(upbeat guitar music) - Coming up next on NewsDepth, we head to a quinceanera, talk about a birthday party!

Plus, Margaret gets the ABC's of catching Z's.

Shops are sweetening the deal for their holiday hires.

And we follow fake furs from China right here to the US.

NewsDepth is now.

(upbeat guitar music) What's a Thanksgiving without Turkey?

Hello everybody, I'm Rick Jackson.

Thank you for joining us.

Okay, so not quite Thanksgiving without the main dish, but without the actual animal, if that makes sense.

One company in California says it does.

They're growing animal meat in a laboratory, so no farm or processing plant needed.

Upside Food says they are ushering in the future of protein production.

So far they've made beef, chicken and duck, but they are planning to expand their menu.

Ryan Curry takes us on a tour of their new facility.

- [Ryan] Gauges, meters, flashing lights.

It's all futuristic at this lab at Emeryville.

And it's all designed to make real meat.

The main difference?

They're not harvesting it from animals.

- So, we're just trying to make the same product people have loved their entire lives a different way.

- [Ryan] Eric Scholz is the Vice president at Upside Foods, a company trying new ways to create products we already eat.

They let us inside for a look at their new lab.

The way it works?

They take cells from animals and grow the meat right here.

- We take a small sample of cells from an animal, muscle tissue, and then we bring it into this facility right behind me.

And we grow them, we feed them just like they would be fed in an animal, and we can produce a lot of muscle tissue directly from a very small amount of cells, and then we feed it to other people.

- [Ryan] According to them, the food looks just like what we would already find in a grocery store.

This is footage they provided us from a recent cooking segment.

This way of food production is something scientists say they've been researching for several years.

Dr. Ricardo San Martin at UC Berkeley specializes in this type of production, but he says he doesn't think what Upside Foods is doing will work longterm.

- Can you grow them at scale, in such numbers, that it will make it competitive with beef or any other, you know, it could be fish or poultry.

And our answer to that based just on well-known principles of biotechnology or fermentation processes, it doesn't look very good.

- [Ryan] However, Upside Foods says they are confident they can produce meat at high numbers.

- So that instead of growing for 18 months to make a cow, in 14 to 21 days we've got the same beef on a grocery store shelf.

- Thank you, Ryan.

That chicken actually didn't look so bad.

Well, for this week's poll, we want to know if you would try lab grown meat.

Head online to vote either yes or no, simple choices.

Whether your favorite Thanksgiving dish is the Turkey, or the stuffing, or the mashed potatoes, it's likely you'll be hitting the road to get to it.

The American automobile association, AAA, says they expect more than 53 million people will travel for this holiday.

That's a 13% increase from last year and just 5% less than the 2019 level.

- People are feeling better about traveling, and no matter what the gas prices are, and they are quite a bit higher than last year, people are still gonna take that trip.

- [Rick] More than 4 million people are expected to fly, and that's a whopping 80% increase from last year.

But most holiday travelers will likely be on the roads.

AAA predicts 48 million people will be driving this Thanksgiving.

Fully vaccinated folks from Mexico and Canada are hitting the road to the US too.

We told you a few weeks back that the borders would be opening soon, and the time has come.

Check out these long lines of cars waiting to cross from Canada last week.

And these long lines from Mexico.

Now, families with members from multiple countries will be able to reunite just in time for autumn and winter festivities.

And the closer those holidays get, the more shops hire for seasonal retail work.

While stores have high hopes for holiday sales, a tight labor market is making it difficult to find employees.

The labor market is the supply and demand of workers.

Employers have the demand for workers and the workers, in turn, are the supply.

We've told you previously about some of the labor shortages.

Remember the lack of school bus drivers?

Karin Caifa looks at how companies are trying to sweeten the deal for employees to come to work for them, and what the crunch might mean for consumers.

- [Karin] Retailers' forecast for November and December?

Merry and bright.

- We're expecting retail sales in those months to grow somewhere between 8.5 and 10.5% over last year.

- [Karin] But to keep up with shopper demand, they'll need help.

- There is, you know, it's a palpable sense of urgency this year among employers who are looking for seasonal workers.

- [Karin] And crunch time for holiday hiring is colliding with a very tight labor market.

The labor department said there were more than 10 million job openings across the US, heading into September, where most retailers were finalizing holiday plans.

At the same time, more than 4 million Americans left jobs, including 721,000 retail workers.

Annelizabeth Konkel, an economist for Indeed hiring lab, that says those roles are tougher to fill.

- We are still in a pandemic.

There are still concerns about COVID.

A lot of holiday jobs are, you know, for in-person work, and childcare challenges continue to abound.

- [Karin] The pandemic accelerated online shopping habits, and Andy Challenger, Senior Vice President of outplacement firm challenger Gray and Christmas says that's changing how retailers have to hire, too.

- Retailers are trying to fill positions both in their retail stores and at every point in supply chain along the way, from transportation shipping from the docks, into the warehouses.

- [Karin] So the hiring push is on.

- They're really trying to sweeten the deal to get workers this year.

- [Karin] Target, promising $2 more per hour during peak shifts.

Macy's, offering $500 referral bonuses.

Walmart, holding hiring events focused on supply chain roles, with some paying upwards of $20 per hour.

And Amazon, offering sign-on bonuses of up to $3,000.

Still, challenger forecasts most will fall short of hiring goals.

- The labor market is too tight.

There are not enough people ready and willing to work right now to fill all the positions that are currently open.

- [Karin] Another reason consumers might add patients to their holiday checklists.

- Thanks, Karen.

All of those items on the holiday shopping list take long journeys before they even make it to the store where you can buy them.

The order of events a product goes through to get from raw materials to use is called the supply chain.

Supply chains are made up of product designers, factory workers, shipping experts, truck drivers, and so much more.

But if one link gets held up, it means the rest are jammed up too.

That's what's been going on with artificial Christmas trees.

Reporter David Culver follows the supply chain from a factory in Southern China to a wholesaler in New Jersey.

David?

- [David] Here in Southern China, workers in this factory twist, pull, cut and crimp together shredded plastic strips, creating branches for artificial Christmas trees destined for the US.

And these are the finished product.

They do about 500 trees a day in this factory alone.

Then they're packaged up and shipped out.

But in this case, they have nowhere to go.

The reason?

- Because many ships went to the United States this year got stuck at the ports and did not return, so we were waiting for their ships to return.

Our factories' goods are therefore staying here and cannot be shipped out.

- [David] James Lee says his factory has a backlog of about 150 containers worth about 3 million US dollars, just waiting to be shipped out.

It's led the company to rent storage space right here in China.

This warehouse has two floors just like this, packed with trees.

The inventory that normally this time of year would already be in the US well ahead of Christmas.

Lee warns if the shipping backlog continues... - Many consumers may not be able to buy Christmas trees at Christmas this year.

- [David] CNN followed the jammed supply chain from Lee's factory in China to where most of the goods usually end up: the national tree company in New Jersey, a large wholesaler of holiday decor that sells to retailers like target and Amazon.

The company's CEO, Chris Butler, blames the ongoing global supply chain crisis for the shipping backlog.

- So, COVID created some of the shortages.

COVID, post-COVID has created this enormous post-COVID demand.

- [David] It's in turn jamming up ports like these in Southern California, with a recent flyover showing some 60 container ships sitting anchored off the LA coast.

- Every day is a fight to get containers.

So we're fighting against toy manufacturers, electronic manufacturers, other manufacturers, to get the containers.

And we're having to pay a lot more for those containers.

- [David] The company says it's paying 10 times more this year to bring their products across the ocean compared to last year.

- Because of that we're having to pass on some of those price increases to the consumer.

- [David] The result?

A 20 to 25% increase in the price of artificial trees this year, if you are lucky enough to still find one by Thanksgiving.

- Thanks, David.

Well, all this talk of holidays has me wanting to get to your letters.

Last week, we asked you to write to us about a cultural celebration you participate in.

But first, let's look at the poll results.

We asked if your hometown has a Veteran's Memorial, 72% of you said yes.

Wow, I hope you're able to visit as part of your Veteran's Day celebration.

So, let's get to some more festivities and open up our inbox.

Lily, from Buckeye Schools in Medina wrote, "I celebrate a German holiday called Oktoberfest, or as we called it, German Fest.

We usually go to my aunt and uncle's house.

We play games such as musical chairs, hammerschlagen, shut the box, and some other games that I forget the name of.

We all get pretzel necklaces, and eat German chocolate cake and cupcakes, vegan bratwurst, and more delicious foods."

Lucy from Maryland Elementary in Bexley told us her favorite.

"I celebrate most of the Jewish holidays, but the coolest one is a bat or bar mitzvah.

Boys celebrate bar mitzvahs at 13 years old, and girls celebrate bat mitzvahs at the age of 12.

That is the cultural celebration that I participate in."

Here's a letter from Emma at St. Peter's School in north Ridgeville.

"My family gathers every year at Christmas time to make homemade polenta and sauce.

My great aunts, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all celebrate with us.

The story is told about how my great grandparents came over from Italy with little to nothing.

Polenta was a cheap meal they made in Italy and here that fed many people.

We celebrate to remember where we came from and those who sacrificed for us."

Ruby from Olmsted Falls Intermediate in Olmsted Falls wrote, "Every year during winter, me and my family celebrate lunar new year because my family is from China.

We do some fun activities like crafts."

And finally Lauren from Fort Meigs Elementary in Parisburg wrote, "My family and I come from a different country, the Netherlands, so we have some other celebrations.

For example, Sinterklaas, which is celebrated on December 5th.

It's kind of like Christmas with a bit of twist.

First of all, a long time ago, a man called Sinterklaas gave out presents to all the children on his birthday.

And to be honest, I think he is Santa Claus's cousin.

And that's the cultural celebration my family celebrates."

Wow, those all sound like lots of fun.

It's exciting to see people be able to come together after the pandemic put a pause on many of our celebrations.

Another favorite making a return: quinceaneras.

A quinceanera is a birthday party for Latin X females who are turning 15 years old.

The special and sometimes over the top celebration symbolizes the transition from girl to woman.

But this year, 16 year olds who missed out on the coming of age ceremonies a year ago are getting a second chance.

Isabel Rosales reports on belated birthdays and the reason they're also a happy occasion for small businesses.

(mariachi band singing) - [Isabel] After a year of waiting, family, culture and faith finally meet inside a Los Angeles dance hall.

This is no regular birthday for Alyssa Castillo.

- And then even this morning, I was still like bewildered at the thought like, oh wow, I'm getting ready today and I'm gonna have a party.

- [Isabel] This is her quinceanera, or 15th.

- Well, this day means a lot to me because it's basically introducing me to womanhood.

- [Isabel] A cultural coming of age for Latinos, quinceaneras mark an important transition from girl to young woman.

I feel like it's something sacred.

- [Isabel] Only, Alyssa isn't 15.

- It really just made us sad, but we understood that everyone's health was more important than, you know, a celebration.

- [Isabel] As some families change forever at the eruption of the pandemic, their family had no choice but to postpone the rite of passage.

The pandemic placed many small businesses in the red.

DJs, venues, bakeries.

- Heartbreaking, devastating.

- [Isabel] And event planners like Kim Gamez, CEO of Mi Padrino, her company found, through surveys with quinceanera planners across the country, a 50% decrease in families hosting quinceaneras of over 250 guests like Alyssa's family.

- I did lower the number to 150.

- [Isabel] The notoriously expensive celebrations are going cheaper too.

- About 15,000, all worth it, all worth it.

She's my one and only baby.

- [Isabel] Latinos have been disproportionately impacted through this pandemic.

Alyssa's family got sick.

- But overall, we overcame it.

Everyone was great, even my 97 year old grandmother.

- [Isabel] And now, promising signs.

Mi Padrino seeing a 40% increase in planned quinceaneras for this year and next.

- Latinos are extremely proud of where they've come from and that the pandemic will not hurt them continuing on with traditions.

- [Isabel] And so, a sweet 16 meets quinceanera.

American and Mexican heritage embrace, much like the guests, many of them for the first time.

- Thank you, Isabel.

The hardest part about celebrations is always trying to sleep the night before, am I right?

Well, getting a good night's rest is important for every day, not just the day you've got the energy for a party.

Our Margaret Cavalier has details about why catching your Z's should be a priority.

She spoke with a sleep expert for this week's Spot on Science, take a look.

- I am not a morning person.

I will hit that snooze button over and over again until I absolutely have to get out of bed.

Staying up late and waking up late are two of my bad habits that I want to break.

So I thought maybe knowing the science behind why sleep is important could help motivate me to catch some more Z's.

I called up Dr. Sally Ibrahim.

She's a sleep specialist at UH Rainbow Babies' and Children's Hospital.

I started by asking her to tell me a little bit about her work, take a look.

(upbeat 8-bit music) - I'm a sleep doctor, I'm a medical doctor, so I see patients in clinic and I also read sleep studies.

When people go to spend the night in the lab, we get some data and we understand what their sleep disturbances are.

And so I see patients with sleep disorders of all kinds, from insomnia, meaning you can't sleep, to hypersomnia, too much sleep, and everything in between that relates to sleep.

- And so why is sleep so important?

- Sleep is important for all the body functions.

Namely in students' learning.

We do a lot of active learning when we're sleeping, and the more sufficient sleep we get, the better and more likely we're gonna retain our knowledge the next day.

And so that's why a lot of teachers will say get a good night's sleep because we know that memory consolidation happens in sleep.

There's also a bunch of other things that happen in sleep.

For example, we can regulate our sugar control, regulate our heart health, and so many other things that are healthy for us to thrive.

- So if I stay up really late cramming for a test, I might not remember what I've been studying if I don't get enough sleep?

- That's a great question.

You will retain some, you will retain more probably if you get a good night's sleep, 'cause that memory consolidation occurs during sleep.

Now, some people will still do just fine, but we know that you're probably studying more than just on that night, and so every single night counts leading up to that so that you can retain that knowledge.

- Ah, okay.

And so how much sleep should someone who is 8 to 12 years old get?

- Great question.

So preadolescents, you need about anything from 9 to 12 hours, and in teenagers you need 8 to 10 hours.

And so those are minimal numbers, the minimum number for teenagers, eight hours, and the minimum number for a pre-adolescent is nine hours.

- What are some, you know, tips that you have for when I'm getting ready to go to bed, to make sure that I get a good night's rest.

- The tips are making a regular bedtime, making a regular wake time that's between one or two hours of your typical weekday wake time.

Some students, my daughter included, who's in sixth grade, you know, thinks that it's okay just to get all your sleep on the weekend.

But the weekend's only a couple of days, so we have that full five days to really work with.

We want to avoid caffeine, and that could look like a lot of things, chocolate being one, close to bedtime and with dinner.

We want to reduce our stress levels and make some progress towards bedtime when it's time for bedtime.

- And you said that your daughter had some tips about electronics at night?

- It may be hard to get away from electronics.

And so, and that's what she mentioned to me.

She said, you know, kids are gonna be on their electronics.

You have to tell them what to do and what not to do.

And she's actually right.

Scientifically, interesting thing, so this science is that some electronics may not be so bad.

It depends on what we're doing on it.

And if those, so things that are very engaging, when our mind is really active, will be bad for us.

Some of the things that may be more helpful are things like listening to music that's soothing, relaxing, not so alerting, things that just calm us.

There could be a, you know, a nice, you know, easy podcast to listen to, for example.

Something to put our mind in a relaxed position.

- So you gotta be really smart about what you're doing at nights so that when you wake up you'll be smarter.

- Choose wisely, that's right.

- Thanks, Margaret.

For this week's question, we want to know what steps do you take to get a good night's rest?

Here's my tip.

Don't stay up too late watching NewsDepth.

Oh, come on, we know that some of you do because we've gotten letters postdated in the middle of the night, stop doing that.

Now, Kansas ten-year-old Bo Jensen must be getting enough sleep.

He's pushing himself to break records.

I don't want to spoil the story though, so we're gonna just leave it there.

Isaac French has details.

- [Isaac] Bo Jensen went to the US nationals for power lifting with a goal to break every record in his age group.

Once he did that, he looked for new challenges.

- Bo won the world record down in Florida, at the USA nationals, and from there, he got invited to the Steve Harvey Show.

And on the Steve Harvey Show, he did a truck pull, a Chevy Silverado, and it was very easy for him.

- I said after we done that, that was easy.

So then I did a Hummer, that was easy.

- [Isaac] Tuesday, Bo suited up for his heaviest challenge yet.

- [Joe] Then Isaac, well, what else do you want to do?

He's like, maybe I could pull two trucks.

3, 2, 1, start!

- [Isaac] The 10 year old pulled more than 10,000 pounds in the form of two pickup trucks with his dad, Joe, by his side.

- [Joe] It's a double-edged sword for me because as a coach, you know, remembering your breathing, and remembering your biomechanics, and staying in the right position, and as a dad I'm just a cheerleader, but there's also a little bit of that, hey, dude, don't hurt yourself.

You know, after that little bit of hesitancy went away and he started really going, I was just a cheerleader really.

I was just super happy to see him do it and each his dreams.

- [Isaac] Joe says his son has big dreams, and he has no doubt he'll accomplish them.

- [Joe] He said, "I do this because it makes me feel like I can do anything in the world."

And that's, at the end of the day, that's the lesson you want to teach your kids.

You know, we tell our kids all the time, you can do anything, but we don't really show them how to do anything.

And this, I think, is showing them, you can really do anything.

Who's the strongest kid in the world?

- Me.

- Thanks, Isaac.

Well, we don't need to go to any other states to find amazing kids.

Need proof?

Meet our A+ winner.

One thing that really makes every teacher's day is seeing their students improve in the classroom, in the hallways and outside school.

Don't believe me?

Ask your teacher, I'll wait.

Okay, Kaiden Whitney from Parma Park Elementary School is the kind of student who made his teacher's day with his improvement.

And for that, he gets this week's NewsDepth A+.

Last year, Kaiden made such an amazing turnaround in our classrooms.

By the end of the school year, he had such an amazing attitude and had made such a tremendous amount of growth academically, socially and emotionally.

That's what Kaiden's third grade teacher, Ms. Hall, shared.

"We are so unbelievably proud of all the progress he made and we'll miss him immensely," says another third grade teacher, Ms. Zeman.

Kaiden's grandmother told us that he is bright and creative, and has really shown a lot of maturity over the past year.

Kaiden, now a fourth grader, tells us that his favorite subjects in school are science and writing.

Hope he likes the Spot on Science segment that we put in this week's episode just for him.

He also told us that he enjoys martial arts and helping his friends.

As a matter of fact, his teachers told us about a time earlier this year when one of his classmates was having a terrible day, and he did his best to help calm his friend, give them advice, and support them through the rest of the day.

He told us that he noticed that his classmate kept having bad days, and he just wanted to help calm him down and help him out.

Now, we asked Kaiden for some advice, and he told us that if we always stay smart and work hard, we can all achieve great things.

That's some great advice, Kaiden.

For your work in and out of the classroom, you're this week's NewsDepth A+ winner.

You know what I think?

We've got time for one more story.

And I'm really enjoying all these stories about inspiring students.

Before his school day even starts, let's talk about 10 year old Michael Richardson.

He's teaching his own lessons of kindness.

His way of telling strangers good morning is turning a lot of heads, but in a great way.

Sam Read has this story from Massachusetts.

- [Sam] For the past several days, ten-year-old Michael Richardson of Swanzey makes the most of his mornings before the bus comes.

- Think this one would be good.

- [Sam] While everyone else is waking up or driving to work along Wilbur Avenue... - I've been going out like, right after I ate breakfast.

- [Sam] Michael happily holds his homemade signs to send people passing by a positive message.

- To make people's day good 'cause it's in the morning, and then if you're feel good at the morning, you'll probably feel good for the rest of the day.

- [Sam] At first, his now regular routine was something his family didn't recognize.

- Michael waits for the bus in the morning, and I'm already at school at that point, so is my husband, so either my parents are here or our neighbor.

- [Sam] But the people passing by loved every minute of it and wanted the Richardsons to know they really appreciated it.

- I would get text messages from his former principal.

And they would say like, what?

Your son is not shy about living on the main road.

And this is what he was doing, and people just kept saying it.

- [Sam] First, it started out with him doing a few dance moves and he noticed the joy it brought others.

Then using his mom's art supplies, he made these signs of sincerity to wish others well.

- I feel happy, 'cause I see a ton of people just smile.

- [Sam] That was the case for a stranger passing by who posted on social media about how his sign was exactly what she needed that day.

- Oh my gosh, I'm like, Michael, I think this is about you.

And he's like, that was me, look, here's my sign!

- [Sam] Michael was over the moon that even though traffic comes and goes, his effort stuck around for at least one person.

- I like to make people happy.

- [Sam] A reminder that if you slow down and take it all in, you might be surprised at the signs you may see.

- Thank you, Sam.

Well, time to see if NewsCats found a good story as well.

Let's see what she's pawed up for this week's Petting Zoo.

(exotic music) (cat meowing) Hey, NewsCat.

I heard you were asleep on the job last week when I wasn't here.

Oh, no comment.

Well, show me what you got anyway.

Ah, she found a story about sea otters getting COVID shots.

Wow, I didn't realize they had those for cuddly cuties.

To watch the full story, click the Petting Zoo button on our website.

And of course, thank you, NewsCat.

Now, before I sign off, an announcement.

We're headed on Thanksgiving break, as are you.

The next episode of NewsDepth won't post online until December the ninth, but over the break, we're going to be mailing out this season's NewsCat poster.

So teachers, if you've not already signed up for our newsletter, it's on the NewsDepth homepage.

While we're away, you'll have plenty of time to write to us, and of course, there are plenty of ways to stay in touch.

Send a letter, we're at 1375 Euclid avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.

Our zip code, 44115.

You can email us, newsdepth@ideastream.org, or you can tweet us.

Our handle is @NewsDepthOhio.

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.

Thank you for joining us, I'm Rick Jackson.

We will see you right back here in December.

- [Child] NewsDepth is made possible by a grant from the Marcel Holden Jennings Foundation.

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