(energetic upbeat music) - [Presenter] Coming up next on "NewsDepth," the Fed announced it's cutting interest rates.

Black workers are struggling in our current job market.

A scientific invention is helping protect the coral reef and Jeff goes chasing waterfalls in this week's spot on science.

(transition whooshing) NewsDepth is now.

(energetic upbeat music continues) (energetic upbeat music fades) - The Federal Reserve announced a cut on interest rates for the first time in 2025.

Hello everybody.

I'm Gabriel Kramer.

Thank you so much for joining us.

The Federal Reserve, also known as the Fed, is the central Bank of the United States and is the body responsible for controlling the US economy.

Last week, the Fed announced it's cutting interest rates for the first time since last December.

The interest rate is the extra percentage you pay a bank when you borrow money.

This is a move that they hope will also prop up the US labor market, but as Karin Caifa reports, consumers won't feel relief on loans right away.

- In light of the shift in the balance of risks.

today the Federal Open Market Committee decided to lower our policy interest rate by a quarter percentage point.

- [Karin] The move comes as the Fed continues to assess the impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs on inflation, which has begun to tick up, and as the labor market shows multiple warning signs.

- We've seen hiring slow, teen unemployment is skyrocketing, Black unemployment skyrocketing.

The Fed is concerned about the job market much more than they're concerned about the inflation side of their mandate.

- [Karin] And as credit scores fall at the fastest pace since the Great Recession, the national average FICO score dropped by two points this year, according to data release by the analytics company Tuesday the most since 2009.

- Inflation is sticking around.

Interest rates are still really high, even with these cuts from the Fed, so it's just a really tough time for an awful lot of people.

- [Karin] Matt Schulz, chief Consumer Finance Analyst for personal finance website LendingTree says, consumers can take their own steps to help reduce their debt burden rather than wait for the Fed.

- There are things that you can do with interest rates that will have a bigger impact than anything that the Fed will do.

- [Karin] Schulz says that includes shopping around for a mortgage or auto loan, or making a balance transfer to a 0% interest credit card or getting a debt consolidation loan to lower interest payments each month.

- Thank you, Karin.

From pre-teens to high schoolers, or even young adults going off to college and living on their own, learning and developing good spending habits can be an invaluable lesson.

Chris Dudley has more on financial literacy for young people.

- [Chris] 57% of parents say they wish they talked more about finances to their kids.

That is according to a survey from Empower.

- It's the fact that a lot of parents don't really give their kids these life skills to learn about money and protecting their information.

The schools aren't doing a very good job either.

(transition clicks) - [Chris] It can be helpful to learn about monthly bills and expenses before you start to live independently.

- The difference between wants and needs, I mean, we all want a lot of things and so we need to plan for needs, but people need to save for their wants.

- [Chris] Good lessons to learn for kids and teens include budgeting and saving, whether it's money from your allowance, first job or other income, understanding, buy now, pay later, particularly fees and interest and how checking and saving accounts work as well as checks, debit, and credit cards.

Whether you're old enough to move out on your own or head off to college, make sure you are also aware of taxes and filing returns.

It's important to keep receipts and records, whether that's physical paper or digital copies.

It is essential that we understand debt, especially how compound interest works.

- It's so important to pay your credit cards in full to avoid interest every month.

This is a big mistake that a lot of college students fall into.

There's been some progress, but still, you know, we see a lot of people in their late teens, early twenties, getting over extended with debt.

- Those are some great tips.

Thank you so much.

Chris.

Data shows that Black workers are disproportionately affected by the hard labor market.

Black unemployment rose to 7.5% in August, which is the highest it's been for the last four years.

Despite the bleak outlook, many remain hopeful, recognizing the critical role Black Americans play in the economy.

Reporter Ryan Young speaks with highly skilled job seekers at a job fair in Atlanta.

- It's a hard time right now.

- It's very frustrating.

- [Ryan] Black unemployment hit its highest level since the COVID Pandemic last month.

How long have you been looking for a job?

- Since September last year.

- [Ryan] And inside in Atlanta Veterans job fair.

- I'm Donald.

Nice to meet you.

- Donald.

- [Ryan] We found hundreds of highly skilled veterans struggling to land a new gig in this current economy, including Donald Hudson.

We followed him around as he searched for a new job.

- I'm looking for something either in the tech field or backend engineering again.

Previously I worked for Boeing in engineering section for NASA.

- [Ryan] The latest employment snapshot from the Bureau of Labor Statistics paints a bleak picture.

Only 22,000 jobs were added in August, and Black unemployment reached 7.5%, its highest level since October of 2021.

A drop in Black Americans in the workforce can have a crippling effect on the US economy.

That's because Black Americans are expected to have buying power of $2 trillion by 2026, according to a 2024 Nielsen report.

Black Americans are slower to recover from job losses, which means it can be a long road to recovery.

- There's still some biases, I would say, unless you have a special set of skills right now, it's kinda hard.

- Even when you have the degrees, you got the experience, you got the clearance, it's still not enough.

- Yeah, the real reality here is the more people we talk to, the more people say they're dealing with AI in a way that they never anticipated.

It's become a difficult hurdle that they can't seem to get past.

- I have found is the AI blocking, you know, they're looking for specific, you know, descriptive words that you know you might not be thinking about.

- So this year I think everybody's aware that the employment landscape has definitely been rocked.

- [Ryan] Despite that many still have hope for a new chance.

- I got a company that wants me to go home and fill out the application and submit it online, and then they said they're gonna contact me.

- Thank you, Ryan.

You know, we are continually impressed by students who know what they want to do in life and take the steps to reach their goals.

Sounds a lot like this week's A+ award winners, the Business Professionals of America Student Organization at Buchtel Community Learning Center in Akron.

(transition whooshing) The Business Professionals of America, or BPA for short are sixth, seventh, and eighth graders who are honing their skills for leadership and business or other related fields.

Michael told us that it's not just learning about public speaking and how to use spreadsheets, it's also about building your confidence.

Quincy added that BPA has really helped him work with other people and to develop goals and strategies.

Maliah told us that it really helped her learn how to advocate for her ideas and what she believes in.

You see, BPA students get to participate in competitions that challenge the students to work together and communicate effectively.

Joslyn explained to us that in the competitions they have to give public speeches and even record videos.

Zion and Michael told us that they use all kinds of editing software, especially CapCut to make their videos, and Braelyn told us that they have to be really organized with their thoughts and ideas, so they can communicate effectively when making videos and giving speeches.

The BPA team at Buchtel has been scoring high marks in their competitions.

After competing at the state leadership conference held in Columbus, they became national qualifiers to attend and travel to Chicago for the 2024 Business Professionals of America National Leadership Conference.

(transition whooshing) This group of Buchtel griffins left us with some wise words that really motivated us to make this the best season of NewsDepth yet.

They told us that if something is important enough to put your name on it, it's important enough to do your very best.

Congratulations to the Business Professionals of America from Buchtel Community Learning Center in Akron.

Our poll this week is related to the job market.

We need your help picking the career fields to focus on for this season's career callouts.

So tell us which fields do you want to learn more about?

(transition whooshing) Jump over to our poll page to vote.

You can choose between manufacturing, engineering, healthcare, tech, media or business.

(transition whooshing) And look out for our first career callout video coming soon.

We'll also need your help coming up with interview questions.

Last week we learned about an organization in Ohio trying to make the women's decathlon an official Olympic sport, and we wanted to know what you thought, should the women's decathlon be in the summer Olympics?

(transition whooshing) Wow, overwhelmingly, 93% of you voted for yes.

Women should compete in the decathlon in the Olympics.

While another 7% of you think the decathlon and heptathlon should stay the same.

Thanks for voting, but let's get back to the show.

This next story is about underwater exploration in South America.

An Uruguayan scientific mission is now exploring and live streaming the depths of the ocean, that comes after a similar mission off the coast of Argentina that captivated millions of viewers.

Dario Klein dives in.

- [Dario] This is the ship everyone is talking about these days around this part of South America.

It first went viral for producing scientific images.

(audience applauding) (guest speaking in foreign language) - [Dario] And now it's reaching the depth of the Uruguayan maritime continental margin in the Atlantic Ocean.

(guest speaking in foreign language) - [Dario] Reaching the hearts of children.

(guests speaking in foreign language) - [Dario] And also adults.

(guest speaking in foreign language) (guest 2 speaking in foreign language) - [Dario] They say they're very, very excited about the mission, for once it was not soccer or politics what captivated Uruguayans.

(guest speaking in foreign language) - [Dario] Now Uruguayans are finding their own characters.

(guest speaking in foreign language) (guest speaking in foreign language) - [Dario] Uruguayans residents from a part of their territory until now unexplored.

(guest speaking in foreign language) - [Dario] We are looking to reveal life in the darkness.

Life without sun, they say.

(guest speaking in foreign language) - [Dario] The ROV SuBastian is the star of the moment.

This remotely operated vehicle of the Schmidt Ocean Institute is connected to this ship, the Falkor Too with a cable that transmits energy and information.

It has 4K cameras, lights, sensors, and arms to collect samples.

(crew member speaking in foreign language) - [Dario] Marine flora and fauna, from cold-water corals or a walking starfish to the regrettable presence of plastic pollution.

(crew member 2 speaking in foreign language) - [Dario] As it heads to the six Uruguayan oceanic canyons, the ROV sends images to excite and teach a whole generation, and it also collects samples that will inform future generations.

(guest speaking in foreign language) - [Dario] I asked them how many years of investigations are ahead with the information they're bringing.

Many years they answer.

This is a milestone for the country and the region.

- Thank you, Dario.

On more underwater news, coral reefs are key to supporting important ecosystems on earth.

Yet climate change is hurting corals and that could have long-term consequences.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego are experimenting with a new way to protect coral from future damage.

Vanessa Paz spoke with one of the researchers on the project.

- So these are the tanks.

- [Vanessa] Inside a small and temperature controlled room at UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

- [Daniel] We are increasing the temperature in these tanks.

- [Vanessa] Associate researcher Daniel and his team start their day tending to an unusual nursery.

- They feed on little tiny particles.

- [Vanessa] Tanks filled with baby coral.

- [Daniel] It's our approach to enhance the growth.

- [Vanessa] These corals are part of a series of experiments aimed at reviving reefs threatened by warming oceans- - [Daniel] Are they looking good?

- [Vanessa] Pollution and disease.

The main drivers of coral bleaching.

- Bleaching is basically a stress response.

When coral gets sick, essentially it loses the main compartment that produces energy, so it's, oh, you can imagine like an engine.

And so these are tiny microscopic algae that live inside the animal and primarily when it gets too hot, those algae are expelled from the tissue and so then that makes the coral weak and can lead to death.

(machine whirring) - [Vanessa] Now Daniel and his team have a new tool.

- This liquid is special because when you shine light on it, becomes jelly.

- [Vanessa] Snap X, a scented gel that can be painted or sprayed onto damaged reefs or even 3D printed attachments like this one made in their lab.

- [Daniel] We try to create an environment that the baby coral likes.

- [Vanessa] Coral larvae are picky where they settle, they look for chemical cues from healthy reefs.

Snap X uses natural chemicals from crustose corraline algae to mimic those cues.

- On a degradated reef or an artificial reef, you don't have these chemical signals or you have less of those, right?

You might have signals that come from competitive algae that actually deters the coral larvae from settling, so you get an individual animal from the entire colony.

- [Vanessa] In lab and field tests, coral treated with Snap X attracted 20 times more larvae than untreated surfaces.

It works immediately and lasts up to a month.

- [Daniel] We've studied the main reef building corals in Hawaii and showed that these scents work for this coral, but we have more work to do.

- [Vanessa] Daniel and his team also developed coral guard.

- To enhance the survivorship of the recruits.

- [Vanessa] It's a protective coating that blocks harmful competitors from growing over new coral and they've created a new particle that could reduce coral bleaching by lowering toxic stress chemicals inside the coral.

And the best part, all of it, including Snap X is made with natural biomaterials, essentially taking from nature to give back to nature.

- The causes of reef degradation are man made, so why shouldn't the solutions be man made as well?

For anyone that has been diving on a reef, (water splashing) you know the beauty, there's a high aesthetical value.

Coral reefs are hotspots of biodiversity.

About one quarter of our marine life of biodiversity is hosted in coral reefs, and at the same time, they are also a powerhouse in terms of the ecosystem, goods and services they provide.

- Thanks for the deep dive, Vanessa.

In this week's "Know Ohio," we discovered the geography, history and purpose of Lake Erie.

Lake Erie is the smallest of the five Great Lakes, but it has had a big impact on our state's formation.

Mary Fecteau explains how the lake shaped the region's history, economy, and ecology.

(upbeat funky music) - Today we're gonna take a dive into one of Ohio's most treasured natural resources.

Our own great Lake Erie.

Ohio's north coast is a great place to swim, fish, and sail.

It's also part of the reason Cleveland and Toledo exists.

As the waterway connects these cities to other large cities, and in the 1800s before planes, trains, and automobiles, ships and boats were the fastest and most efficient mode of transportation.

(ship horn honks) Even today, lake Erie provides an important shipping route which span all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.

Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes, which as a whole contained the largest supply of fresh water on the planet.

In fact, 90% of the fresh water in the United States is located in these five lakes, but they weren't always so splashy.

20,000 years ago, these lakes looked like this.

Mind you, it was the ice age.

So much of the northern United States and Canada were covered in these large chunks of ice called glaciers.

And when I say large, I mean huge.

The glacier that formed the Great Lakes was two miles thick.

Key tower, Cleveland's tallest building would've been dwarfed by this massive glacier.

As the ice age came to an end and things started warming up, the glacier spent nearly 10,000 years melting into what are now the Great Lakes.

Lake Erie as the southernmost Lake was the first one formed.

Its spooky name comes from some of the earliest inhabitants along its shores.

The Erie people were Native Americans who farmed and hunted among fiercesome predators like mountain lions.

In their native tongue, Erie is short for Erielhonan, which means roughly long tail, a reference to the wildcat they lived among.

As white settlers arrived and cities around the lake grew, unregulated industries began polluting the lake.

The pollution became so bad that in the 1960s environmental activists even declared the lake dead.

Since then, the US government stepped in to stop the pollution by passing the Clean Water Act.

Although the lake still struggles with a manmade algae problem, it's come back to life, which is a good thing.

Considering over 11 million people now get their drinking water from Lake Erie.

(upbeat funky music fades) (transition whooshes) (Earth boings) - Thank you, Mary.

Ohio has a lot of great natural wonders.

One of my favorite things to see on a hike, waterfalls, from Brandywine to Hayden Run, these cascading beauties aren't just scenic, they're geological storytellers.

Geology is the science that studies the earth's physical structure.

Now, let's go chasing waterfalls with Jeff for this week's "Spot on Science."

- Waterfalls always attract attention, that's because falling water has power.

It has the power to move wheels to grind grain, to saw planks or to spin Yarn.

(upbeat funky music) (rocket whooshes) Mills popped up all over Ohio in the early 1800s as settlers moved in.

A man named George Wallace built a sawmill here at Brandywine Falls in 1814.

His family ran the mill here for 40 years.

But the power of a waterfall can do more than move machinery.

It has the power to move the human heart, the motion, the mist, the endless flow.

People are always drawn to waterfalls if only to soak in the spectacle.

A waterfall is obviously what happens when a stream or river runs over a steep drop.

Let's look at the geology that makes this stream bed a gorgeous waterfall.

The water of Brandywine Creek falls 60 feet from the bridge to the bottom of this little gorge.

The reason it's a steep drop is because the stone at the top is harder than what's underneath.

You can see the shelf of sandstone at the top of the waterfall.

It's called Berea sandstone after the town of Berea, and it's harder than the rock underneath.

Most of that is a softer material, a type of hardened mud called shale.

The layers of shale wear away and crumble a lot easier than the harder sandstone.

By the way, when shale is heated and compressed underground, it forms slate, which is what chalkboards and old roofs are made of.

As the bottom shale layers crumble away here at Brandywine Falls, the top of the waterfall also falls to the bottom, like those large blocks piled up at its base.

The shale layers were deposited around 400 million years ago when this area was all part of a shallow sea.

That was a long time ago.

Brandywine Creek feeds into the Cuyahoga River, otherwise known as a tributary.

The beautiful Cuyahoga Valley formed around 10,000 years ago after the last ice age.

Here we are, Blue Hen falls in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, very similar to Brandywine Falls with a layer of Berea sandstone on top, a hard layer underneath shale that's much softer.

You can see the overhang of the top layer.

Eventually it's gonna fall off just like these big rocks here.

Here we are at Tinker's Creek in Bedford, Ohio.

With the more examples of how geology forms waterfalls, you can see a big slab of Berea sandstone on top of softer layers of Bedford Shale.

This is actually where Bedford Shale gets its name.

A geologist came here and decided, let's call it Bedford Shale from the city of Bedford.

This is Tinker's Creek and that's the great falls of Tinker's Creek, a major tributary of the Cuyahoga River, back when a shallow ocean covered this part of Ohio, silt and sand from the muck at the bottom formed these shale layers, which we now call Bedford Shale, later sand from rivers and the beach formed the sandstone around 370 million years ago.

(transition whooshing) So you're out and about.

You can look at nature, you can look at geology.

You could look at human made structures like this pylon from the mill built in the 1800s out of Berea sandstone.

So from Tinker's Creek at Bedford Reservation, I'm Jeff St.

Clair, back to you, Gabe.

(transition whooshing) (transition whooshing) (Earth boings) - What a great field day.

Thank you, Jeff.

That brings us to our "Write to Us" for the week.

How can we enjoy nature without harming it?

Students can use our inbox form online or send us an email to newsdepth@ideastream.org to share their answers.

On our last episode, Natalia introduced us to Alebrijes.

Alebrijes are Mexican spirit animals, kinda like the ones you might have seen in the movie "Coco."

They're always full of color and can combine features from various animals, and we ask you to create your very own Alebrije.

Let's see your imaginative designs by opening our inbox.

(transition whooshing) (bright upbeat music) Raelynn and Mariam from Groveport Elementary in Groveport sent us their Alebrije.

It's a bear with butterfly wings and antennae.

Great drawing.

Thank you for sending it in.

Jada from John P. Parker in Cincinnati sent in a great idea for an Alebrije.

What I think is a great idea for an Alebrije, is a dog mixed with a bat.

Why?

Because I like dogs and they're my favorite animal, and I like bats too.

So basically it would be a dog with wings, right mix.

Thank you, Jada.

Will from Kensington Intermediate in Rocky River said it's a dog until it isn't.

It has the body of a dog, the tail of a lemur and the wings of a dragon.

I call it Perro Dragon, AKA dragon dog.

Pretty awesome, thank you, Will.

Parker from Gordon Dewitt Elementary in Cuyahoga Falls sent in this idea.

"If I could make my own Alebrije, it would be a black panther with neon yellow circles on the body and neon red eyes.

It would have almost glowing green feet, kind of magenta ears, teal claws too, maybe some faded orange smothered around their eyes."

Very descriptive and colorful.

Thank you, Parker.

Evie from Independence Middle School in Independence said, "My Alebrije would be a fish with shark fins and cute eyes.

It would also have one tooth and a symbol of a fish on its stomach.

It would be blue, green and bright orange.

Lastly, it would have a multiplication sign on it because I love math."

I love that inclusion of math.

Thank you, Evie.

Thank you all for writing and sending us your great illustrations.

I created an Alebrije myself.

My Alebrije would have a snout that helps them sniff out good stories, big ears, because they're such good listeners when doing interviews and magical paws that help them write notes and type on the keyboard.

I think I just described a News Hound.

Well, what do you say?

Should we check in with our cuteness correspondent?

It's time for "Petting Zoo."

(Upbeat funky music) (dog barks) Hi, News Hound, oh, good catch!

I hope you put that much energy into today's petting zoo.

It's time to get to work.

All right.

You found a story about a pregnant sea turtle that was released to the ocean in Florida after being rehabilitated.

To learn more about Pennywise the Turtle, click the petting zoo icon on our website.

(transition whooshes) (transition whooshes) (Earth boings) Great story as always News Hound, thank you so much.

We're out off time for today, but I'd like to give a special shout out to Catherine from my hometown Medina.

She sent us an email to say how much she loves "NewsDepth."

I really appreciate your enthusiasm, Catherine.

I always like to hear from all of you, 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@ideastream.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.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Gabriel Kramer.

See you next week.

(transition whooshing) (bright upbeat music) (Earth whooshing) (Earth boings) - [Kid] NewsDepth is made possible by a grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation.

- [Kid 2] Career callouts, featured in "NewsDepth," they're funded by the Ohio Broadcast Media Commission.

(upbeat bright music continues) (upbeat bright music fades)