(bright music) - Coming up next on News Depth.

The Taylor Swift concert tour made a big impact on local economies.

India is now the fourth country to land on the moon.

Some university students in West Virginia are not happy with their school's changes, and a child psychologist gives us useful tips to deal with stress this school year.

News Depth is now.

(bright music) Welcome back friends and thank you for joining us.

I'm your new host, Gabriel Kramer.

Some of you might recognize me from past episodes or are Know Ohio segments.

That's because I've worked at Idea Stream for eight years.

In addition to News Depth, you can also hear me on the radio.

Thank you for allowing me the chance to be with you week to week.

It's an honor to be here.

Okay, I can talk about myself all day, but we have an entire school year to get to know each other, so let's get to the summer news.

This is what happened while we were out.

Ohioans showed up to the ballots last month to vote on issue one.

While it didn't pass, issue one was proposed to modify the threshold for passing future amendments, it would've required a 60% majority vote in order to amend the state's constitution.

Since Ohioans voted against issue one, a simple majority rule is still needed for new amendments.

Simple majority means that something is passed if it gets 50% of the votes plus one vote.

The Writer's Guild of America, the people who write your favorite TV shows and movies have been on strike for longer than four months, demanding higher wages.

Actors and other media professionals later joined the strike.

Writers and studios failed to reach an agreement during their initial negotiations.

Meanwhile, there are no planned talks yet with SAG-AFTRA, a Labor Union combining the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio artists, which represents more than 160,000 actors.

As the historic dual strikes continue, studios and audiences will soon start to feel the impacts of delayed productions.

Hawaii is still recovering from a devastating wildfire at the beginning of August.

On the island of Maui, more than 2000 acres were affected with an estimated $5 billion in damages.

More than 14,000 people had to evacuate their homes and thousands more were without power for days.

Hawaiian Electric Company said that power lines falling in high winds seem to have caused a fire during the early morning of August 8th.

Due to high winds, the fire was spreading quickly.

It took about two days for authorities to get the fire under control.

Okay, oh, News Hound.

You sound really excited to share your petting zoo story.

Okay, take it away.

(upbeat music) (dog barking) What's up, News Hound?

You look ready to work.

I like the tie.

Very professional.

So what'd you find out?

Oh wow, you found a story about pets being rescued from the Maui wildfires.

To check out how they found their homes, click the petting zoo thumbnail at the bottom of this episode page.

Thanks as always, News Hound.

You don't have to be a Swifty to recognize the impact of the Eras tour, the Beyonce and Taylor Swift concert tours as well as the Barbie movie have increased consumer spending this summer.

Consumer spending refers to the total spent on goods and services by individuals.

For example, buying a new outfit for the concert or going to the movie theater, it has made a big impact on local economies.

In Glendale, Arizona, the Taylor Swift concert brought more revenue for local businesses than Super Bowl 57.

But what is it about the concerts and movies that are attracting so many people?

- We're waiting to see if we get the tickets.

- [Vanessa] It would've been a cruel summer if not for this moment.

- We're going to Taylor Swift.

- [Vanessa] This group of moms, sisters, sisters in-laws and cousins are Swifties.

How many of you ladies in the room have been to the Taylor Swift concert?

We also have Barbie fans.

- I loved going with my family.

I don't think I would've rather had it any other way.

- [Vanessa] Women and girls of all ages are flocking to Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Barbie.

These women are resonating with other women in a big, big way.

- Yes.

- What are you seeing in this moment that may be different than other moments with these three women?

- Women are not to be underestimated.

They lift up economies and that impact is not to be overlooked, but brands haven't been talking to them in their language for a really long time.

- That language is authenticity and empowerment.

Generations of women are sharing these experiences together.

The result, 1 billion in box office sales for Barbie, Beyonce's economy driving tour and extra US dates added later this year for Swift's Eras tour to meet demand.

- It was a gift to me to watch them experience her right?

It was amazing.

I remember when Taylor came out, I was videoing their reaction and that is something that will live with me forever.

- [Vanessa] And that feeling bottled up is priceless.

It's unleashed the spending power of women, which has always existed, but is now being harnessed through other fearless women.

- It was nice to be a part of things that had such a girl positive message, which is definitely not the norm.

So hopefully maybe this sparks the turn and maybe we get to see some more of that.

- [Vanessa] Two canceled flights was not going to stop Helen Polise from meeting her daughter Julie in Los Angeles.

- I made it!

Woo!

- [Vanessa] For the final leg of Taylor Swift's tour in LA.

- Come hell or high water I was going today, so I made it happen.

- A last minute first class ticket later, two concert tickets, dinners out, the outfits and the beads.

It all adds up.

- Men go to a lot of sporting games and spend a lot of money on sporting tickets and that's never like considered absurd or absurd or over the top, like why?

Like for us, this is like my Super Bowl.

- The duo also has plans to see Barbie together during their self-described girl power weekend.

- This summer's really been a celebration of like women coming together and like really embracing female friendships and doing things together.

It's like the first time women my age, women my mom's age, even like little girls are seeing like femininity and femaleness portrayed in such like a positive light where you just feel so happy.

- August 23rd marked an historic moment for the country of India.

They became only the fourth country to make a landing on the moon.

But before we get into the videos, let's take a spin around the globe.

India is a country in South Asia.

It's the most populated country in the world with more than 1.4 billion residents.

India's government is a parliamentary system and the capital is New Delhi.

Rupees are the currency in India, and India's biggest exports are petroleum and diamonds.

Not only did India reach the moon, it is also the first country to land a vehicle on its south pole.

Vedika Sud has this report on the celebrations around the moment of Chandrayaan 3's landing and the significance of this mission.

- [Vedika] Applause and cheers inside India's mission control center and across the country.

As Chandrayaan 3's India's moon craft made a soft landing on the lunar surface.

- Sir, we have achieved soft landing on the moon.

India is on the moon.

- [Vedika] It is only the fourth country to do so, and the first to do it on the moon's unexplored South Pole.

Prime Minister Norenda Modi watched the landing virtually while on an official trip to South Africa.

(speaking in foreign language) - [Translator] This moment is unprecedented.

This moment is of developed India's victory.

This moment is of New India's victory cry.

- [Vedika] Back home, millions of Indians watched in awe as Chandrayaan 3's rover touched down on the moon's surface.

Many are feeling intense national pride.

- Very excited and it was a very great moment to witness it.

- We have done it, so it's very inspiring as well.

- [Vedika] For India, the journey to the moon has been long and challenging.

In 2019, 11 years after its first moon mission, its second spacecraft, Chandrayaan 2 crashed into the lunar surface while making its final descent.

Now, four years later, its third moon rocket, Chandrayaan 3, will conduct scientific experiments and help detect resources hidden in the moon's dark craters.

- It will be playing a key role in hunting for water ice around the lunar South Pole.

That water ice is important for establishing and sustaining a human presence on the lunar surface.

That water ice is also important for enabling the moon to become a launching pad for spacecraft.

- [Vedika] But for now, India is celebrating this historic feat, one that has clearly established it as a global space power.

- The success of this mission has blazed the trail for India's space ambitions.

They include a manned mission to space and setting up its own space station by 2030.

Now let's come back down to earth because some of us, including myself, will have to resume paying student loan payments as early as next month.

Student loan payments were on pause for years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While this could impact the budget of a lot of households, some individuals might still see some relief.

The Biden administration has officially launched its new student loan repayment program.

It's called SAVE, Saving on a Valuable Education, and it aims to significantly lower payments and reduce overall costs for millions of people.

The White House says the income driven repayment plan will calculate payments based on the borrower's income and family size, not their loan balances.

It will also forgive remaining balances after a certain number of years.

SAVE will be fully implemented in the summer of 2024.

Staying with school news, Michigan's University of Olivet now has a vending machine that aims to increase access to hair care.

Amaya Kuznicki explains.

- [Amaya] In vending machines, you are used to seeing chips and candy, but this one dispenses hair products.

- [Machine] Please insert your card, tap your mobile phone.

- [Amaya] The Beauty Genie made its way to the University of Olivet in August.

It's the first of its kind in the rural town college campus.

- Having this here makes people feel comfortable.

- All of the haircare products that you would need are just a tap away.

- [Rahya] Hair wraps, bonnets, durags.

- Rahya Kelly is the brands ambassador and also a senior at the university.

She says, with the school being predominantly white, there aren't beauty supply stores nearby.

- Before I had this, whenever I went home, I was stocking up on hair products.

- [Rahya] Which isn't always ideal, especially when students are without transportation.

- It's like a weight has been lifted off of our shoulders for people that can't drive.

It's like we finally have something nearby.

- [Amaya] The machine is a compact beauty store.

- It's important to have a machine like the Beauty Genie to remind students that we see them, we hear them, and we support them.

- [Amaya] Associate Dean of Student Life, Joshua Gillespie Hopes the machine helps students feel at home.

- Hair matters, and so this is just one way to say to a student, you matter.

- I'll just say, you definitely have to go try it out and doesn't hurt to try a different product on your hair, see what might happen.

- I've always been a part of things that belong to other people.

Where this is me.

- Kelly says, this is just the start.

She hopes to expand to other college campuses in the future.

- Thank you, Amaya.

Some West Virginia University students are angry over plans that would eliminate 9% of the university's majors and 5% of the faculty.

They took their concerns to the street at the beginning of the school year, as Bob Aaron reports the loud but peaceful campus protests saw students push back as university moves to cut $45 million.

- Our entire life.

We've been told we are the future.

Today is the day we step up and lead the present.

Thank you.

(cheering) - [Bob] West Virginia University students staged a walkout Monday to protest a proposed elimination of academic programs and show support for the faculty and staff whose jobs are being targeted as the university struggles with a $45 million budget shortfall.

Some 300 students took part in one rally outside the mountain layer.

Organizers say they want to see an independent audit of its finances and reduce WVU's administrative spending, not the elimination of 9% of all majors and a 7% faculty cut.

434 students.

2% of the total enrollment are impacted directly by the proposed cuts.

- I was really angry.

Puppetry is really an important art.

It is pretty niche, but I'm tired of it being pushed to the wayside and there are continued attempts to cut this program will not work.

- [Bob] The university in a statement says it's been listening to students who have been telling us what they want through the majors and programs they're enrolling in.

And importantly, those they are not and we are responding.

That data factors heavily into the preliminary recommendations and it's why we focused on areas that would affect the fewest possible number of students, less than 2%.

Those on the chopping block include the Department of World Languages Literature and Linguistics.

The student population at West Virginia University has dropped 10% since 2015.

While the apparent cuts directly impact only about 2% of the student body and about 7% of the faculty it appears concern about them goes beyond those numbers.

- Thank you, Bob.

For our first poll of the season, we wanna know, other than curriculum, what is important to you at school.

Head online to cast your vote.

Tell us if a faculty is most important for you or facilities, extracurriculars, accessibility, or maybe emotional wellness.

There's no doubt that emotional wellness is important for students.

We can't let the stress of an upcoming test or a big game get the best of us for today's spot on science.

Margaret speaks with Dr. Lisa Ramirez as she explains how stress can actually be a good thing and what to do when it turns toxic.

- 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 signs 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?

(bright 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's 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 kinda 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 at 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.

We feel like there's not a lot to grab onto.

- And our brain is releasing 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 alarm system.

That cortisol, that steroid, it's kind of telling your body, we gotta run fast, we 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 a dangerous situation or a stressful situation.

But if we're so long 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 worrying 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, 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?

Does that actually help?

- Yeah, so yes and no.

So I will say deep breaths are amazing and 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.

(bright music) - My shoulders relax and I just feel a lot more comfortable.

- Yeah, emptying your lungs really helped your body realize, wait a minute, we don't have to 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 if it's just for a little bit, right?

One more thing you can imagine is if you're doing 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 the visual way to see if you get rid of those 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.

- Thank you, Margaret.

And that brings us this week's write in question, how do you deal with stress?

Jump over to the inbox page to send in your answers.

We'll share some of them on the next episode.

Your tips could help other fellow students.

For our last episode, we asked you to send us a postcard to tell us about your summer plans.

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

Jack from Mason Elementary in Akron wrote, dear News Depth, I will be staying in the comfort of my home this summer.

I will also enjoy playing chess, tennis, and golf.

Amy Rodriguez from Whole Prairie Intermediate in Perrysburg took a trip.

Dear News Depth, this summer, I'm going to the Dominican Republic.

I'm going there to visit my family and country.

I'm really excited.

Have a good day.

Thanks, Amy.

I hope you have a good day too.

Steven from Rush Wood Elementary in Northfield sent us this virtual postcard.

Dear News Depth, I will play sports like football, basketball, soccer, and more.

I will run around like crazy in the sunshine.

I might also play with my friends.

I'll play many fun activities like jump roping, racing my dad and maybe my other relatives, maybe my family will take me to the beach.

I will have a very good summer.

I hope you do too.

We even got a postcard from Brianna at Cork Elementary in Ashtabula.

Hi, this summer I'm going to Boston and I'm going camping.

I'm going to Boston with my mom's family.

I'm camping with my scout troupe.

It's my first one.

I'm also seeing a musical, bye.

Your friend, Brianna.

And Emily from Columbus Gifted Academy in Columbus had a busy summer.

Dear News Depth, this summer, I'm staying away at Sleepaway Camp for one week and going to Cape Cod with my grandparents and cousins for a fun time whale watching and learning about ocean life.

We will also be staying at my cabin a lot too.

Thanks to everyone who sent us letters and pictures and all of these awesome postcards.

I had a pretty busy summer too.

Our producer Natalia and I were actually traveling, working on a documentary.

We got to meet a lot of interesting people and even got to ride a ferry, but I still wish I could have gone to an amusement park this summer.

My favorite rides are the rollercoasters.

No doubt about it.

I wonder if you agree with me.

Let's see what your favorite rides are.

In our last episode, last season, we asked you what was your favorite amusement park ride or carnival ride.

The top two answers were the carousel with 44% of your votes and the rollercoasters with 33% of your votes.

About 8% of you said you loved the bumper cars.

5% said you liked the log ride.

That's our producer Natalia's favorite too.

4% of you said, I don't really like rides.

Another 4% of you said you liked the Tilt a Whirl.

And finally, with 2% of the votes goes to the Ferris wheel.

In every episode of News Depth, we will feature some of your answers to the discussion question and share the results of our weekly poll, as well as showcase the winners of the A+ award.

The A+ award is to recognize students, classrooms or school clubs for their achievements.

Our first A+ goes to the mural club at Incarnate Word Academy in Parma Heights.

One of my favorite memories of being in school was the opportunity to join all kinds of clubs and really learn about my interests, practice new skills, and be with my friends.

I loved playing on the football team.

The Mural Club is not only learning how to paint murals as a group, but they're making a park in northeast Ohio, even more colorful and vibrant.

The mural club, which is open to sixth through eighth graders, began meeting two years ago with support from a local artist Bernadette Glorioso on phase one of the project this past year, they began phase two designing a pair of murals each about 100 feet long for the north and south sides of a pedestrian tunnel at a local park.

The group employed a design process that relied heavily on brainstorming, collaborating, and research.

Does that sound like an approach you've used to solve a problem or to create something?

The students told us they came up with all kinds of Northeast Ohio and Lake Erie themes for the murals.

They decided that both murals would feature plants and animals native to their community.

Magdalene, a sixth grader, told us that she was really interested in researching what animals to feature and really enjoyed learning more about the great Cormorant, which I had to research myself.

It's a big heavy seabird with a long neck and a hooked beak.

Luke, who was also a sixth grader, told us that the mural is being painted on weatherproof panels that are about eight feet long.

He explained that the tunnels walls are currently covered in tiles that are in pretty rough shape.

The panels will be mounted over the top of the tiles and won't be damaged by all of the water that sometimes seeps into the tunnel.

Ava, who was in eighth grade told us that the design process took a really long time.

They even met throughout the summer to make sure they were able to finish the mural before their deadline, which was this past Monday.

Ava went on to tell us that one of the key lessons she learned was more about teamwork than art.

She explained that without teamwork and collaboration, they never would've been able to finish either mural.

She told us that she learned a lot about being a leader and a lot about persistence.

Magdalene added that she learned that you have to always believe in yourself even though the job seems hard, if you're dedicated and work hard, you'll be successful.

She was also thankful as an artist for all of the new techniques she learned in painting.

Luke told us that his biggest lesson in all of this was that ideas always get better and better when you include others and respect everyone's contributions.

In fact, this led to an inspired all school collaborative project in the new library with an integrated mural.

The entire IWA school community was welcome to participate.

This week's A+ award goes to the Mural Club at Incarnate Word Academy for making their school and community even more beautiful.

We'll check back in with the club to see the final product once it's on display at Huntington Reservation in Cuyahoga County.

And that's all the time we have for today.

But you can keep the conversation going 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.

Our zip code here is 44115.

You can email us at Nnewsdepth@ideastream.org or you can tweet us.

Our handle is @NewsDepthOhio.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Gabriel Kramer.

We'll see you right back here next week.

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

(bright music)