(lively music) - Coming up next on "NewsDepth."

Several states have been hit by Hurricane Helene.

Governor DeWine introduces a new reading program.

Iceland harnesses the power of volcanoes.

And we meet a Mexican American boxer.

"NewsDepth" is now.

(lively music) Rescue efforts are underway as communities across several states are dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Hello, I'm Gabriel Kramer.

Thank you for joining us.

In North Carolina, emergency responders rescued more than 200 people from flood waters.

About 2 1/2 million people are still without power across five states.

Down to trees and landslides have affected infrastructure, including roads, water, and means of communication.

Infrastructure is the physical and organizational facilities needed for the operation of a society.

Ivan Rodriguez is in Keaton Beach, Florida where much of the town has leveled.

- [Ivan] Communities in the southeast are grappling with widespread devastation after Helene made landfall as a category four hurricane on Thursday.

Asheville, North Carolina is experiencing the worst of it as entire communities have been trapped by flood waters.

- We've lost communications capabilities.

It's very difficult for us to move around the community.

Many, many of the roads are closed, trees are down.

We're clearing those as quick as we can and a lot of the critical infrastructure that we become used to every day in normal times is now gone and we have to work around it.

- [Ivan] Hundreds of roads remain closed in Western North Carolina Sunday, crews are working to reach people who are trapped with limited supplies.

- Our biggest need right now is to take care of the people that live in this community.

We need water desperately.

We have yet to receive any water.

- [Ivan] Millions of people remain without power across several states, including Tennessee, where dozens had to be rescued from flood waters on a rooftop of a hospital.

- I've never seen a hurricane disaster in Tennessee that has looked like this, not in the years that I've been here.

- [Ivan] In Florida where Helene made landfall, communities were wiped out from storm surge and strong winds.

Countless residents are displaced.

Boil water notices are in place in multiple counties.

- We've got a couple things to remedy, but then it's mostly gonna be the homes and the businesses and fixing that.

- Thank you, Ivan.

We're now turning the page to a new reading program right here in Ohio.

At Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, the focus is on Project BEAR, Building Emerging and Achieving Readers.

It's a part of a larger effort to implement the science of reading across the state.

Through phonics and hands-on support, kindergartners are learning foundational word sounds that will help them become stronger readers.

Phonics is a method of teaching people to read by correlating sounds with letters or groups of letters.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine backed this initiative with a $171 million investment recognizing the long-term benefits of early literacy skills.

Gil McClanahan has a story.

- [Gil] This kindergarten students at Portsmouth Elementary are learning word sounds with the goal of making them better readers when they get older.

Teacher Stacey Reed has a project bear member from Shawnee State to help develop reading skills.

- You have a way better student to staff ratio because they help in that manner.

And we all know with smaller groups, kids pay more attention, they focus and you can get more skills taught and reinforced daily.

- Every teacher in the state really has to be retaught how to teach based upon the science of reading.

- [Gil] Ohio Governor Mike DeWine called for the program in schools a couple of years ago in his state of the state speech.

He says school districts are embracing the program.

The legislature allocated $171 million to implement the program to pay for reading materials, professional development, and reading coaches.

- And you know, this is costing a pretty significant chunk of money, but when you think about the long term impact of kids being able to read and throughout their whole life, it's a huge multiplier and we're certainly gonna get a lot more than our money's worth.

- So the science of reading actually comes down to a very simple equation.

So it's word recognition times language comprehension equals fluent reading.

- Thank you, Gil.

And that brings us to our poll for today.

We wanna know how much do you read every week?

Jump over to our poll page to vote.

You can choose between one day a week, two days a week, three days a week, or probably every day.

Last week, we introduced some trade jobs to you and we asked you for help in picking jobs that we can feature on our career callouts this season.

Let's check out the results of the poll.

42% of you said you would like to know what it's like to be a police officer.

About 19% of you voted for a welder and we have a tie with 13% of the votes each.

We have electrician, truck driver, and steel worker.

Thanks for voting, everyone.

Look out for our first career call out segment of the season in the next few episodes.

Okay, it's now time for one of my favorite parts of every episode.

I get to talk about all of you.

One of the keys to success is setting goals and creating a plan to reach those goals.

The students at Westerly Elementary in Bay Village are perfect examples of A plus award worthy goal setters.

Westerly's principal, Miss Sanfilippo was proud to tell us that the book path is a great way to foster a love of reading and to provide active learning for the students and community members.

The students decided to name the book path Weston's Walk and Read, which honors the school's mascot Weston, Wolf.

(imitates wolf howling) During the planning of Weston's Walk and Read, the students worked with the school district's facilities and maintenance department to plan and install the path.

The story path will feature different books throughout the year.

Each step along the path features different questions or challenges that led the readers really engage with the story and have a little bit of extra fun along the way.

During the ribbon cutting ceremony, several students who were all Mrs. Volkmann's third graders last year, told us all about the process and how excited they were to see the final project.

Even Weston the Wolf was there.

We think that Mrs. Volkmann, a third grade teacher at Westerly said it best when she told the crowd that every great reader starts with just one page.

So let's turn that page today and see where our reading adventure takes us.

This week's A+ Award goes to the third and fourth graders at Westerly Elementary School for all of their hard work in building Weston's Walk and Read.

And if you're wondering, the first book on the book path is "Scaredy Squirrel" by Melanie Watt.

Okay, from a reading wolf, we're now turning to a reading dog.

It's time for this week's petting zoo.

(excited music) (dog barking) Hey there, Newshound.

Are you reading the newspaper?

That makes sense.

That's probably how you find all the cool animal stories.

All right, what did you find for us today?

Oh, neat.

He found a story about the annual Buffalo Roundup in South Dakota.

To watch the herd of more than 1,000 bison, click the petting zoo thumbnail at the bottom of this episode page.

(lively music) Thanks as always, Newshound.

Okay, let's head back to the news because it looks like things are heating up in Iceland.

Iceland is a Nordic island country in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean.

It has a population of about 376,000 people, making it one of the least populated countries in Europe.

Iceland's government is a parliamentary republic and the capital city is Reykjavik.

The currency in Iceland is the Icelandic krona.

Iceland's biggest exports are fish products, aluminum, and renewable energy technologies.

Iceland's volcanoes can be destructive and green.

Icelandic scientists are working to harness the intense energy stored beneath the earth's surface, energy, which is completely clean.

Fred Pleitgen explains.

- [Fred] The awesome power of nature on full display in Southwest Iceland.

Iceland's massive activity, both a burden and a blessing for those who live here.

Keeping the specialist at Iceland's Meteorological Office tasked with predicting eruptions busy round the clock.

- The GPS station that telling us if the ground is changing, it is deforming.

We are maintaining the geochemical monitoring that is telling us which are the kind of gases that are leaving the volcanoes.

- [Fred] While volcanoes often have an impact on life here in Iceland, the Icelanders have found ways to harness the power of our violent Earth.

Geothermal power plants feeding off the heat, providing emission free energy in abundance and leading companies from around the world to move energy intensive manufacturing like aluminum production to Iceland.

Our team traveled all the way to the northeast of Iceland to the Krafla Geothermal Plant.

When drilling a new borehole here at Krafla, they accidentally hit a shallow magma chamber and now are working on harnessing the Earth's energy almost directly from the extremely hot magma.

The project's director says this technology could provide clean energy for hundreds of millions of people.

- We have a very big part of humanity living close to a volcano.

And if we are able to harness the volcano directly, reducing the risk by lowering the pressure and lowering the tension in the volcano, then of course, we have a win-win situation.

(uplifting music) - [Fred] Using the earth's natural energy without burning fossil fuels.

The scientists acknowledge there is still a long way to go and a lot to be learned, but they also believe the potential energy supply could be virtually limitless and totally clean.

- Pretty cool story.

Well, warm story I guess?

Either way, thanks, Fred.

At the University of Nevada, researchers are working on a groundbreaking solution to tackle Las Vegas's water shortage through a process called atmospheric water harvesting.

Led by mechanical engineering professor Dr. Jeremy Cho, the team has developed a way to pull water from the air and get this, they got this idea from nature.

Geneva Zoltek talks to a student working in the lab, - It's called water harvesting and it may pose a solution to our valley's water problems.

And it's all being studied right here at a lab at the UNLV campus.

- Dr. Cho found me and I got to apply everything that I was learning.

That was when I really chose it and decided to stay.

My name is Areianna Eason and I'm a mechanical engineering major and I'm in my third year.

- [Geneva] Areianna is busier than most students.

- I usually have 8:30 classes, so you know, I'll go to class in the morning.

Anytime I'm done with class, it's straight to the lab usually, especially 'cause it's exciting.

We're getting a lot of, you know, exciting things happening and that means I need to start seeing some exciting results.

So I usually run up there.

- [Geneva] What's exciting right now is the launch of a startup company straight from the lab and into the retail market.

- So WAVR is a company that we've launched based on UNLV technology that is addressing the biggest challenge I think for our community.

- [Gil] Rich Sloan is UNLV's entrepreneur in residence co-leading the launch.

- There's a material that's a membrane that's kind of like a contact lens - [Geneva] Based on the research of mechanical engineering professor Dr. Jeremy Cho, a patent pending device using hydrogel membrane is capable of pulling water from the atmosphere.

- Atmospheric water harnessing, I believe is going to be a big part of the future.

- [Geneva] The idea stemming from nature itself.

Certain tree frogs can absorb water and hydrate through their skin.

- This is for Las Vegas, especially with water, which is, you know, rare and scarcer resource because of climate change.

We have to figure out ways to solve those problems soon .

There is enough water in the first 30 feet of atmosphere here to handle 100% of the daily needs of Las Vegas.

- [Geneva] The startup launch stems from funding from the National Science Foundation focused on supporting innovation for a warming Southwest - UNLV is being very aggressive and putting resources behind this and the brain power is extraordinary.

- [Geneva] And what's fueling this creative solution are the young students working in the lab dedicated to fixing climate change.

- It not only translated from having that passion and being able to find this research in particularly with, you know, helping water regions and it was really uplifting and kinda gives me hope.

- Thanks for the report, Geneva.

A science breakthrough could change how we recycle.

Researchers at the University of California Berkeley say they found a chemical process that breaks down plastics and things like water bottles and milk jugs that could help less plastic end up in landfills.

Lena Howland takes a closer look.

- [Lena] The future of recycling plastics could look completely different thanks to a new discovery at UC Berkeley.

- We hope that this method can kind of provide a better alternative to traditional mechanical recycling, where instead of a lower value product out of the recycling process, you can get the exact same plastic by just recreating it from scratch.

- [Lena] That's RJ Conk, a chemistry PhD candidate at Berkeley.

Conk built off years of prior research by Cal students and found a new way to take apart some of the most difficult plastics to deconstruct.

We're talking about plastic water bottles, soap bottles, shopping bags, and more according to advisor John Hartwig.

- Sandwich bags, but also large objects and construction materials as well as, yeah, the milk jug, the yogurt containers.

- [Lena] Here's how it works.

Chemists combine waste plastics with two catalysts, sodium and tungsten.

Then seal it inside a high pressure reactor, add ethylene, heat it up and stir for about an hour and a half.

Open up the reactor and this is the result.

No more plastic.

Just raw materials that can now be recycled.

- I began to start to lose hope, but one day he came to me and actually said, "I have the best results I think I have ever gonna show you."

And at the end of the meeting I said, "Yes, that's true."

- [Lena] On Thursday, this research was formally published in the journal science.

- It is one of the, you know, most prestigious, highest impact publication forums that we have in sciences.

- [Lena] Big picture, they hope this process eventually will lead to less plastic in landfills.

- I think the goal is to provide an economic incentive to collect plastic waste or at least a disincentive to throw it out into the environment.

If you can make it cheaper to recycle plastic, then lessens up out in the environment.

- [Lena] A feat conquered after years of trial and error with a little catalyst of luck.

- Thanks, Lena.

For our right to us this week, we want you to put your engineering hat on and tell us other ways that technology can help the environment.

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

Last week we visited a tribal college that just opened in Minnesota and we wanted to hear about your school.

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

Flynn from Maryland Elementary in Columbus loves the people at school.

"Dear NewsDepth, I think my school is special because we have such great teachers who are always there for you and can always make you feel better.

The students here are also really kind and we always try to make everyone feel included."

Sophie from Old Trail School in Bath likes at their school is in a national park.

"Dear NewsDepth, what makes my school unique is that our school is in the middle of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

We also have a challenge course in the woods where we can play.

The challenge course has tire swings, balance challenge, and cool trails.

P.S.

Tell NewsHound he is the best.

He is the best."

Speaking of pups, Joey from Sterling Morton Elementary in Mentor likes the school's canine companion.

"Dear NewsDepth, my favorite things about my school are all the kind people.

Another one of my favorite things is Hattie, the therapy dog brought by Mrs. Lorek.

The last one of my favorite things in Morton is the assemblies."

Alexis from Applewood Elementary in Brunswick, that's where my niece, Rosea goes, likes all the different things about their school.

"Dear NewsDepth, my favorite thing about school is all the things we can sign up for, like kindergarten helpers, coding club, and leadership club.

Also, we have all these fun activities.

That is why I love my school."

And Nino from Westlake Elementary in Westlake likes the charitable spirit of their school.

"Dear NewsDepth, my favorite thing about my school is when we do many things to raise money for kids without books or clothes, etc.

throughout the fundraiser for about only a week, we raised more than $45,000.

It is so cool and that's my favorite thing about my school."

Wow, I gotta say, all of your schools sound really, really, really cool.

Thank you so much for writing in.

Now, Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15th through October 15th.

It's a celebration for people in the US with Hispanic background.

Hispanic countries are those who speak Spanish, including Mexico, Spain, the Caribbean, and most of South America.

The first day of Hispanic heritage month is September 15th because that is when Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua celebrate their independence.

Mexico's Independence Day was September 16th.

And it wraps up after Columbus Day or Dia de la Raza, Day of the races on October 12th.

Last month, president Joe Biden paid tribute to the many contributions of Hispanic immigrants to the country.

- Today, we honor the simple truth.

Hispanic history is American history.

(crowd cheering and applauding) And by the way, Hispanic excellence is American excellence.

- Speaking of Hispanic and American Excellency, check out this 14-year-old girl who is a boxing prodigy.

Faith Gomez from California has become a boxing phenom and she's just getting started.

On top of all of her hard work and training, part of her motivation is her pride in her Mexican American heritage.

Esteban Reynoso reports.

- [Esteban] In a class all her own, 14-year-old Faith Gomez, born and raised in Stockton, loves to box.

Her belts, medals and titles hanging in her home are a true testament of her unmatched skills.

- This is my favorite.

This is when I won gold in Louisiana.

I like that one 'cause that's where I felt like all my hard work came in.

- The young fighter is ambitious, proven and humble, a homegrown talent who trains right here in her own garage in Stockton, surrounded by the family who trained her and a community that embraces her.

- [Simon] Right here, come on, got come on.

- I could be in my own mind state and be like, "Man, I got this all by myself."

But at the end of the day, you need help.

- [Simon] You gotta take care of these hands.

- [Esteban] The man behind her success, her dad, Simon, who once trained in mixed martial arts, started training her at only 10 years old.

- I put it off for about five years.

She was five years old.

She bugged me and bugged me.

That's the only thing that's really all she wanted to do.

She's been pushing me from the jump, you know, and she ain't missed a day since.

- [Esteban] Even when she's in school at Stockton Early College Academy where she's a freshman, boxing is always on her mind.

- She watches what she eats, she trains.

We wake up at three, she trains at four, comes back from school, trains again with coach.

- One more time.

- [Esteban] Taking what she learns in training to winning fights and tournaments.

(audience cheering) - I just won the championship, headed back to Stockton.

- [Esteban] With the moniker, the Mexican American Dream, something she hopes to embody in boxing.

- I also bring along that Mexican fighting game.

You know, straightforward, pressure.

- [Esteban] That has become her life's passion.

- Bring my culture with me.

Bring everything my parents work for, their parents work for, you know.

- Just generational.

You could tell their hard work is for some reason right there with her when she's in here.

- [Esteban] With no signs of slowing down, Faith and her family have her goals set high.

- And my ultimate dream is probably to be on a stage where I look at thousands of people and I'm like, "Man, like I made it.

I won this big belt."

- We're gonna do the best we could be.

We're gonna get the best coach and we're gonna sacrifice a lot of things if you want this.

Sometimes I forget she's 14.

- My Hispanic heritage is important to me because I live my grandparents Mexican American dream.

- Faith is ranked number one in her age group and she's now thinking about trying out for the next Olympics or becoming a professional boxer.

All right, let's turn from some outstanding boxing to some outstanding painting.

The Julia de Burgos Cultural Art Center started a series in 2016 that spotlights many of the talented Latinx visual artists living in this region.

A group of northeast Ohio artists continue the project by creating doors for five additional Spanish speaking countries.

Natalia Garcia opens the door to the Hispanic community in Cleveland.

- Doors to my Barrio was started in 2016.

It was just on an idea of from a donation of doors that I received from a friend.

And at first I was just thought, "What am I gonna do with these doors?"

We kind of came up with the idea behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitars.

We decided that each door would represent a Spanish-speaking country.

(lively music) (Mariela speaking in foreign language) - [Translator] I am very honored to participate this year because I made the door of Honduras.

So I had the idea of showing the beauty of what is Mayan and what is Lenca.

And with coffee, which is very much a part of the Honduran culture.

So I painted, who is the Mayan goddess of the moon.

She has a rabbit and she's always carrying a rabbit.

(Maria speaking in foreign language) This has been a very nice experience and it turns out when I was looking, I came across Argentina and guess what?

I have some friends.

I'm one of my best friends of the soul for more than 30 years, she's Argentinan.

And I concentrated on what they really are.

Sun, tango mate.

Well, we also have to mention, right?

The asados, the grill.

But we'll leave that to, okay?

- My door for project, I was actually given Spain as my theme 'cause bullfighters are very common in Spanish artwork and everywhere.

It's a matador in a purple suit, matador suit.

And he's kinda like pulling like the little blanket, like when the bull goes by him and I color it so that it's looks like the flag of Spain.

- So I did Bolivia and I wanted to include like the indigenous population of Bolivia 'cause a big percentage of the people are indigenous.

So it's the Aymara and the Quechua people So I included the two women and the kind of looking at the Andes and then I included a sunset.

So one of the rays is the Wiphala flag, which is actually also like a national flag and it represents the indigenous people, which I've never heard of that before, so.

- I got Uruguay.

Back in the colonial times, it was a place where the Africans came and it was a place where they came for freedom and that was where they kind of dispute, distributed themselves into America essentially.

So that's where I kind of have all these different melting pots of people in this small little door I have.

(Mariela speaking in foreign language) - [Translator] I feel very honored because the doors are showing each country.

So painting the door of Honduras was an honor.

Do you understand me?

Painting my country, representing my country.

And I think it's a very nice project.

And I think there's nothing else like here in Cleveland.

I don't believe even in Ohio.

- Gracias, Natalia.

And that is a wrap for this week's episode.

But let's keep the conversation going.

You know, we always wanna hear from you and you know the drill.

There are plenty of ways for you to stay in touch with us.

You can send us a letter.

We're at 1375 Euclid Avenue.

That's Cleveland, Ohio.

ZIP Code here is 44115.

And you can email us at newsdepth@ideasstream.org.

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

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

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Gabriel Kramer.

We'll see you right back here next week.

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

(lively music) (ambient music)