Coming up next on NewsDepth.

Millions of Americans have lost their food stamp benefits.

a brother and sister team help distribute food.

Jamaicans fight to recover after Hurricane Melissa.

And why does spicy food feel like fire?

But why do we love it?

NewsDepth is now.

Due to the government shutdown as of November 1st, millions of Americans have lost SNAP benefits.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Gabriel Kramer.

Thank you for joining us.

SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

It provides food benefits to low income families to supplement their grocery budget.

The federal program provides food stamp assistance to roughly 42 million people across the country.

Two federal judges have ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funds to provide at least partial food stamp benefits to those impacted.

But while the situation plays out in courts, those who are the most vulnerable are now facing food insecurity.

Jenn Sullivan has details on where people impacted can turn for food.

Your kids are hungry, and you can't just hand them an apple.

Stacey Underwood is a working mom with a husband with a disability and five children to feed.

They rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to help them afford groceries.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm failing as a mom.

Roughly 42 million Americans receive SNAP benefits.

The program is federally funded, but without Congress passing a new spending plan, there is not enough money to fully fund the program.

Frustrating many who need it.

Food should not be a political argument.

Two federal judges have ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funds to provide at least partial food stamp assistance, and President Donald Trump says his lawyers are asking the courts for legal direction, but ultimately said ending the shutdown would be the best solution.

Even though SNAP is federally funded, states distribute the benefits.

Some state governments have stepped up to pay for the program until the federal shutdown ends.

Meanwhile, many local food banks are worried about not having food.

Food shelves were never intended to replace grocery stores.

That is what we are seeing right now.

Thank you for the report, Jenn.

Last week, the Trump administration said that it would provide half of the normal SNAP benefits for November by tapping into the program's contingency fund.

But recipients are not likely to see the payments immediately, if at all, leaving recipients struggling to stretch resources.

The federal government had plans to allocate about $4.65 billion to cover half the benefits.

Sherrell Hubbard has more on the relief.

The Trump administration said it will fund only half of the November SNAP benefits, but food stamp recipients will not see payments immediately.

I have to decide whether to put gas on my car or buy something to eat.

It's scary.

I'm a mom, you know, all of our food goes to our kid first and then we eat.

I just kind of have to think about making sure to make it stretch as long as we can.

The U.S.

Department of Agriculture had said it would not use its $5.3 billion contingency fund to cover SNAP benefits, but two federal judges ordered the USDA to use emergency funds to partially cover November benefits for recipients.

Thank you, Sherrell.

During the government shutdown, a Nashville team of siblings Cash and Cora launched a neighborhood food drive to support a nonprofit.

They distributed more than 300 donation bags and collected 2,800 pounds of food and supplies.

As Steve Mehling found out, neighbors of all ages are showing up for one another to keep bellies full during this shutdown.

Every day, Franklin High School freshman Cash Claxton gets a snack when he comes home from school.

I thought about people who don't know where their next meal is coming from.

I felt like a sympathy for them and I wanted to help out.

The Claxtons saw a similar effort when they lived in Kentucky.

That should be good.

Neighbors leaning on each other, pooling resources for families in need.

It's exactly what Cash and his sister Cora decided to do.

More than 300 bags and we went to every door, and we tied each bag with white ribbon into a bow on the doorknob And attached this note explaining their efforts to help GraceWorks Ministries.

Every year, we serve about 15,000 local neighbors who are experiencing food or shelter insecurity.

CEO Alicia Bell says the nonprofit has served the midstate neighbors for 30 years.

And the need around the holidays, especially with SNAP, is high.

GraceWorks is built for a time like this.

Folks like this are able to make that happen because we know the community is going to respond and fill the gaps when we need it.

You see, the Claxtons didn't just supply a couple meals.

Their pantry raised over 2,800 pounds of food and supplies for GraceWorks.

Which Bell says will allow for 38 families to fill their cart of groceries and one cart last one family around 2 to 3 weeks.

Once we got home, we weighed it all.

It was way more than we expected.

38 families is a powerful number one families, a powerful number because we have seen the power of a cart to food change someone's trajectory.

Cora and Cash say they don't plan to stop at just this one time donation.

It's the goal to get it more throughout the whole Tennessee.

I think it's a great way to support your community, I think.

- And every bag counts.

- Yeah.

Great job, Cora and Cash.

Last week, American voters showed up to the polls in surprising numbers.

Some states, like New Jersey and New York, saw the highest voter turnout rate they've had in almost two decades.

While other states like Washington had a record low voting rate with only about 19% of registered voters at the polls.

Ohio saw similar trends at the polls.

Let's take a look at the numbers.

About 26% of registered voters cast ballots in Franklin County.

According to unofficial results from the Franklin County Board of Elections.

Cuyahoga County also saw just over 26% voter turnout for the general.

According to unofficial results, a little bit under 25% of registered voters in Athens County cast ballots.

While in Cincinnati, the unofficial results from the Hamilton County Board of Elections show there was about 31.2% turnout.

Each district within each county in Ohio had different items on their ballots.

Some cities voted for mayor.

Others voted for city council or levies.

Last week we assigned you as the political reporters for your district and asked you to research what was on the ballot and write a news article all about it.

Let's head over to our inbox to see what you reported.

Ruby from Bellevue Elementary in Bellevue said, My city Bellevue, Ohio has a ballot for two levies, one for seniors that need more money for health care and another levy for kids with disabilities that also need money for health care, which both passed.

I think that is amazing.

So people can be healthy without spending all of their money or having to worry about not having enough.

Thank you, Ruby Sharon from Cork Elementary in Geneva reported, We had three things on our ballot.

One was if we should pay taxes for a disability thing.

The second thing is that Geneva High School gets a football stadium to pay more taxes.

Third is the city council.

Thank you, Sharon Avionna from John P Parker in Cincinnati told us.

This is Avionna from JPP Student Voice.

On the ballot this year in Cincinnati, Ohio, Democratic incumbent Aftab Purewal will win a second term as Cincinnati mayor against Republican Cory Bowman, Vice President JD Vance's half brother.

The Associated Press projected Tuesday night.

Well written.

Thank you, Avionna.

Ava and Grace from Freedom Elementary in West Chester reported, My county is Butler County, and our issues on our ballots are campaigning and online platforms, government educational sites and non-profit organizations offering a wide range of learning materials and activities.

Also, we just passed a levy that we can make our schools bigger.

Nice.

Thank you both.

Charlie from Keefe in Lakewood said, this week in Lakewood, Ohio, residents voted on the city council and school board.

For city council, they voted on three of six people.

Tom Bullock won with a 6,565 votes.

Sarah Keppel also won with 6,963.

Angelina Hamilton Steiner had 5,593 votes and also won.

For the school board, residents voted for two people.

Nora Katzenburger won with 5,316 votes.

Betsy Bergan Shaughnessy also won with 4,829 votes.

Great job.

I'm very impressed with all of your reporting skills.

On our last episode, we met Nancy Hollister, Ohio's first and so far only female governor.

She held the office for governor for 11 days.

Being a stand-in governor was one of her responsibilities as the lieutenant governor for George Voinovich.

And that made us curious.

Would you ever run for office?

53% of you voted for no, because you said your civic duty is to elect the best possible leader.

While another 47% of you said, Yes!

That you already have some ideas that could help improve your community.

Thank you all so much for voting.

That's the great thing about democracy.

We all have our role to play, and it's our collective responsibility to make sure we're all taking care of each other.

We're now turning our attention to Jamaica, where a category five hurricane hit last month.

Our friends at Meadowland Intermediate in Sandusky told us they are interested in knowing how people in Jamaica are recovering after the devastating storm.

The hurricane left a trail of destruction as it tore across the island, completely leveling some communities.

Jamaicans are working hard to restore some sense of normal, while most homes are damaged or destroyed and critical infrastructure is gone.

David Culver speaks with several people who are struggling to confront the massive job of living day to day.

We are catching some water because that's the only way we can get water.

We are damaged here in Jamaica, real bad.

Across much of western Jamaica, the storm has passed, but you feel it everywhere.

Survival mode has kicked in.

In here, in Belmont.

We are very destroyed, and we really need some help because you have persons who are very homeless and we don't really have any food supplies.

This is where you live here.

Now they're coming to terms with what's left.

And for many here, it's not much.

This one here.

This is one of our neighbor's house also.

Her house was destroyed also.

Everybody's house in this community is very destroyed.

We don't see nobody.

And I keep on wondering.

We have suffered here, and nobody comes to assist.

One resident pointed out, even if a house is still standing because of concrete, most likely the windows were shattered and water got in, sand got in.

Furniture, clothes, all their belongings destroyed.

I mean, it just continues.

It's endless.

I mean, you look up there and it just goes all the way up.

Thank you, David.

On more weather news, Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall last week, first in the Philippines on November 4th and then hitting Vietnam just 2 days later.

With winds up to 125mph, this typhoon is equivalent to a category three hurricane.

It left a trail of destruction in the Philippines.

But residents there didn't get a break.

Within a week, On November 9th, they were hit with a second typhoon.

Butch Meily, President of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation said that rescue funds are starting to get exhausted because of the number of emergencies the country has already faced this season.

You have to understand, this is our fourth typhoon.

Major typhoon in a row.

We've had two earthquakes.

This is all happened in the last 6 to 7 weeks.

So we're we've been responding and we've got a 24-hour operation center set up in Clark, two hours outside of Manila.

Meily also added that the Philippines is one area where climate change is undeniable, seeing more intense tropical storms every year.

All right, that was a lot to take in.

Now here's something that might warm us up.

Ever wondered why biting into a spicy enchilada feels like setting off a fire alarm in your mouth?

In today's Spot on Science, Jeff digs into the science behind that fiery sensation.

Have you ever taken a bite of a spicy enchilada or chicken wing and suddenly your mouth feels like it's on fire?

Your face turns red.

You start sweating.

You maybe sip some water, but that doesn't seem to help.

A lot of people love that feeling.

They even seek it out eating the spiciest foods out there.

There's a word for that in Spanish, it's called enchilado.

But what's actually happening in your body?

Let's dig in to enchilada with science.

Okay, I think I need a glass of milk.

First meet the spicy superstar of the story, Capsaicin.

It's the compound inside chili peppers that makes them hot.

When you eat something spicy, the capsaicin tricks your brain.

It doesn't really burn you, but it feels like it's burning.

That's because capsaicin sticks to special nerves in your mouth, the same ones that sense hot temperatures.

And your body goes into superhero mode.

Your heart might beat faster.

Your face gets warm.

You sweat to cool down.

Your nose starts running.

You might even get the hiccups.

But wait, why does some people like this feeling?

Well, here's the cool part.

After the spicy emergency, your brain sends out endorphins.

Those are feel good chemicals that make you happy and relaxed.

It's like your body's saying, Phew!

You survived the spice, have a reward.

And that's why they keep eating hotter and hotter foods.

But of course, sometimes the heat is too strong and we feel like grabbing a fire hose.

Next time that happens to you, don't reach for the water.

Instead, try milk.

Capsaicin is oily, and oil and water don't mix.

But milk has a protein called casein that helps wash away the heat from your mouth and tongue.

This process is called emulsification.

That's when something oily is broken up and mixed into a liquid with the help of a protein or soap-like substance.

So the next time you're munching on a fiery taco or spicy curry or hot wings and suddenly you're sweating, hiccuping and fanning your face, just remember, you're not actually on fire.

You're just enchilado.

And chemistry is the reason why.

Jeff, you handled that spicy food like a champ.

I hope you got that glass of milk.

And that brings us to our poll for the week.

You guessed it, this week we'd like to know, do you like spicy food?

Jump over to our poll page to vote.

You can choose between: Yes!

The hotter the better.

Or, No.

For me, keep it mild.

I'm a low heat kind of guy myself, but our producer, Natalia, seeks out the spiciest foods she can possibly find just for fun.

She's nuts.

Did your parents ever tell you to stop playing with your food?

Well, these Pennsylvania artists take playing with their food very seriously, and they're not playing.

The Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia hosted its Second Annual Scrapple Sculpting Contest.

Scrapple, it's a loaf made out of the scraps of pork, and it's a regional delicacy in Pennsylvania.

This breakfast meat was the medium used to make the impressive sculptures.

Let's check out who was crowned the scrapple winner this year.

We're here today to celebrate where food crosses over with creativity to create art.

Scrapple is traditionally the scraps from the pig.

So that's how it originated, It was a way to use the scraps from the pig.

Love scrapple.

Love scrapple.

Its the best breakfast.

We are here for the second annual Scrapple Carving competition.

I'm from Pittsburgh.

When I heard about this scrapple carving competition, I thought, what a cool experience.

I need to be there.

I love scrapple, I love Pennsylvania.

This is my kind of thing.

I need to be there.

I sculpted scrapple last year.

I'm not a big scrapple eater, but I'm a big scrapple sculptor.

I feel like scrapple as a medium, the first thing that came to my mind was clay.

I feel like I work with clay a lot.

I really enjoy working with clay.

Something fun to do.

I had a little bit of time to kill, during the day.

My kids are in school.

I had the afternoon figured I'd carve some meat, see what happens, you know.

If I show you guys... I got this last year.

I'm gonna go with a local Philly Philly Eagles theme.

I'm going to try and do Tush Push out of meat.

Thinking, uhmm, The Mush Push.

Pressure is on, but you still have half way to go.

Can be pretty crumbly, but you are able to mold it.

Not ideal, but we're doing it.

We're doing it.

You're never going to see an Amish person carving scrapple, I'll tell you that.

We prefer to eat it.

So today I just want to award, Patrick Mozer for having a level of ambition, pushing scrapple to its absolute limit and bringing bringing something forward that we could not have imagined.

So congratulations.

It does feel very characteristically Philly, and I love it.

I love the chaos, the excitement of it.

Yes.

Scrapple is a regional food from Philadelphia, and although I've never tried it, Pennsylvanians take a lot of pride in this savory dish.

For our Write-to-us this week, we want you to tell us about your favorite regional food and what makes it special.

You can write to us by going to our inbox form online, or send us an email to newsdepth@ideastream.org I can't wait to hear all about this delicious food!

Now in Indiana, a cafeteria worker is turning lunch breaks into art lessons by sketching and painting portraits of students.

Anika Evans is aiming to boost their confidence and show that creativity exists anywhere and everywhere, not just in the classroom.

Melea Vanostrand has the story.

Inside the lunchroom, cafeteria worker Anika Evans is serving up more than just food.

She's inspiring students by painting or sketching photos of them and using them as her inspiration.

For Evans, it's about showing students that creativity doesn't need a classroom, it just needs a heart.

She says she paints portraits of students so they can love themselves and be reminded of how talented they are.

Art is in food when you're making your plates.

Art is in dance.

Art is basically everything.

When you doing your homework is the way they set up the paper.

That's art.

She'll ask a student during their 30 minute lunch session if she can take their picture.

Then she'll finish their pictures during her breaks.

According to Evans, teachers say students have started to see their other subjects like math and science, through a more artistic lens.

Some day, students even skip recess to stay with Evans and paint.

I want them to love themselves.

That's why I encourage them to show their teeth when they smile.

I don't want them to have, be self-conscious about anything.

I want them to be free in creativity.

Although James Whitcomb Riley School is a performing arts school and has an art class, Evans says her paintings and sketches encourage kids to think outside of the box and to not have to worry about structured learning.

Outside of the classroom, Evans paints and sells her work.

She says she wouldn't be where she is today without the students letting her practice.

You learn from kids.

You think you going to be the only one teaching, but they can teach you too.

Great story.

Thank you, Melea.

There's a special spot in Florida offering close encounters with exotic but friendly wildlife.

It's called the Capybara Cafe.

Not only can it be a fun experience, but customers are also helping animal conservation efforts.

Lee Southwick has more.

Capybaras and lemurs and skunks.

Oh my!

Many fun and exotic animals are waiting to meet you all in the name of conservation.

This is the Capybara Cafe, an education interaction 501 C3 organization in Saint Augustine.

So the Noah's Ark Sanctuary actually owns and operates the Capybara Cafe.

The Noah's Ark sanctuary is located in Hastings, Florida, so it's about 23 minutes away from here.

So most of our animals that we get at the beginning of each and every day come from the sanctuary.

We want to make sure that, you know, these animals are enjoying the betterment of the sanctuary.

Capybaras are semi-aquatic creatures, and since they are, they do require about 30% of their life in the water.

So we make sure that they get a lot of pool time back at the sanctuary.

The animals at the cafe rotate each day because visiting the cafe is completely voluntary.

The carriers are placed at the sanctuary, and whoever decides to walk into the carriers will be transported to the cafe that day.

We have a variety of animals that we do receive from you know, USDA approved vendors.

But we also have a variety of animals who have been surrendered to us or injured, or, you know, need to be rehabilitated and some that could be potentially released as well.

Noah's Ark sanctuary is currently breaking ground on a larger, more accessible location.

Education about conservation is incredibly important.

It's not only teaching, you know, us to protect what we love so that it can be around for future generations.

But also it's allowing us to, continue to to take care of the animals under our care and the ones out in the wild.

Thank you, Lee.

I wonder if the capybaras are soft when you pet them.

Their fur looks a little spiky, don't you think?

All right, well, let's stick with news of the furry variety.

Let's check in with our cuteness correspondent, NewsHound.

It's time for Petting Zoo.

Hey, NewsHound, where are you headed?

On your way to NewsDepth headquarters?

I'll see you there.

What did you find this week?

Oh, awesome.

A story about a woman who has made a doggie bus to help out dog owners in her neighborhood.

To check out the complete story, click the Petting Zoo button on this episode page.

That bus would be great for your commute to work, NewsHound.

Thank you for the story.

We're almost out of time for this week's episode, but I have a special A+ award to give out.

This week's award goes to an incredible group of students at Hudson Elementary School.

They're taking learning about plays to a whole new level.

We got to meet them and present to them about script writing.

Their engaging questions, creativity and hunger for knowledge has earned them this week's A+ Award.

One thing you might not know about me is that I love plays.

Whether it's classic Shakespeare or a more modern story, I always enjoy a show.

Recently, we met up with a group of students who are using their creativity and imagination to write and produce their own plays.

The fourth graders at Hudson Elementary School are learning about history and English at the same time by writing their plays about historical events.

Mrs.

Sutton's class will be covering the Underground Railroad, and Ms.

Alesci's class will be covering the Northwest Ordinance and War of 1812.

To learn more about plays and what goes into production, the teachers held a speaker series.

The topics included multimedia and graphic design for creating playbills; acting; fashion and costume design; sound and lighting; set design and props; directing and script writing - presented by our team here at NewsDepth.

That's right!

We had the honor of speaking with these amazing students about how we write and produce NewsDepth.

We were really impressed by the creativity of the students with their ideas for plays.

They asked great questions about script writing and the process of creating a script.

We all talked about the importance of peer review.

And some students even asked for tips on wording, focusing on how it's important to use simple language in plays and not to get too fancy.

And of course we answered some questions about our beloved colleague NewsHound.

The students are in the pre-production stage of their plays.

Pre-production is the term for everything that happens before the play is on the stage.

It's planning, writing, practicing, designing costumes, sets, and so much more.

After the speaker series, students reflected on the different roles discussed, now they're applying for those different roles.

Then their teachers will hire them for that role.

In mid-December, their plays will be performed with their families in the audience.

For their creativity, passion, and historical spirit, the fourth graders at Hudson Elementary are this week's A+ Award winners.

It was great meeting all of you.

Keep up the great work!

And special shout out to our intern, Olivia Stein for producing that segment.

All right, that's it for today's show.

But we'll be back next week with more news and more stories.

Until then, you can keep the conversation going because we always like to hear from you.

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

You can write to us 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.

NewsDepth is made possible by a grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation.