(upbeat music) - Coming up next on NewsDepth, we take a look back at one of the newest Olympic sports, skateboarding.

And we want to know who would you take with you to space?

Stressed out about the new school year?

Margaret's got some tips to cope.

Plus, we talk with women in Afghanistan who are unsure what the future holds.

NewsDepth is now.

(upbeat music) Welcome back to season 52 of NewsDepth.

Hello, everybody, I'm Rick Jackson, thank you so much for joining us.

I hope you had a great summer, but we sure have a lot to catch up on, so let's get right to the news.

Folks in Southern states are still cleaning up after Hurricane Ida made landfall about two weeks ago.

The category four storm hit Louisiana with 150 mile per hour winds.

A hurricane is a violent storm with wind speeds of 74 miles per hour or higher.

They form over the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans.

These storms typically occur between June and November when waters are warm from the summer.

Hurricanes normally lose much of their strength once they reach land, but Ida still caused plenty of damage as she moved along, dumping heavy rains on the Northeast and triggering flooding along her path from Louisiana to New York.

Jeremy Roth reports.

- [Jeremy] The Northeast shellshocked after bearing the brunt of the remnants of Ida.

Streets submerged in New York City in Harlem and Queens.

- We are in a whole new world now.

We saw a horrifying storm last night, unlike anything we have seen before.

- [Jeremy] Below ground, subway stations and tunnels inundated with water, as are a number of homes.

New Yorkers received their first ever flash flood emergency issued by the National Weather Service.

In New Jersey, tornadoes were spotted twisting up debris.

Multiple homes were damaged, some were destroyed.

In Newark, after the all time wettest day on record, cars are underwater.

In this family's basement in Maplewood, furniture is stacked up and toys are floating by.

Response teams were called out to rescue those trapped.

As the storm moves on, the chaos remains, as Ida rewrites the record books in the battered Northeast.

- [Reporter] Absolutely unprecedented storm events changed everything.

Right now we're in a very dire situation.

- [Jeremy] I'm Jeremy Roth, reporting.

- Thanks, Jeremy.

And teachers, we've got a copy of hurricane Ida's path to explore with your students.

It's attached to this week's episode guide, which you'll find beneath the show on ideastream.org.

Now, 20 years ago, another tragedy impacted New York City and the nation.

This week, we remember the traumatic 9/11 attack when terrorists took control of four airplanes.

They crashed two planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and another into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. One last plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers overpowered the hijackers.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed that day and many more were injured.

On September 11th, many of our brave first responders rushed to help those who were hurt and to protect their country.

Today, we want to take a minute to honor and thank those who came to the rescue.

We remember those we lost and we'll never forget the sacrifices made.

After the attacks, former president, George Bush, declared a war on terror to find the people responsible for those attacks and to prevent new attacks.

Part of this included sending troops to the country of Afghanistan in the Middle East.

For 20 years, the United States military has had a presence there.

But just last week, U.S. soldiers finally left the country.

President Joe Biden announced an end to the United States' longest war and promised to bring all Americans and our Afghan allies out of the country.

It proved to be a very difficult and dangerous task.

With the American military moving out, Afghanistan was quickly overtaken by a group known as the Taliban.

They've had very strict laws for people who live under their control, especially women.

Reporter Clarissa Ward was in the country shortly after the Taliban took over and she has this report for us.

- [Clarissa] At the Central Kabul Market today, stores were open and people were back on the streets, or at least some people.

It was impossible not to notice that women here seemed to have largely melted away.

One store was doing better business than usual.

For more than a decade, Mohammed has been selling burkas, the head to toe covering once imposed by the Taliban.

"Business was good, but now it's even better," he tells us, "More sales."

- Why do you think you're selling more burkas right now?

"Because the Taliban took over and all the women are afraid," he says, "So, that's why they're all coming in and buying burkas?"

Do you feel abandoned?

- [Fazila] Yeah, exactly.

- In an apartment downtown, we saw that fear firsthand.

Until last week, Fazila was working for the U.N. That's not her real name and she asks we not show her face.

She's petrified that the Taliban will link her to Western organizations and says she hasn't gone outside since they arrived in Kabul.

You look very frightened.

- [Fazila] Exactly.

Too much is at risk.

It is not easy for a person to have worked a lot with international organization, having more than 10 years experience of working with international and now, no one of them help me.

Just sending emails to different organization that I work with you, but now, no response.

- The Taliban says they have learned from history and that women's rights will be protected.

But many fearful Afghan women remain to be persuaded.

We're on our way now to the home of a prominent female Afghan politician.

She's told me that there are Taliban fighters outside her front door, so she's asked that I go in alone.

Fawzia Koofi was one of the Afghan government negotiators during peace talks with the Taliban and has dealt with the group a lot.

She says that promising change is not enough.

- They have to really prove it in the provinces across Afghanistan, they have to show it by example.

It's very easy to issue statements, but people need to see that in practice.

- [Clarissa] 20 years of progress for women in Afghanistan now hangs by a thread.

- Thanks, Clarissa.

Sticking with the international news now, let's head over to Japan, where the Olympics were held this summer.

But, before we look back on the games themselves, let's take a spin around the globe to get a better picture of the country.

Konnichiwa.

Japan is an island country off the East Coast of China and the Koreas in the Pacific Ocean.

Japan is home to more than 126 million people and plenty of mountains, including Mount Fuji.

The capital city of Tokyo is not only the largest metropolitan area in the world, but is a display of the country's advanced technologies and businesses, right alongside its ancient temples.

When it comes to government, Japan is a constitutional monarchy.

That means they have a monarch who symbolically leads the country, but also have a government set up by a constitution.

Now, you know that Japan was supposed to hold the Olympics in 2020, but they got pushed back by a year due to the pandemic.

So, as the games opened, we had a new sport debut, skateboarding.

Yes, skateboarding.

Once considered an activity for misfits and rebels, but no longer.

Blake Essig reports from Osaka.

(skateboard rolling) - [Blake] At Triangle Park in Osaka, creativity is king.

Here, it doesn't matter who you are, where you come from or how much air you catch.

It's all about innovation, art and self-expression.

- [Taiichiro's Interpreter] People should feel free when they skateboard.

It's better if there are no rules.

- [Blake] For more than 30 years, this park has been home to Japan's underground skateboard scene.

The birth place of alternative skate and a diverse crew of skaters known around the globe as the Osaka Daggers.

Taiichiro Nakamura, better known as Chopper, is considered by many as its father.

He's been skateboarding on the streets of Osaka since he was a teenager.

- [Taiichiro's Interpreter] Skateboarding represents freedom and diversity for me, so I'm trying to inspire younger people to value those ideas, too.

We want to foster an environment where everyone is free to express their own unique style.

- The Osaka Daggers are not a team, but instead, a culture.

A pioneering group that was once considered nothing more than rebels and misfits now represents the foundation of skateboarding here in Japan.

A foundation that Daisuke Hayakawa, coach of the Japanese Olympic skateboard team, says will, in a sense, be on display when skateboarding makes its Olympic debut at the games here in Tokyo.

- [Daisuke's Interpreter] At the Olympics, people will be able to see how skaters express their creativity and ideas through skateboarding.

While skateboarding became an Olympic sport, it's important to remember the culture around it.

- [Blake] A culture that could become more widely accepted as the sport goes mainstream.

- [Daisuke's Interpreter] I think the future is bright for skateboarding.

- [Blake] Back in Osaka, while the Olympics have already had a big influence on shifting perceptions around skateboarding, these skaters say acceptance and change means a constant struggle, as skating here is still technically against city rules.

- [Taiichiro's Interpreter] From the outside, it looks like this park belongs to young people, but when we skateboard here, the police always come.

- [Blake] But that hasn't stopped Chopper and his crew from doing what they love at Triangle Park and just down the street at the indoor skate park, sharing the passion and culture embedded in their DNA with the next generation.

- [Hokuto's Interpreter] I started skateboarding when I was three.

I think it's a really fun sport.

- [Blake] Hokuto Yonemura, at nine years old, is the youngest Osaka Dagger.

A talented skater with big aspirations.

- [Hokuto's Interpreter] I want to make it to the Olympics because I really want to win the gold medal.

- [Blake] A dream, starting this year, that could become a reality as sport and culture collide for the world to see.

Blake Essig, CNN, Osaka.

- Thanks, Blake.

Something else really cool about skateboarding in this year's Olympics, a 12 year old won the sport's silver medal.

Kokona Hiraki is the youngest medalist in Japan and actually in all Olympic history for the last 85 years.

How impressive is that?

More celebrations this summer included the addition of a new federal holiday to the calendar.

Did you know that?

President Biden signed this bill in June, it declared Juneteenth a federal holiday.

Juneteenth, which falls on June 19th, is a day that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.

It's in recognition of June 19th of 1865, that's the date on which news of the end of slavery reached slaves in Southwestern states.

- And, you know, when we establish a national holiday, it makes an important statement.

National holidays are something important.

These are days when we, as a nation, have decided to stop and take stock and often to acknowledge our history.

We must learn from our history and we must teach our children our history because it is part of our history as a nation.

- Juneteenth is the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day way back in 1983.

The legislation gained momentum following Black Lives Matter protests last year.

Both the House and the Senate passed the bill before President Biden signed it into law.

A new law was also passed in Louisville, Kentucky this summer.

The Crown Act bans treating someone poorly because of their hair.

It stands for "Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural hair".

The ordinance now makes it illegal to discriminate based on natural hair and hairstyles, including natural texture and color, as well as braids, locks, twists and coverings related to a person's national origin.

Discriminate means to treat someone unfairly because of a specific characteristic or trait.

In approving the ordinance, council members noted black hairstyles are nearly four times more likely to be perceived as unprofessional.

This can hurt African-Americans' ability to get jobs.

The Crown Act was first passed in California in 2019.

Since then, 12 more states have passed similar legislation and some individual cities, as well.

In Ohio, this includes Newburgh Heights, Akron, Columbus and Cincinnati.

Okay, how about one more awesome summer story?

Did you hear about the billionaires who flew to space?

Businessman Richard Branson and Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos both blasted off in their own spaceships.

Darryl Forges has the breakdown of Bezos' big day.

- [NASA Member] Two, one.

- [Darryl] Up, up and away for the Blue Origin New Shepard spacecraft.

Inside, a four person crew, including billionaire and Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos and his brother, Mark.

- Oh my God.

(crowd laughing) My expectations were high and they were dramatically exceeded.

- [Darryl] The quick, but historic 11 minute flight launched them more than 65 miles above Earth, experiencing weightlessness and a thrill of a lifetime.

- [Jeff] Woo.

Oh, wow, wow, wow.

We just came through the- - [Astronaut] Don't forget to look out the window.

- [Darryl] Returning to Earth only a few moments later.

- [Reporter] And touchdown.

Welcome back New Shepard's first human crew.

(crowd cheering) - [Darryl] Welcomed home by friends and loved ones.

For Bezos, the venture to space fulfilling a lifelong dream.

- Best day ever.

And I couldn't pick a, I couldn't pick a best part.

- [Darryl] The historic crew also included the youngest and oldest people ever to go to space.

18 year old Oliver Daemen and 82 year old aviation pioneer, Wally Funk.

- This experience, you should share with more and more people.

It's so amazing.

- We had a great time, it was wonderful.

I want to go again fast.

- [Darryl] This is a second private space flight in nine days.

The goal, forging a new frontier in space tourism and exploration.

- We're going to build a road to space, so that our kids and their kids can build the future.

- [Darryl] I'm Darryl Forges, reporting.

- Thanks, Darryl.

Now, we want to hear from you.

Bezos craft carried both the oldest and youngest persons ever to go into space.

We want to know, if you could travel to space with someone, who would you take and why?

You can find the inbox form beneath this episode online or locate it from the NewsDepth homepage.

And if you can't think of somebody else to go with you, I'll go.

Okay.

I will be sharing some of your best submissions in next week's show and on our website, just like these letters.

At the end of last season, remember that?

We asked you to come up with a summer symbol for Ohio.

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

Sanjay from Olmsted Falls Intermediate in Olmsted wrote, "I would make the symbol a farmer driving a tractor on a field."

"Why I would do that is because it represents the farmers in our state."

"It also represents our land, water and agriculture."

"This would mean a lot to our state, farmers and our country because farmers are giving us food every day."

Layla from Whitney Elementary in Strongsville sent in this drawing with her letter.

"My Ohio summer symbol would be an Ohio flag pole with a cardinal on top, behind a rollercoaster because we have Cedar Point right here in the incredible state of Ohio."

"I think this should be our summer symbol because it has many things that represent Ohio."

"For example, the rollercoaster behind the flag symbolizes Cedar Point and their loads of rides, the cardinal and Ohio flag show that Ohio is proud to have this awesome theme park and two amazing symbolic representatives for our state."

Here's one from Savannah from Strausser Elementary in Massillon.

"I would choose a sun because the sun is beautiful and it makes us warm when we are cold."

Jax from Cassingham Elementary in in Bexley wrote, "I think lemonade is a good summer symbol for Ohio because it's sweet."

"You can make it homemade or buy it at a store."

"Also, it's a good symbol because it gets hot in summer and lemonade is a good way to beat the heat."

Finally, Landon from Barberton Middle in Barberton chose something tasty.

"What I would say is a grill."

"I say this because I can just imagine having a barbecue party at the pool and it would be so fun."

"I also say this because Ohio is shaped like a heart and you should hang out with family."

"I think that this would be a great symbol."

"I also think that barbecue ribs are so good."

Great letters, everybody.

And yes, Landon, ribs are awesome.

Now, I can't wait to see what you send us about space.

Oh, and did you know you can also send video responses, too?

Just upload your video answer through the inbox form or email it to newsdepth@ideastream.org.

Now, we need to have you parent or guardian's permission to share a video response, though.

Teachers, you can find that permission form beneath the inbox form online.

At the end of last season, we also asked you to vote on your favorite special segment.

41% of you went the same way, you chose Spot on Science.

Now, we get to know the other special segments throughout the season, but for you science fans out there, this next one's for you.

Our Margaret Cavalier has this week's Spot on Science.

Margaret.

- Confession, whenever I have to film one of these, my hands get a little sweaty, my breathing gets funny and my heart starts racing.

Basically, I get a little stressed out.

But, luckily, that stress has some science behind it and stress can even be a good thing.

To learn more about it, I called up Dr. Lisa Ramirez from Metro Health.

She's a child psychologist.

I started our call by asking her, "What exactly is stress?"

(upbeat music) - So, stress is actually a good thing.

Stress is really meant to help us understand when something is wrong or we need to do something just a little bit differently.

And so, stress might be realizing that you have a test coming up the next day, it might be realizing that maybe you hear somebody opening the front door and nobody's supposed to be coming over at that time and so, your body starts to realize, "Okay, we need to do something differently," to either get us out of danger or do something to study for that test that we do well.

And so, our bodies are really, really familiar with stress and it is often a good thing.

Sometimes, though, stress can get to be too much and that's when it becomes a problem.

- And can you tell me a little bit about that and what's going on with your body when maybe the stress is too much?

- Sometimes I'll think about it kind of like a swimming pool.

You know, so, positive stress is like when you jump into the shallow end, your feet touch the ground, maybe you swallow a little bit of water, you know, but you get right back out and you're jumping back in again.

Tolerable stress is that point between the deep end and the shallow end where your feet are not quite touching the bottom, but you're close enough where you can get back out, especially if there's someone to kind of help you, give you a hand and say, "Come back into the shallow end."

Toxic stress is that point where we are in the deep end of stress, our feet are nowhere near the bottom and there's really not a lot around us to help us, so we feel like there's not a lot to grab onto.

- And our brain is really seeing kind of chemicals, right?

- Yeah, there's a little part of your brain called the amygdala, that's the alarm system, and so, it sends out something called cortisol and it's actually a steroid.

So, imagine, you know, somebody's running at you in the park and your brain sends out an alarm system, that cortisol, that steroid, it's kind of telling your body, "We've gotta run fast, we've gotta scream loud, we gotta listen to everything," you know, make sure, so it makes everything sharper, which is great when we have to get out of the dangerous situation or a stressful situation, but if we're so long in that, in that state, again, it takes away from all the other parts of our body.

We can't focus very much because we're still worried about paying attention to everything around us.

And so, you know, there are ways to shut off that cortisol and that alarm system that we call coping.

- And can you share some of those coping tips that you have?

- Yeah, sure.

So, one of the best ways, really, that we know is by leaning on important and meaningful people in your life.

Being able to talk about the things that stress us out is really important.

If we don't have that, you know, there are ways of trying to take care of our health 'cause the healthier our bodies are, then the better prepared it is for stress and we can eat healthy and make sure we're getting our sleep, do a little bit of movement, you know, and try and keep ourselves healthy that way.

Also, a really basic way that we can do anytime is trying to calm our bodies down.

And I'm sure you've heard people recommend things like yoga or deep breaths, things like that to calm down.

- Yeah, and I hear a lot of the times people, if you're kind of freaking out, they say, "Take deep breaths," so kind of what's up with that?

Is that, does that actually help?

- Yeah, so, yes and no.

So, I will say deep breaths are amazing and they are, like, doing a correct deep breath is really powerful and it can calm you down, even in the most stressful situation.

But, most people don't do deep breaths the right way.

People focus on filling their lungs, but actually don't realize that the more important part of deep breaths is emptying your lungs.

So, do it with me, Margaret.

We're gonna take a deep breath in and then I want you to see how long you can have a nice deep out breath and when you're blowing out, imagine that maybe you're blowing out a birthday cake or blowing bubbles, okay?

So, let's do it together.

Let's take our deep breath in.

Let's blow out as long as we can.

(upbeat music) You did really long.

What was that like?

- I feel my shoulders relax and I just feel a lot more comfortable.

- Yeah, emptying your lungs really helps your body realize, "Wait a minute, we don't have to stress out so much, we can actually relax a little bit," and doing that deep out breath tricks that amygdala part of our brain and turns the alarm off, even it's just for a little bit, right?

One more thing you can imagine is if you're filling your bubbles, you can imagine some of your worries even going into them, floating away and popping away from you.

You know, so, that's kind of a visual way to see if you can get rid of some of that stress.

- I love that.

I already feel a lot more relaxed.

Thanks so much, Lisa, for chatting with me today.

- Yeah, me too, it was great, thanks for inviting me.

- Thanks, Margaret.

Those are some great tips and great timing, too, because the start of a new school year is always stressful.

Now, for this week's poll, we want to know which stress coping tip will you try?

Head online to choose from talking to someone I trust, taking care of my health or deep breathing.

You know what else is good at calming me down?

Getting out in nature.

And that's something that this week's NewsDepth A+ winners know all about.

Each week, we give a shout out to one of you, sometimes a group of you, for the awesome work you've been up to.

Our NewsDepth A+ this week goes to the members of the Bird Nerds, a student club at East Clark Middle School in Collinwood.

The students, led by teacher Buster Banish, learn how to use binoculars and identify birds and, boy, do they know them.

Last spring, the students were asked to be on a panel for the Ohio Ornithological Society.

Tykee James, co-organizer of the first Black Birders Week put the students to the test and, yes, they were able to identify every bird he described correctly.

When asked how to explain birding, student Angela said, "Birding is like starting in a new school."

"You get to meet people and explore new rooms, except in this case, you're meeting new birds and exploring new locations."

Well, the club has traveled to numerous places around Northeast Ohio.

One of their favorite spots is Magee Marsh, but they've also ventured to Lake Erie and to Amish Country.

"My experience has been really fun," said M'Kynzie, "I get to go places and be with my friends and see cool birds."

Mr. Banish has plenty of great stories about the students' passion for birding.

One that he shared included the students skipping Halloween trick-or-treating to visit a marsh and look for birds.

Alicia said that she first joined the club just to annoy her sister who was already a member, "But, then, as I got into it, it got way more fun and I'm actually glad I joined," she said.

"Now, if I go outside, I'm just naming birds after birds."

The students also told Tykee that their passion for birding has made them more conscious about taking care of the Earth, so the birds have a healthy environment.

Well, Bird Nerds, for your passion to get outside and learn more about nature, we're proud to award you this week's NewsDepth A+.

Now, I know another avid birder.

Our cuteness correspondent, News Cat, back with us this year.

Each week, she paws up an animal story and posts it online for you to watch.

Let's see what she's found in this week's Petting Zoo.

(upbeat music) (cat meowing) Hey, News Cat, the bird watching can wait, it's time for the news.

Okay, that's better.

(upbeat music) Ooh, what's this?

I see she's found a story about sidewalks that are too hot to handle for puppy paws.

To hear advice from a veterinarian on beating the heat, click the Petting Zoo button on our website.

And thank you, News Cat, good to see you again.

Well, that's gonna do it for us, but, of course, we do want to hear from you.

And there are plenty of ways to stay in touch with us.

You can write to us, we're at 1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, the zip code here is 44115.

You can email us at newsdepth@ideastream.org or you can tweet us, our handle is @NewsDepthOhio.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Rick Jackson, we'll see you right back here next week.

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

(upbeat music)