community in North Carolina that hasn't been reached out in past elections as much.

- [Ellie] That starts with letting people in the state's Latino community know that their voices and votes matter and getting them registered so they can cast ballots.

- We're just getting used to feeling like we understand the political process, let alone vote in numbers that are commensurate with the size of our population.

The lens that's important here is not one of today and now, but of time and generations.

- [Ellie] According to the census, there are more than 440,000 people in North Carolina who identify as Hispanic who are eligible to vote, but about 293,000 people who identify that way are actually registered, meaning about a third of the Hispanic people who can vote aren't even registered.

- We have to start reclaiming our own agency and our own voice and our own advocacy.

- [Ellie] About one out of every 10 people in the state identify as Hispanic, but when it comes to politics, that population is underrepresented.

In fact, Gabe Esparza, who is running against state representative Wesley Harris for state treasurer, would be the first Latino to hold a statewide position should he win Tuesday and again in November.

- When I talk to our community, I say, you, we can be the difference, not a difference.

The difference.

- llie] Both Reyes-Martinez and Esparza say it's important that whoever is on the ballot recognize that Hispanic voters aren't a one issue group focused on immigration, but they're like every other segment of the population concerned about a variety of topics from education to the economy.

- Thank you, Ellie.

Voting is key to keeping our democracy running, but the law stating just who can cast a ballot have changed since the founding of the country.

Nick Castele has today's Politics On Point, explaining the fights to vote and amendments that open up the polls to the public.

(patriotic music) - [Nick] Voting is often considered our most important right as US citizens, but exactly who gets that right has changed quite a bit through the years.

When we elected our first Congress, the only citizens who could vote were free white men who were 21 years or older and own land.

That left out a majority of the people in the United States.

In fact, in some states, less than 1% of the total population actually cast ballots.

Nearly a hundred years later, after the Civil War ended slavery in America, the 15th amendment was added to the Constitution.

It says, federal and state governments cannot deny anyone the right to vote based on their race, skin color or having been a slave.

While this should have opened the polls to Black voters, many southern states passed restrictive voting laws that kept them from voting.

It wasn't until 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law that all African Americans could exercise their right to vote.

The next big amendment to open up the polls was the 19th.

Although women had been an important force in the history of this country, they had to fight for generations to earn the right to vote.

Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other suffragettes held protests, circulated petitions, and lobbied Congress to give women the vote.

Finally, in 1919, the 19th Amendment was approved by Congress and women cast their ballots for the first time in the election of President Warren G. Harding in 1920.

One of the last hurdles for determining who could vote was the age limit that had been set at 21 years old way back in 1789, but when the Vietnam War started and 18 year olds were drafted to fight, many argued that they too should be able to vote.

In 1971, the states agreed to lower the limit to 18 years by ratifying the 26th Amendment.

Even today, some argue that voter ID laws which require every voter to present a government issued ID are just another way to leave some people out of our democratic process.

Voting is not something to be taken lightly.

It's a right that many of our forefathers and foremothers have fought for.

- Thank you, Nick.

On more news coming from Congress, the US House of Representatives passed key legislation last week that could lead to a nationwide ban on one of the world's most popular social media apps, TikTok.

Legislation refers to the process of making or enacting laws through the formal enactment process within a legislative body like Congress.

If signed into law, this legislation will force its parent company to sell to an American owner or be pulled from the US market.

What does this mean if you, like millions of others, are a TikTok fanatic?

KARIN CAIFA joins us from Washington to break it all down.

- [Karin] The clock may soon be running out on TikTok.

In a rare show of bipartisanship, the US House of Representatives passing a bill Tuesday, that would prohibit TikTok from US app stores unless the platform is divested from its China linked parent company ByteDance within the next five months.

- This is not a bill to ban TikTok.

They just need to sell TikTok to an American owner.

- [Karin] Legislators and intelligence officials warn the app leaves American users vulnerable to the Chinese government.

- We know that TikTok has been manipulating information.

We know that they have access to American's private data and we know that if asked by the Chinese Communist Party to turn that over, they are by law required to do so.

- China calling the move quote, "An act of bullying."

While some members of Congress worry about generational impact.

- I don't think it'll be helpful with young voters.

Taking a step back, I just think it's bad policy.

- [Karin] Many of the roughly 170 million American users, too, have raised concerns.

- If you vote for this ban, you are voting against my first amendment and my way of freedom of speech.

You are voting against my small business, - [Karin] But proponents argue the bill does not infringe upon user speech.

- It cannot be used to censor speech.

It takes no position at all on the content of speech.

Only foreign adversary control.

- [Karin] In a statement, TikTok said it will now focus on the Senate where the fate of the legislation is unclear.

- Thank you, Karin.

We want to hear what you think about this new potential law.

Should TikTok be banned in the United States?

Jump over to our poll page to vote.

You can choose between, yes, TikTok should be banned or no, I like TikTok.

And last week we talked about collegiate sports.

We asked you if you thought college athletes should be compensated.

Let's check out the results of the poll.

80% of you voted for yes, they should get paid, and another 20% of you said no because they aren't professional athletes.

A new study has found that more than a third of teenagers think they spend too much time on their phones.

Around 40% of the 1400 teens surveyed say they log too many hours on smartphones and social media.

That same percentage said they need to cut back, but admitting they feel anxious when they're without their phones.

Just over half of those surveyed are happy with the screen time usage and feel no need to unplug.

Two thirds say they believe the benefits of smartphone usage outweigh the potential harm.

That's according to a report published by the Pew Research Center.

If you'd like to hear more about how to manage electronics in a healthy way, check out our spot on science about electronic addiction on our website or YouTube channel.

When I feel like I need a break from screens, I like to go out for a walk around my neighborhood.

Sometimes I come across some cool street art or a cool critter that makes me wish I had my camera, but I'm not much of a photographer, not like Luke from this next story.

The young photographer from Maine is building his skill and brand before he even hits high school.

The 12-year-old's stunning work is gaining a lot of attention online and now he's sharing how he started it all.

Grace Bradley sat down with him.

- My brother and my grandfather are both, been photographers for a long time.

They were gonna go on a trip up to Acadia National Park, gonna go about 11 o'clock at night to get some Milky Way photos, and I had never tried out photography at that point and it was just one of the most amazing trips in my life.

They have taught me everything to know about cameras that I need.

From then on, I've just continued this passion and I think I will for a very long time.

- [Grace] Luke's passion for photography is fueled by creativity, which he says acts as an outlet for self-expression.

- From when I was kid, I wanted to be an architect and I've always wanted to be able to express creativity in a way that I just couldn't, and when I found photography, it really just lets you have another way to express yourself.

I can do whatever I want with it.

I can just do it all myself, which is something that really drew me in.

- [Grace] In the future, he hopes to turn his passion into a fulfilling career.

Being only 12 years old, he's got plenty of time to perfect his craft.

- I'm just glad that I'm able to learn everything and not have to go through the process while making a business for it.

In the meantime, Luke has been posting his photos on his Facebook page, Luke Jonathan Photography.

- It's all been so supportive and very motivational for me to go out and keep on shooting.

For any passion, don't give up, be creative.

Don't think you just can't go out and do anything because you really can.

If you put in the effort, you really can do anything you set your mind to.

- Thank you, grace.

In this edition of Sketchbook, we meet a local photographer, Bridget Caswell documented the strength and resilience of her neighborhood during the first year of the Global Pandemic.

Mary Fecteau brings us her story.

- Oh man, that's good, Scooby.

My name is Bridget Caswell and I am a professional photographer.

I really tell stories with my photos and I tend to gravitate towards taking photographs of people.

(upbeat music).

I'm a firm believer of telling a story where you're at.

- [Mary] And where she's at is Collinwood, a diverse, eclectic community northeast of downtown Cleveland.

- We have judges and artists and musicians and blue collar and you know, police, firemen, that it really is across the board that I think we pride ourselves in our sense of community.

- [Mary] She's been an active presence in the neighborhood for 15 years, but during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bridget saw things change in Collinwood as they did in neighborhoods across the world.

- At the beginning of the pandemic, everybody was trying to figure out how to adapt and live and survive.

All of a sudden, you know, we all had to withdraw into our houses and you don't feel as connected.

When the pandemic started, I was riding my bike through my neighborhood with my daughter and I heard one of my neighbors was playing her accordion.

(soft music) And as I drove and I got closer to the music, really, I just had this moment where it clicked, where I realized that I needed to be telling the story of how this pandemic was affecting our neighborhood.

- [Mary] And so Bridget began taking porch portraits of her neighbors, a trend that photographers embraced across the country during the pandemic.

Families posed socially distant in front of their homes.

She'd post them on her Instagram.

- There were hundreds of photographers going out and taking pictures outside, but to me it was really more about trying to help my neighborhood stay connected and feel seen.

People were stopping me randomly on the street, hey, can you come and take mine next?

This is such a unique period in our lifetime and whenever I take a portrait of somebody, I connect with them and so I was invested in their life and I wanted to see on a personal level, but also as a storyteller, how that year had impacted their lives, - [Mary] And so she returned to her original subjects and created dual portraits separated by a year.

They're compiled into a book she's called "Homebody."

"Homebody" is also a gallery show right in the community where it was created at Collinwood's Photocentric.

Bridget's photos are paired with painter Tim Callaghan's pandemic work.

His work also centers around the neighborhood, but with different subjects in mind.

- With the exception of a few of them, a lot of my images are void of of humans, of people.

I think Bridget is certainly capturing the people of this neighborhood where I'm focused more on the places.

- Tim and I both were really on the same kind of journey where we thought it was really important to document our community.

(soft music) What I hope that people take away from the gallery show and the book is the resilience of our community and how special Collinwood is, and I really want people to see that.

That we banded together.

- Thanks for sharing that story with us, Mary, and for inspiring this week's Write to Us.

This week, we wanna see your photography skills.

Take a picture of something cool and tell us what it means to you.

Extra points, if you give your photo a title like a professional photographer.

You can send us your pictures through our inbox form online or by sending an email to us at newsdepth@ideastream.org.

Last week we wanted to know what you had planned for your spring break.

Let's see what you had to say by opening our inbox.

Callie from Central Intermediate School in Wadsworth starts us with, "Dear NewsDepth, I don't have any plans for spring break, but I will probably hang out with my friends and cousins.

We normally don't go anywhere for spring break, but we go to the outer banks in North Carolina for summer."

That sounds like a lot of fun.

Love the beaches there.

Nukunj from Strongsville Middle School in Strongsville is looking forward to eating pizza.

"Dear NewsDepth, I'm looking forward to going to Chicago.

It's going to be so fun.

I'm going to see the Bean go to special landmarks and eat lots of deep dish pizza.

But the thing is that it's a six hour long drive.

It's going to take a lot of time to get there and come back."

Eva from Melridge Elementary in Painesville wrote, "Dear NewsDepth, I'm not sure, but I'm planning.

I know I'm going to Columbus.

I'm going to Columbus for my gymnastics competition, but meanwhile I'm relaxing.

Maybe have some vacations, but mostly a staycation."

Good luck on your competition Eva.

Sanvi from Troy Intermediate in Avon Lake is already planning to see the eclipse.

"Dear News Depth, on spring break, I'm looking forward for a staycation and a vacation because for seven days I'm just staying home and for the rest of the days I'm planning to go to my friends and go shopping.

I'm also so excited for the solar eclipse.

I wonder how many people are visiting Avon Lake?"

And Lauren from Cork Elementary in Geneva loves playing video games.

"I'm very excited for spring break.

I'm not doing anything very fun though.

I'm going to go shopping with my mom, watching TV, and hopefully playing on my Nintendo Switch.

If I play my Switch, I'll probably play my favorite game called "Dreamlight Valley."

It is really fun.

Tell Newshound, he's doing a great job and that Mrs. Ball's class loves him."

You hear that Newshound?

(dog barks) Thanks to everyone who wrote in as always.

I can't wait to see your pictures next week.

Now let's switch to some archeological news.

For the first time ever, scientists are unveiling a 240 million year old dragon in its entirety, the National Museums of Scotland announced last month.

It's called the Dinocephalosaurus Orientalis.

The five meter long reptile from the Triassic period was first identified in China in 2003, but newly discovered fossils allowed the international team of researchers to depict the entire creature.

Scientists say it's very reminiscent of a Chinese dragon.

Professor Li Chun from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing was the first to uncover the fossils back in '03.

He was visiting a small village in the southern part of China when he noticed a small vertebrae in a slab of limestone.

Local farmers then took Chun to a pig pen where there were other pieces of that type of rock, and he started to find bone fragments and pieced them together to discover this new species.

Now, newer fossils indicate that the creature had 32 vertebrae, creating an extremely long neck that likely helped it to catch fish.

Fish were still preserved in the stomach region of one fossil, indicating that it was well adapted to a marine environment.

Dinosaurs, once rulers of the earth, are now extinct except for birds, which are considered their descendants.

To be extinct, refers to the state of a species that no longer exists, meaning there are no living individuals of that species remaining on earth.

Extinction is a natural process.

It occurs when a species disappears due to various reasons, but human activities can accelerate this process.

Some notable extinct species include the dodo, passenger pigeon, great auk, and steller's sea cow.

Jeff St. Clair has more on this week's Spot on Science.

(upbeat music) - If you know anything about dinosaurs, you know they're extinct.

That means they all died out, well except for birds, which are technically dinosaurs, but that's another story.

Extinction is when an animal or plant species dies out for one reason or another.

It's a natural part of our planet's history, but sometimes animals go extinct, not from natural causes, but because of humans, and that's something we need to pay attention to, because extinction is forever.

Some of the most famous extinctions are from animals that are even hard to imagine today.

The dodo, for example, was a real bird that lived on the island of Mauritius off the coast of Africa.

When European sailors first discovered the island in the 1600s, they were shocked to find a large flightless pigeon that had no fear of people.

That's why they called it a dodo.

Within a few years, they were gone.

Other animals have gone the way of the dodo.

The passenger pigeon was once the most common bird in the world.

It darkened the skies of America in colonial times, but hunters drove them to extinction, until only one remained, a bird named Martha who died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.

Have you ever heard of the Great Auk?

It was known as the Penguin of the North, but the last one of these large flightless birds was killed by hunters in 1844.

Another strange beast was the steller's sea cow, a huge walrus-like animal that lived in Alaska, before sailors killed them off in the 1800s.

They were similar to a manatee, but they grew to 30 feet long and lived alongside native people for thousands of years, until European hunters arrived.

Many animals today are close to extinction.

Rare and endangered species like rhinos, blue whales, pandas, and others, are the result of millions of years of evolution.

They're often key members of natural communities.

They're beautiful, important and rare, and that's why we need the Endangered Species Act and other protections to help save them because remember, extinction is forever.

- Thank you, Jeff.

Now it's time to check in with everyone's favorite pup, Newshound.

Let's see what all the buzz is about in this week's petting zoo.

(upbeat music) (dog barking) Hey, News Hound.

Wait, you're not taking a nap, are you?

But we're in the middle of a show.

We've got some work to do.

Here we go.

Find anything good for us?

Okay, it's a story about a swarm of bees in Savannah, Georgia that ran away from home.

- [Ryan] I asked the bees why they ran away, but they were dodging my questions.

So why did you swarm?

So Blevins answered on the bee's behalf.

- Swarming is a natural reproductive of the bees lifecycle.

- [Ryan] She explained that when a hive gets too full, a swarm of some bees will fly off with a new queen to make their own hives somewhere else.

- [Gabriel] To watch how their beekeeper safely brought them back, click the Petting Zoo thumbnail on our website.

What a cool story, thank you Newshound.

You know, when I was in elementary school, I was in the announcements club.

I got to go to the office first thing and read that day's announcements on the loudspeaker.

It was a lot of fun and maybe got me ready for my job as NewsDepth host.

This week's A+ plus award winners are following that same path and maybe one day they will host NewsDepth or their own news show.

This week's A+ award winners are the Morning Announcements Club from Crestview Elementary School in Brunswick.

The Morning Announcement Club is a group of ten fifth graders who have taken on the responsibility of sharing important information to 450 students and staff members using the school's television system.

The group meets every other week and pre-records the morning announcements, which contain the day's lunch menu, fun facts, upcoming events, Brunswick's Journey of a Blue Devil Competencies, mindfulness videos, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Pride Code, which both featured different classrooms of students.

I wish we could planned that far in advance.

The group told us that they were recruited by their fourth grade teachers based on their responsibility, citizenship, academics, and character.

These newscasters also told us this club is important not only for providing the news, but they are role models to kids from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Cameron told us that sometimes he even feels like a celebrity.

Hey, I know that feeling sometimes too, Cameron.

Chase added that he's really proud to be a part of the club because he knows he's accomplishing something important, and Madison told us that they had the privilege of providing a service to their community.

Wow, you know, it almost sounds like they would fit in here at NewsDepth headquarters.

Well, as a matter of fact, a few weeks ago they stopped by our studio to give us a visit.

During their visit, they got to tour the Idea Center in downtown Cleveland, speak with my buddy Ygal, who sometimes fills in for me when I'm not able to be here, and a few other people who work here.

They even got to speak with Amy Eddings, who was one of our radio hosts and went to Crestview Elementary School herself.

But my favorite part of the visit was when they stopped by the studio when we were taping that episode that you all watched on February 29th.

I loved meeting you all.

This week's A+ award goes to the Morning Announcements Club at Crestview Elementary School for sharing important information with their classmates.

Congratulations and thanks for stopping by.

I had so much fun.

Well, that's all the time we have for you today, but you can keep the conversation going and there are plenty of ways for you to stay in touch with us.

You can write to us.

We're at 1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.

Our zip code here is 44115.

You can email us at newsdepth@ideasstream.org.

Plus you can catch all of our special segments on YouTube.

Hit subscribe if you're old enough, so you don't miss out on any of our new videos.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Gabriel Kramer.

We'll see you right back here next week for a special episode all about space.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] NewsDepth is made possible by a Grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation.

(soft music)