(warm music) - Coming up next on "NewsDepth," the U.S. Education Department is cutting almost 50% of its employees.

Idaho legislature has passed a bill that would require all students to learn cursive.

We learn about women's rights activist Lucy Stone.

And the spring thaw provides ideal conditions for maple tree tapping.

"NewsDepth" is now.

(warm music) The U.S. Education Department announced it is cutting nearly 50% of its workforce.

Hello, everybody, I'm Gabriel Kramer.

Thank you for joining us.

Hundreds of employees at the U.S. Education Department will be out of a job soon.

It could be the first step towards eliminating the agency altogether, a move previously proposed by President Donald Trump.

The Department of Education is in charge of overseeing and managing education in the country and makes sure schools, colleges, and universities follow rules, provides funding for education programs, and creates policies to improve learning.

They also help make sure all students have access to a quality education regardless of their background.

Reporter Michael Yoshida breaks down who the cuts will impact.

- [Michael] The U.S. Department of Education cutting nearly 50% of its workforce.

The layoffs combined with those who already took voluntary so-called buyouts will cut the department's headcount to nearly 2,200 employees.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon saying this on Fox News when asked about the cuts.

- Because that was the president's mandate, his directive to me, clearly is to shut down the Department of Education.

- [Michael] The move drawing swift criticism from Democrats.

- That's bad news for any American who cares about education for disabled children, about higher education, about a skilled workforce.

- [Michael] fully eliminating the department would require Congress to act.

- Oftentimes what's concocted in Washington, D.C., when it goes out to Montana, doesn't exactly fit.

So in a lot of cases, the states are better for administering the programs.

- [Michael] The Department of Education was created in 1979 to strengthen the federal commitment to ensuring access to equal education opportunities for every individual.

The department has been responsible for things such as federal civil rights enforcement, student loans, and oversight of student disability rights.

Senior officials say job cuts will not impact federal student aid, quote, "in any way, shape, or form."

Still, experts question whether the agency's duties can effectively be carried out with a diminished or even eliminated department.

- They're not just federal budget line items.

These impact real humans here.

- Thank you, Michael.

The Department of Education stated that it will continue to manage essential programs like student loans and funding for special needs students, but there are still growing concerns.

In Nevada, local education leaders warned that cuts could have severe consequences for schools, affecting programs, staffing, and class sizes.

Nevada's Attorney General Aaron Ford has joined a coalition of states suing the administration, calling the cuts unconstitutional and harmful to students' education nationwide.

Anthony Ramos reports from Reno.

- [Anthony] The Education Department releasing a statement on the matters, saying, "The Department of Education will continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency's purview, including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking."

Despite this, there's concerns across the state for the future of Nevada schools and students.

- The State of Nevada is, you know, again, grossly underfunded when it comes to education, and if we were to lose that portion of the federal funding, that would be catastrophic.

- [Anthony] Calen Evans is the president of the Washoe Education Association.

He says the biggest takeaway from the recent staffing cuts is uncertainty.

- The impact of, you know, whether that's extracurriculars, whether that's, you know, aids, assistants, you know, less, our ability to hire additional staff, to lower class sizes, right?

Those are absolutely all gonna be on the table when you're talking about how to balance a budget.

- [Anthony] Evans is not the only one with concerns.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, joining a coalition of states suing the Trump administration for these recent staffing cuts.

- It's unlawful, it's unconstitutional, and it's also reckless.

- [Anthony] AG Ford says it's the overall impact on students' education not only here in Nevada, but across the country, that he's standing up for.

- I understand the importance of education and the cuts and the firings, the mass firings are gonna have a deleterious effect on our ability to educate our youth here.

- Onto some more school news.

Idaho Governor Brad Little signed a bill into law last week that will require students in Idaho to be proficient at reading and writing in cursive by the end of fifth grade.

While some, like Senator Tammy Nichols, argue that learning cursive has educational benefits, such as improving reading, memorization, and abstract thinking, others, like Senator Kevin Cook, believe cursive is outdated and unnecessary in today's world.

Reporter Brady Caskey gets the public's reaction to the new law.

- [Brady] Hey, you think either of you guys can write in cursive?

- Yeah.

- You think so?

You think you guys can write in cursive?

- No.

- Of course I can.

- No?

Yes, you can?

- Heck yeah.

- Isn't the I something weird like that?

- I think you cross it into the D. - Mm!

- You carry that over into the D. - You gotta connect it across?

- Yeah, it looks kinda like a J.

- [Brady] Idaho lawmakers are moving Senate Bill 1044 through the State House, which aims to make sure all Idaho students are proficient at cursive writing.

- I don't know if I remember how.

- Well, let's find out.

- [Participant] Oh, the I, I can't remember.

- The I got the last guy.

Ida... - He put Ia-daho.

- Ia-daho?

(man laughs) Eh, I don't know if that counts.

- You know- - You may not get a A. Cursive is already taught in Idaho schools.

This proposed bill would require students to be good at both reading and writing in cursive by the end of fifth grade.

Do you think it's important for kids to learn how to do cursive in school?

Well, of course.

- Of course?

- Yeah, so they can sign their name.

- Kids who don't know how to write or read in cursive are missing out on some things, especially historical documents, 'cause most historical documents are written in cursive.

- [Brady] Senator Tammy Nichols argued that cursive has many benefits for students.

- It's not just about handwriting.

There's so much more that's involved.

Cursive handwriting has shown that it helps kids with reading.

It helps them in memorization and in spelling and in language learning and abstract and complex thought process.

- [Brady] But Senator Kevin Cook held a different opinion, arguing cursive is something that could be left to the past and shouldn't be mandatory.

- And so we're moving to a different century where Latin is not required, cursive is not required, and we can spend our time and do that, or we can allow people that want to know that to go and learn that.

- How often do you use cursive in your daily life?

- Never.

- What do we need cursive for?

I can't think of anything other than my signature.

- [Brady] Only for the signature?

- You may need to know how to read it if your grandma writes you letters.

- I don't think not being able to write in cursive is an emergency.

(chuckles) I think kids should be able to read and write, but I don't know if cursive is, like, getting to the point of that.

- Thank you, Brady.

And that brings us to today's poll.

Should schools teach cursive writing?

Slide over to our poll page to vote.

You can choose between yes, it's a useful skill, or no, it is not necessary in today's world.

On our last episode, we learned that strawberries had a really good harvest this year, and we wanted to know, what is your favorite fruit?

32% of you said you loved all fruit.

Same, I try to eat fruits every single day.

About 23% of you voted for citrus.

That's our producer Natalia's favorite too.

18% of you said your favorite fruit was strawberries.

Hey, same with NewsHound.

And we have a tie for fourth place, with 9% of the votes each.

You said your favorites were apples, bananas, or mangoes.

Thank you all for voting.

Now, people always ask me how we choose our A+ Award winners.

Sometimes we find articles in the newspaper about A+-Award-worthy students.

Sometimes teachers or students nominate A+ Award winners, but sometimes we get emails just like this one.

"Dear NewsDepth, I am a community member in Westlake, and I want to nominate the students at Westlake Elementary School for your A+ Award.

They recently held a program that honored veterans.

I'm very proud of the work the students did to show their respect and appreciation to our veterans.

They deserve an A+ Award for the great work they did to honor veterans."

We love getting emails like this.

After we read it, we reached out to Mr. Planter, who is the principal at Westlake Elementary School, and told him that his school was nominated and won this week's A+ Award.

Mr. Planter invited us to visit and meet with some of the fourth graders who were a big part of the Veterans Day program.

Camellia explained that the fourth-grade students wrote letters to veterans to thank them for their service.

Amelia added that some students got to read their letters to the nearly 200 guests who participated in the program.

May told us that at first she was nervous about reading in front of a crowd, but with some practice, she felt pretty comfortable.

Don't worry about it, May, sometimes I get nervous in front of crowds too.

Benjamin shared that he was really proud to be able to honor the veterans because they protect our freedoms, and without their sacrifice, our country will be a different place to live.

Emerson told us that it wasn't just a fourth-grade event.

She explained that there was a parade that the younger students walked in and that many students even made short little biographies about veterans in their families.

Jordan added that she was happy to be able to be a part of the program because the veterans, including her grandfather, felt honored and respected, and it was a great opportunity to show how grateful we all are for veterans.

This week's A+ Award goes to the students at Westlake Elementary School for honoring those who served our country.

These students really impressed us.

Okay, back to the news.

March is Women's History Month.

It is celebrated to honor and recognize the contributions and achievements of women throughout history.

It highlights the impact women have made in various fields, from politics and science to the arts and social movements.

With that in mind, we wanted to highlight a woman from Ohio who was ahead of her time: women's rights activist Lucy Stone.

She graduated from Oberlin College in 1847, which was one of the only institutions to admit women at the time, and went on to create a pro-women's newspaper and fight for women's rights.

Mary has this week's Know Ohio all about Lucy's legacy.

(lighthearted music) - Whether you're a boy or a girl, you likely spend a lot of your time in a classroom.

And no matter what your gender, you probably wanna graduate from high school and go on to college.

But for a large portion of our country's history, many classrooms, especially high school and college classrooms, included few, if any, women and girls.

This is because for a long time, women and girls were not encouraged to get an education.

But by the mid-1800s, knowledge-hungry ladies were rebelling against this unfair system.

Today's Know Ohio actually begins in Massachusetts.

That's where women's rights activists Lucy Stone is from.

Like many women of the time, she was not given a formal education.

In fact, her father forbid it just because she was a girl.

Despite her father's refusal to allow her to receive an education, she read everything she could find and enrolled in school herself.

Then, she got a job teaching so she could save up to go to college.

Alice Stone Blackwell, Lucy's daughter, wrote of her mother, "At the low wages then paid to women, it took Lucy nine years to save up money enough to enter college.

There was no difficulty as to the choice of an alma mater.

There was only one college that admitted women."

That college was Oberlin, right here in Ohio.

Minister John Shipherd established Oberlin College to provide both men and women, Black or White, with a college education.

When it first admitted students in 1833, 15 of the 44 students were women.

The first American women to realize the dream of a college degree got them right here in Ohio.

Lucy Stone herself graduated in 1847.

As a gifted writer, the college asked her to draft a commencement address, but a man was to read her speech because it was considered improper for a woman to speak publicly.

Lucy passed on that deal, and she would go on to travel the country, giving speeches on women's rights.

She was ahead of her time and fought for many of the rights we take for granted today.

The right to an education, the right to speak publicly and own property.

She bucked convention by keeping her own name when she married businessman Henry Brown Blackwell and by wearing pants.

Yeah, that's right, pants.

Shocking, I know.

Because so many of her forward-thinking ideas were considered controversial, she was often shouted down at lectures.

But she found another way to communicate.

In 1873, Stone and her husband became the editors of The Woman's Journal, a weekly newspaper that argued for women's rights.

Lucy's daughter, Alice, wrote for the paper and eventually became its editor.

One of Lucy's last fights was for suffrage.

That's the right to vote.

And although she died 27 years before women would win the fight, it was her activism that laid the foundation for this right and nearly all the rights women have gained since.

(air whooshes) (globe bouncing) - I'm so proud to call Lucy Stone a fellow Ohioan.

Thank you, Mary.

Would you like to hear about some more impressive women?

Well, a group of female firefighters in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, are on the front lines protecting life and property on a daily basis.

While only 9% of firefighters in the United States are women, their numbers are growing, especially among volunteers.

Montgomery County is facing a critical need for volunteer firefighters, and a new recruitment push encourages everyone, including women, to break barriers and join the fire service.

Aziza Shuler talks to them about their training and service.

- [Lexi] Alright, somebody just take the lock and the nozzle.

- [Aziza] They lift 70-pound ladders, endure the weight of heavy gear, and scale dizzying heights without hesitation.

- You got it, keep going.

- [Aziza] These are the women of Montgomery County's many volunteer fire services.

- What can a woman do better than this job?

- [Aziza] Last month, these fearless women were on the front lines of the massive four-alarm fire at SPS Technologies in Jenkintown, playing a crucial role in bringing the blaze under control.

- We're involved in dropping a lot of lines for, you know, water and helping with the supply and, you know, manpower.

- [Aziza] According to the National Fire Protection Association, only 9% of firefighters in the U.S. are women.

- Girls, ladies.

- [Aziza] But their ranks are growing, especially among volunteers, like Lexi Wilmot-Shaw.

- I've been doing it for 13 years now, and when I joined, there wasn't too many women, but now, you know, it's more and more.

- [Aziza] Firefighting runs in her blood.

She's a fourth-generation member of the Flourtown Fire Company, following in the footsteps of her father, who serves as chief.

- The dad worry comes out sometimes, but I'm proud of her coming out.

I know that she is well-trained.

- [Aziza] 18-year-old Julianna Smull hasn't even graduated high school, but she's already training to respond to calls with the King of Prussia Volunteer Fire Company - Coming into this, I was a girl, I wasn't strong, until I came in here, and I one upped the guys.

So it was kind of nice to be able to do what they were able to do.

- [Aziza] Montgomery County has a critical need for volunteer firefighters, and a new recruitment push is calling on everyday people to step up, including women eager to break barriers.

- There's no reason that women cannot get involved in the fire service.

They're accepted just like anybody else.

- Just be the girl that decided to go for it.

- [All] Volunteer!

- Thank you, Aziza.

On our next episode, we'll have a brand new Career Callout segment featuring a firefighter, but we need your help coming up with interview questions.

So tell us, what would you ask a firefighter about their job?

Students can use our inbox form online or send us an email to newsdepth@ideastream.org to send in your questions.

Last week, we met an airplane nose artist trying to keep history alive, and that got us thinking, how does art help tell history?

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

(air whooshes) (button clicks) Olivia from Kensington Intermediate School in Rocky River thinks art is how history is preserved.

"Art is a form of history!

You may not realize it, but it is because you can use art to tell what people used to wear.

It also means that we can learn from our mistakes about history."

Zavier from Richardson Elementary in Cuyahoga Falls shared a cool fact about a Native American tribe that had rules for photographs.

"I was learning about the Nez Perce pictures, and I know if they look forward, they are confident.

That means if they look in any other direction, they might be sad, worried or mad.

Also, you can see what they wore back then.

If you look at the background, you can see where they were."

Zoe from Independence Elementary School in Cincinnati likes seeing what historical events looked like.

"Dear NewsDepth, art can be used to see how it happened because sometimes it's hard to picture something in your mind.

And if we have a picture or a piece of art, we can see what happened in the past.

Like in class, we were learning about the American Revolution, and without art or pictures, I would not know what the British and the colonists looked like."

Cooper from Miami East Junior High School in Casstown says we can see human evolution through art.

"Dear NewsDepth, how art can help tell history is by showing us how they used to talk and what their language was, like in ancient Egypt.

We can also see how things evolved over time."

And Emma from Buskin Elementary in Greenfield says that art helps provide historical context.

"Dear NewsDepth, art can be used to tell history by the things that have happened in the past so we can understand the past."

Thank you, as always, for writing, but check this out.

I have some more letters to share with you.

These are birthday cards for Ohio.

From Gilles-Sweet Elementary School in Fairview Park, Jamie drew this super festive card celebrating their home sweet home, Ohio, and wrote, "My class watches NewsDepth every week.

It is one of my favorite parts of the week.

Give NewsHound lots of pets."

Natalie wrote, "Happy Birthday, Ohio.

You have been so many people's home over the long, long years.

Thank you, and happy birthday."

Joey sent us this birthday card and wrote, "Dear Ohio, I hope you have a great birthday.

You are cool and nice.

Tell NewsHound he is the best."

And Benjamin from Bexley, Ohio, also loves NewsHound.

Just check out this drawing.

Benjamin wrote, "My community, in my opinion, is a great community.

Some things we do are a triathlon every year, and at my school, we have a winter coat drive and a food drive."

Look at you, NewsHound, getting all the love this week.

I love reading your letters.

Thank you so much for sending them.

Okay, now onto some really good news.

Spring is here.

March 20 is the spring equinox.

And if you remember from our Spot on Science a couple of months ago, the spring equinox, also known as the vernal equinox, marks the astronomical beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

And it occurs when the Earth's axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the sun, resulting in nearly equal day and night lengths.

And for people in Minnesota, this time of year is marked with a sweet activity: maple tree tapping.

Marielle Mohs has the latest - [Marielle] Walks outside right now are bound to be messy but worth it.

- We weren't able to do much snowshoeing this year, it wasn't enough snow, and so if you don't have enough snow to enjoy the snow, at least let's get it over with and get onto spring.

- [Marielle] Steve and Diane Meyer felt rejuvenated taking a walk through Carpenter Nature Center on Sunday.

- Get my body clock used to the hour change.

So I heard that was a good thing, to get out in the sunshine at least 15 minutes a day.

- [Marielle] And they spotted the signs of spring along the way.

- Yeah, just trying, I saw my first bluebird today.

- [Marielle] Another sign you can't miss here?

- So we're gonna tap right about in there.

- [Marielle] The dozens of buckets hanging from maple trees on site collecting sap.

- [Alan] Slight angle up.

- [Marielle] Alan Maloney has been taking adults and kids on maple-tree-tapping tours as a naturalist here at Carpenter Nature Center for the last 30 years.

And he enjoys letting visitors give it a spin.

- Keep going, a little bit more.

- [Marielle] With nature becoming a classroom for these curious kids.

- Yes.

- It looks like water.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, it looks like water, doesn't it?

- [Marielle] Recent weather did slow down sap production to start the season off.

- We haven't collected a whole lot just 'cause our weather's been a little iffy with a big snowstorm that we had right after we tapped trees.

- [Marielle] But now these visitors are seeing so much more sap flowing with ideal weather for tree tapping.

- Below freezing at night, above freezing in the morning, which is what you want your trees to do to get that sap moving.

- [Marielle] Tough treks through the trees and muddy shoes are the trade-off to get sweet syrup, but flowing sap is also a sign of better things to come.

- Maple syrup season always feels like the first start of spring around here.

- So you're saying it's also the start of waffles and maple syrup season?

That is great news for me.

Thank you, Marielle.

Now, with the weather warming up, there's also something else looking for a bite.

Mosquitoes.

In the mosquito capital of the world, a certain part of Florida, they found a new way to lower the population of the bugs.

Ella Rhoades has more on the new tool.

- [Ella] You might not hear it (machine whirring) or see it, but you'll eventually feel it when that backyard mosquito bites.

The Lee County Mosquito Control District started a new program to decrease the number of Aedes aegypti, (mosquitoes buzzing) which we all know as the backyard mosquito that can also spread diseases.

- Sterilized insect program that we have is really exciting and amazing, we're starting to see some really great results.

- [Ella] Jenifer McBride with the district says they're the first mosquito-controlled district ever to do this.

Essentially, their scientists sterilized male mosquitoes, then released them in a neighborhood like the photos you see here.

Those mosquitoes mate with females, which lay eggs that are not viable.

- We actually will lower the number of mosquitoes that we're releasing because we're knocking down that population.

- [Ella] The district still uses chemicals and pesticides, which they say are not harmful to people, to control the other 53 types of mosquitoes in Lee County.

- We're not looking for just doing treating mosquitoes, controlling mosquitoes in one way, we need lots of tools in the toolbox.

This is just another tool to really combat that mosquito.

- [Ella] Jenifer says mosquito-controlled districts across the country will use this program, as will other countries, like Brazil.

And while mosquitoes are a pest, (mosquito buzzing) Jenifer says it's important to remember they are important to the environment because they are pollinators and a source of food for other insects and animals.

- We don't eradicate them, we're controlling them so that there's less numbers out there, so less of a chance for a public health threat - [Ella] And less of a chance that leaves you itching for days.

- Thank you, Ella.

Okay, I think we've given NewsHound enough time to find us a Petting Zoo story.

Let's see what he's got for us.

(lively music) (NewsHound barking) Hey there, NewsHound.

Oh, you're just out enjoying the sun, nice.

Does that mean you found us a sunny animal story?

Wrong!

He's found us a cool story.

This week's Petting Zoo is about the Iditarod and how the racers are taking care of their dogs in the harsh conditions.

The Iditarod is an annual long-distance sled-dog race held in Alaska.

(dog barking) - [Reporter] As you can hear, (dogs barking) these furry four-legged athletes have a lot to say.

- [Musher] Look at that.

Want your eye boogies?

(dog whining) Yeah?

- [Reporter] You can think of this area like a gate at the airport, and these dogs are standby passengers awaiting a flight back to Anchorage.

But this airport check-in comes complete with medical checks too.

- Mandatory vet checks, make sure everyone's healthy, good to go.

- [Caretaker] Do you want another one?

- [Reporter] And something most other airport gates don't, a total spoiling of its customers.

And we all know how much pups love their fish snacks.

- To see how these pups are staying healthy and happy during the big event, you can check out the full video on our YouTube channel and our website.

(air whooshes) (globe bouncing) Thanks, NewsHound, I'll be meeting you out in the sun here pretty soon because we're all out of time for this week's episode.

Now, the "NewsDepth" team will be on spring break next week, so that means that a new episode won't post until April.

But until then, you can always stay in touch with us.

You know we always like to hear from you, and there are plenty of ways for you to stay in touch with us.

You can send a letter, we're at 1375 Euclid Avenue.

That's Cleveland, Ohio.

ZIP Code here, 44115.

And 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, and we'll see you right back here next month.

(air whooshes) (warm music) - [Announcer] "NewsDepth" is made possible by a grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation.

- [Announcer] Career Callouts featured in "NewsDepth" are funded by the Ohio Broadcast Media Commission.

(bright music)