(bright upbeat music) - [Rick] Coming up next on "NewsDepth."

The culmination of many issues brings attention to food insecurity around the world.

Crowds gather to voice their opinions about the Student Loan Forgiveness Program.

Mary tells us about an Ohioan who fought for women's rights.

And we visit a start-up company that 3-D prints violins.

"NewsDepth" is now.

(bright upbeat music) The US is taking significant steps to combat food insecurity around the world.

Hello, everybody, I'm Rick Jackson.

Thank you for joining us.

Food insecurity is not having access to enough quality food and the problem has only increased, not just in the US but world-wide due to pandemic-era supply chain issues, catastrophic climate events, and international conflicts that have driven up food prices.

Not to mention that millions of American households are set to see key additional benefits expire with the end of the COVID-19 emergency policies.

That could lead to a bigger hunger crisis in some communities.

Since food insecurity comes from a culmination of issues, it calls for strategies from different angles.

Mike Valerio is in Los Angeles.

- [Mike] The war in Ukraine, exacerbating global food insecurity.

Last week, the Biden administration announced three new partnerships in an effort to boost Ukraine's agricultural sector and help supply the country's grain to the world.

- We've gotta do two things at once.

Get food to the hungry now, but also help countries build up their agricultural productivity and resilience.

- [Mike] The conflict directly hitting supplies of critical foodstuffs like wheat, corn, and sunflower oil, while also impacting global agricultural production.

- Here's the thing that'll affect the United States.

25% of the world's export of nitrogen-based fertilizer comes from Russia/Ukraine, and we don't have a viable substitute for that yet.

- [Mike] Here at home, many Americans feeling the effects and for some, it could get worse.

- We're preparing for an increased demand for food.

- [Mike] The rising cost of food is now set to collide with an end to COVID-era food assistance policy that increased SNAP benefits.

- It's almost a twofold effect.

The benefit levels going down and people are already struggling with high food prices.

- [Mike] An estimated 16 million households receiving SNAP benefits will see them decrease by at least $95 a month beginning this month.

But as food banks prepare to provide increased assistance to those in need, there is hope that a strong jobs market and improving wages will soften the blow.

- Thank you, Mike.

Consumers who have been diagnosed with diabetes might see some relief in their medicine budgets.

Diabetes is a chronic health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy.

Drug maker Eli Lilly announced a series of price cuts that would lower cost of the most commonly used forms of its insulin by 70%, saying the move will automatically cap out-of-pocket insulin cost at $35 for people who have private insurance and who use participating pharmacies.

Melisa Raney has more on what this means for millions of Americans with diabetes.

- [Melisa] Promising news for more than 37 million Americans living with diabetes.

Drug maker Eli Lilly announced price cuts to lower the cost on commonly used forms of its insulin.

- Lilly's gonna buy down all of our customers out-of-pocket cost to $35 at the pharmacy counter automatically.

- [Melisa] The move lowers the price of its most popular used insulin by 70%.

The company says it will also cut the list price of its non-branded insulin to $25 a vial, making it the lowest list-priced mealtime insulin available.

- This is a culmination of about seven years of work we've been doing to reduce the price of our insulins, launching a generic to our own best selling brand 'cause we think that should be the new standard in America.

- [Melisa] The announcement comes a day after President Joe Biden said, improving Americans' access to healthcare is a high priority in his proposed budget.

- Insulin has been around for 100 years.

The cost to make that drug and package it is making $10 and packaging 13, but you've been paying three, four, $500 a month for that.

But Big Pharma's been unfairly charging you that much.

Record profits.

Not anymore.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) - [Melisa] Cost has been a problem for many Americans who are forced to ration their insulin and the average price of the drug nearly tripled between 2002 and 2013 according to the American Diabetes Association.

- Thank you, Melisa.

President Biden has called on other pharmaceutical companies to lower their prices on insulin too.

Another top priority for the Biden administration is to address inequities in our economy.

Among the strategies included is a plan for student loan forgiveness, but the fate of the forgiveness program hangs in the balance.

As the Supreme Court heard arguments on it, crowds gathered outside to express their perspectives.

Rene Marsh speaks with borrowers and advocates.

- [Crowd] Hey hey, ho ho, student debt has got to go.

[Rene] Student loan borrowers and advocates rallied outside the nation's highest court as justices heard oral arguments on the legality of President Biden's student loan debt relief program.

- I'm kind of broke.

I don't really got it on me like that.

And honestly, the movement for this really supports people that are in the same financial situation like as me.

- [Rene] Some traveled hundreds of miles to be at the court for a case that could change the trajectory of their lives.

- [Sabrina] On board my flight headed to D.C. for the people's rally for student debt cancellation.

- [Rene] 25-year-old Sabrina Calazans traveled from New York to rally outside the court.

- My family would be eligible for up to $50,000 of student loan cancellation.

So as a whole family, that's huge.

- [Rene] Calazans graduated from college in 2019.

She has nearly $30,000 in student loan debt.

With payments currently paused, she can now contribute to household cost for the home she shares with her parents.

Massachusetts Democratic Congresswoman, Ayanna Pressley's personal student loan story has guided her support for tackling the problem.

- I ultimately defaulted on those loans and I did pay off those loans, but it took me 20 plus years to do so.

- [Rene] Federal data shows the student debt crisis is multi-generational, spanning from recent grads to grandparents.

Data shows 2.6 million borrowers over the age of 62.

72-year-old Vietnam vet Cecil Hamilton is one of them.

- I never got the amount paid off.

- [Rene] In 1977, Hamilton says he took out a loan for an associate's degree for $5,250.

Nearly five decades later, he still owes roughly the same amount.

- I thought I would have a good job and a home and all the things that people like to have and then enter retirement on a good note, but instead, I'm back in the hole again.

- The Supreme Court has until June 30th to make a decision.

60 days after that, payments will resume.

Also protesting publicly and all around the world are women taking to the streets to celebrate International Women's Day.

International Women's Day is celebrated every March 8th to recognize the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women around the world and to advocate for gender equality.

It may seem new, but today has been observed since the early 1900s.

International Women's Day is an opportunity to highlight the progress made in promoting women's rights and gender equality as well as the challenges that still exist in politics, business, sports, and the arts.

By promoting women's rights and empowering women to achieve their full potential, we can build a more prosperous, peaceful, and equitable future for all.

If you missed International Women's Day last week, don't worry, you can still celebrate all month.

March is Women's History Month.

Now for this week's Know Ohio, we learned about Lucy Stone, an activist ahead of her time.

An activist is someone who campaigns to bring about political or social change.

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

Mary has her story.

(funky upbeat 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 activist 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.

- Thank you, Mary.

Wow, an entire newspaper about women.

For our write to us this week, we'll follow Lucy's example.

We want you to write an article about an inspiring woman.

This can be a public figure or someone you know.

Already have somebody in mind?

Now head over to our inbox form to tell us all about her.

Now, last week we asked you to help us track the weather.

Let's read your observations by opening up our inbox.

(funky upbeat music) Riley from Maryland Elementary in Bexley did not like the weather last week.

"Dear NewsDepth, today in Bexley, it is gloomy, moist, and rainy, and it gets a bit windy every once in a while.

It's super humid like a huge storm just passed.

Yuck!

It's kind of cold but not freezing.

Every time I go outside I feel like I'm going to slip!

That's because it is really wet with many puddles."

Good descriptive writing, Riley.

Amber from Frank Elementary in Perrysburg took notes of the temperature last Friday.

"Dear NewsDepth, at my house it is snowing outside.

The low temperature on March 10th is 28 degrees and the high temperature is 36 degrees.

We have had a warm winter in my town, but we have had snow for like the third time this winter only!

In February, we had a record breaking shortage of snow in Perrysburg.

That's the weather in my town."

Micah from Kinsner Elementary in Strongsville's noticed a pattern lately.

"My observations about the weather in my community is that lately it's been a little too warm for average winter temperatures.

Temperatures can be around 50 degrees or even 65.

This is caused by global warming.

We got snow today, which is at least good, but the temperatures still haven't dropped by much.

Those are my observations about the weather in my community."

Cassidy from Suffield Elementary in Southfield Township can't wait until the dreary weather is over.

"Dear NewsDepth, today, Friday the 10th, the weather was not very enjoyable because it was rainy and also snowy, and cloud with colds.

It is very dreary and the high is 39, but currently the real field is 36.

Earlier there was a little wind, but to describe it in one word, it's kind of depressing."

And Brian from Rushwood Elementary in Northfield saw some snow last week.

"Right now it is heavy snowing, and all day it had not stopped.

There are three inches of snow down there right now.

And it is slushy snow and good snow.

Last night it was not nice weather.

It was very cold the whole week, it was under 40 degrees."

Hey, I thought most of you liked winter?

Well, thanks for all your letters and hang in there.

Spring is just around the corner.

Of course, forecasting the weather involves technology and as technology evolves, so do the applications for it.

Virtual reality, for example, has transformed video gaming, but researchers at Michigan State University believe it can also revolutionize healthcare.

They're currently testing to see whether VR can help in-home caregivers better maintain their mental wellbeing through momentary escapes.

Riley Connell explains how it works.

- [Riley] If you've heard about virtual reality, it was probably video game related, but this changing piece of technology could be used to improve mental health.

An ongoing study at the Michigan State University College of Nursing wants to find out if that's true and it's turned its focus to in-home caregivers.

- They're taking a vacation, a little mini short vacation in the home, in a safe space, seated comfortably in their chair, and they're able to put on these goggles for 10 minutes or so and actually have a completely new experience.

- Dr. Rebecca Lehto says caregivers have a particularly stressful job.

It can keep them from having a full and functional social life.

In her study, she'll send a group of caregivers home with virtual reality headsets and run tests to see if the scenes it producers give them any relief.

Participants will step into a virtual world.

Once they slip on the headset, they will choose where they'd like to escape to and hopefully find a moment of peace away from a stressful reality.

As a person just starting their healthcare career, PhD candidate Mohammed Alanazi says the possibilities of virtual reality are exciting.

- Working with this project and having the experience and having the, you know, the contact with different people who are experts in the field really makes me feel that the, you know, there are so many things that we can do to like improve the care.

- [Riley] Researchers are still looking for more caregivers to take part in their study as they hope the outcome leads to a new way for people to manage their pain.

- Thanks, Riley.

Can tech also be used in the arts?

Well, that sounds like a great idea to me.

Matthew Canel and Ben Kaufman combined their engineering skills and musical interests together to create a startup company that 3D prints violins.

Let's check out their workshop for today's Making It segment.

- Everyone's shocked at how good it actually sounded, was incredible.

- Our biggest problem with this is that no one believes it until they can physically touch it.

And that is our biggest reception is people who hear it love it.

People who just hear the idea, don't believe it.

(curious upbeat music) - Hi, my name is Matthew Canel and I'm the founder and engineer for 3D Music.

- Hi, my name is Ben Kaufman and I'm the co-founder and business developer at 3D Music.

We're making 3D printed plastic acoustic violins for schools and research purposes so that way, we can make things that are cheaper, easier to maintain than traditional wooden violins.

They're more durable and more resistant to weather elements and climate changes while also being drop resistant and throw resistant.

(violin clatters) You can see that these can take a hit.

- [Matthew] If you did that to a wooden violin, just imagine how upset everyone involved would be.

- I graduated Case with a degree in computer engineering in 2012 and then a degree in management in 2013 and have sort of stuck around the area helping out doing various startups.

- And I graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and technical theater in 2020 and a masters in mechanical engineering in 2021.

I'm trying to decide if I should dare try to play and the answer's I really shouldn't.

I don't play violin.

So actually this started out as a summer project for course credit, and I used to play the cello and obviously cellos are a bit big to start 3D printing, so starting with a violin was a little bit more reasonable.

From there, there I developed the quarter size, which was, in the end, my thesis.

And after I graduate, I started developing the other sizes and hope to eventually move on to other instruments as well.

- We're up to about our 108th prototype and we're just about ready to go to market and mass produce them.

- So it started with, you know, let's make it the general shape, accounting for the fact it's plastic, so it'll resonate a little differently.

From there, we actually approached a local luthier, Max Morgan, who makes wooden instruments, and he was able to help us quite a bit with the sound profile.

Basically, how our printers work, you have a roll of plastic that's fed by a motor into this box right here, which has a heating element in it, which melts it, and then a microcontroller computer tells it to feed the plastic out in whatever pattern you program.

This will do the 2D drawings of each layer, and then every time it does a layer, it will drop down.

For our quarter size violins, that's about a day and a half.

For our full size violin, which is a bit bigger, that'll be about two days.

They print in two parts, the body and the neck, this one already having tuners in it.

And you can see, we screw in the tuners.

These are currently off the shelf guitar tuners, and then they just get slotted together and you have some strings through the holes to the tuners and you put a wooden bridge on it and then you have a violin.

- This is the first startup I've worked on that was truly a physical product with no digital element at all, and it is great being able to physically see the object change, play it, tweak it, touch it, and then just like iterate and iterate and just keep figuring out where it's going wrong.

- It has been quite fun to see people react, to be surprised by its quality and pleased and excited to see it and to have people excited to see what will become and what comes next.

- A special thanks to our coworker, Jean Marie Papoi for sharing that video with us.

Sometimes uses for technology can create heated debates.

In this case, over a robot dog.

The Los Angeles City Council's deciding whether the police department there should accept a $278,000 gift from the LA Police Foundation to buy a robot dog.

Advocates say it would keep the city safer, but as Jake Reiner reports, some see it as a waste of money.

- You have no- - It's not an LA City Council meeting these days without at least a few interruptions.

- But you will be removed immediately if you disrupt this meeting again.

- [Jake] The big issue today, whether or not to accept the LA Police Foundation's $278,000 gift to LAPD to acquire a robot dog for SWAT use.

It not only drew ire from the public, but council members Eunissis Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martinez also opposed it.

- So, colleagues, I ask again, how does accepting this donation make our city safer and how is it fiscally responsible?

- [Jake] The idea, police say, will be for the LAPD SWAT team to use the robot dog named Spot in.

- A very limited number of scenarios.

- [Jake] It can walk over uneven terrain, up stairs, open doors, and can let police talk to a potential suspect through a speaker system.

- And Spot will allow us remote visibilities into areas that we may not normally be able to see with, you know, the human eye or as well as placing our officers in a dangerous situation.

- [Jake] Situations such as those council member Traci Park laid out.

- Like active shooter and hostage situations.

- [Jake] Other police departments like New York have used Boston Dynamics Spot, but it received backlash and was canceled because of perceived surveillance of low-income communities.

One of the main issues was.

- There wasn't a written policy established in New York.

- [Jake] And LAPD says they already have a detailed policy written out that would severely limit Spot's use, some of which council member Park also laid out.

- It cannot be used in everyday patrols.

It cannot be used for surveillance.

- [Jake] However, not all of Park's colleagues were convinced.

Soto-Martinez's fear is the lack of trust some have with police.

- When they hear this, they don't hear, you know, what you're saying, they're hearing is how, what's the potential of how this can be used in the community?

- Thanks, Jake.

Now we want to hear your side on this debate.

For this week's poll, do you think a robocop dog is a good idea?

You can choose between, "Yes, a robot K9 would be a great idea," or "No, I don't see the benefits."

Last week we wanted to know what strategies you used at home to conserve energy.

Let's check out the results now.

68% of you said you turn off the water while brushing your teeth.

A close second was 62% with turning off the tap.

Third place went to taking short showers, 39%.

34% of voters said they check for leaks so they can get them fixed.

And lastly, being smart when watering the plants is a strategy used by 25% of you.

All the little things that you do to conserve our limited natural resources do add up, so keep up that great work.

Now, I wonder how News Hound would vote in this week's poll.

I bet he would've been for it, but then again, he might think it's a real dog.

Anyway, let's put News Hound to work.

It's time for this week's Petting Zoo.

(upbeat funky music) (dog barking) Hey there, News Hound.

Of course you're taking a nap.

You've been training and hanging out with News Cat for too long.

Okay, time to get to work.

Okay, you found a story about a companion dog to a blind boy.

To see this pup at work, click the Petting Zoo button on our website.

Thank you, News Hound.

Well, I'm sure that many of you have a classroom pet.

It might be a few fish, a hamster, maybe a turtle, even a Guinea pig named, I don't know, maybe Lewis White.

Well, recently we met Noel, a third grader at the Hudson Montessori School in Hudson, Ohio, who wrote a story about a classroom pet named S'more that was turned into a podcast by Story Pirates.

Noel told us that on road trips, his family likes to listen to the "Story Pirates Podcast."

The podcast encourages children to write stories and send them in to be turned into podcasts or songs, and Noel did just that.

His story featured a story about how his class named a new pet.

In the story, the third grade classes compete against each other at Field Day for a delicious taco lunch.

Before the class could compete, they had to choose a name for the mascot.

The class in Noel's story took this responsibility very seriously.

The class then voted on the options, Jim, Fluffy, S'mores, Guinea and Lewis White.

As the pressure built and the other third grade classes practiced the egg and the spoon race, the class finally settled on the name S'mores.

But there's a shocking twist and the Guinea pig, who of course could talk in the story, has other ideas.

Now we're not gonna spoil the surprise ending for you.

Noel told us that he loves absurd stories and among tales he loves to read are the "Big Nate" series, "Harry Potter," and the "Wayside Stories from the Wayside School."

Noel's mother told us that he's a very creative person and enjoys writing stories.

His little sister, Maisie, who's just four, even gets involved in writing stories and recently narrated a story to send to the Story Pirates.

It was called "The Coffee Cup That Never Stops Talking."

Noel not only tells audio stories, but he also makes short movies and writes books, and he's even an actor.

He'll be performing in his community's performance of "Matilda the Musical" this spring.

Now, he told us that he and a friend recently finished a suspense movie called "The Lost Cabin," and he and another friend are working on a book called "SUDA."

SUDA is an acronym, by the way, for Secret Underage Detective Agency.

When we asked Noel for some advice, he told us that editing is an important part of the creative process.

Always make sure you have people edit your work because you'll always end up with a better story.

Noel's classroom actually does have a Guinea pig named S'more.

He wanted us to tell you that S'more is a singular Guinea pig.

That's why his name doesn't have an S, s'mores.

This week's A+ award winner, then, is Noel, the story pirate from Hudson.

Good job, Noel.

That's a wrap for this week's show, but we always want to hear from you and you already know the deal.

There are plenty of ways to stay in touch.

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 or you can tweet us.

Our handle is @NewsDepthOhio.

Thanks for joining us, I'm Rick Jackson.

We'll see you right back here next week.

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

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