Transcript

9.28.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome, everybody, to the reading of the Washington Post for
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Speaker 1: this Monday, September 28th. As you know, Radio Eye is
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Speaker 1: a reading service intended for people who are blind or
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Speaker 1: have other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.
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Speaker 1: Your reader for today is Rod Brotherton. Our first story
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Speaker 1: today is Ukrainian boarding schools train teens to replace fallen
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Speaker 1: fathers in the war. Victor is the older one by
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Speaker 1: two minutes, so he is the one who feels obligated
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Speaker 1: to head most directly to war that killed his father.
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Speaker 1: He and his twin brother were 12 when Victor Sr.,
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Speaker 1: a Ukrainian infantryman, died on the front lines. Now 15,
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Speaker 1: Victor Jr. plans to follow their father's footsteps into whatever
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Speaker 1: battle with Russia is still raging when the twins finish
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Speaker 1: with this militarized school. not to mention with adolescence and
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Speaker 1: with the awkward, dangerous process of growing into adulthood in
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Speaker 1: a country at war. Vitaly, 120 seconds younger, plans to
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Speaker 1: go into the state emergency service, joining Ukraine's beleaguered ranks
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Speaker 1: of rescue workers and first responders. Not so much to
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Speaker 1: fulfill any family destiny, but because I like their uniforms.
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Speaker 1: whichever branch they choose. This school puts them into a
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Speaker 1: funnel toward the Ukrainian security services that are desperate for recruits,
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Speaker 1: along with hundreds of other cadets at new government academies
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Speaker 1: devoted to the still-young children of fallen fighters. The Washington
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Speaker 1: Post was granted rare access to one of the five
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Speaker 1: two-year high schools that the Internal Affairs Ministry has opened
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Speaker 1: for the children of Ukraine's uniformed dead. missing, captured, and disabled.
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Speaker 1: The Post agreed not to name the school or its
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Speaker 1: exact location and to identify students and staff only by
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Speaker 1: first names for obvious safety reasons. Officially, Ukraine reports that
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Speaker 1: about 55,000 people have been killed in the war and
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Speaker 1: about 114,000 are missing. But aid providers say those figures
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Speaker 1: don't begin to reflect. the number of children who have
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Speaker 1: lost at least one parent. It's a tsunami of need,
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Speaker 1: says Ossanka Bedliva, founder of GenUkrainian, a Kiev-based charity providing
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Speaker 1: psychological support to young people who have lost parents in
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Speaker 1: the war, including to some of the most vulnerable cadets
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Speaker 1: at the government academies. Ukraine's military and security services, are
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Speaker 1: stretched at every level. National Guard units and some police
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Speaker 1: formations serve in combat roles, while rescue crews and firefighters
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Speaker 1: train to respond to the demolition of war in dozens
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Speaker 1: of places a day. Ukrainian officials say the military needs
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Speaker 1: to mobilize at least 30,000 people a month just to
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Speaker 1: maintain its current force. On a recent morning in one classroom,
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Speaker 1: two dozen students sat upright, good posture is a rule,
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Speaker 1: but appeared sleepy after being awakened by five air raid
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Speaker 1: warnings during the night. Hennady, an instructor, briefs children not
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Speaker 1: old enough to share on the items that every Ukrainian
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Speaker 1: first aid kit needs these days, whether civilian or military.
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Speaker 1: Now they are the same. The war has taken away
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Speaker 1: any difference. Hennady said, pulling out the Israeli combat bandages
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Speaker 1: and the rapid application tourniquets that even kindergarten med kits
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Speaker 1: stock under the endless barrage of ballistic missiles. Next for
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Speaker 1: this class, Ukrainian history, drone detection, snack, volleyball. Nationwide, 475
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Speaker 1: cadets started the academic year last month. although some schools
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Speaker 1: in heavily bombarded areas have switched to remote learning. On
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Speaker 1: this campus, 150 students, 48 of them girls, live on-site
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Speaker 1: and are split evenly across two grades. Every cadet here
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Speaker 1: has a parent who serves. Roughly half have already lost one.
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Speaker 1: The Lyceum, as the 15- and 16-year-old students call it,
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Speaker 1: is part grief counseling, part boot camp. Its bright corridors
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Speaker 1: are filled not with the standard student body of T-shirts
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Speaker 1: and baggy jeans, but with teens standing ramrod straight in
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Speaker 1: identical dark uniforms. The boys' hair buzzed to stubble. The
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Speaker 1: girls pulled into tight braids. The posters on the walls.
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Speaker 1: show police pointing guns into cars, guardsmen with automatic rifles,
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Speaker 1: soldiers with mortars. In classrooms, they stand with precision whenever
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Speaker 1: an adult enters. Along with math and history, they learn
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Speaker 1: how to dress a sucking chest wound and enter a
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Speaker 1: bombed apartment building. Some of the voices shout, Glory to Ukraine!
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Speaker 1: at dismissal time and are still breaking. They are children.
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Speaker 1: said Ledbevida, but children recovering from trauma need to be
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Speaker 1: with other children. They need community and structure, and they
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Speaker 1: get that at all these schools. They also get immersed
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Speaker 1: in the fundamentals of Ukraine's fighting war and security services.
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Speaker 1: The National Guard, National Police, Border Patrol, rescue teams, and firefighters,
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Speaker 1: all hungry for new personnel, Four years into Russia's full-scale war.
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Speaker 1: Whether or not the students go on to formally join
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Speaker 1: one of the branches after their schooling is complete is
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Speaker 1: up to them. Completely, administrators say. Ole, one of the
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Speaker 1: school's senior staff, points out that cadets are prepared for
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Speaker 1: university entrance exams in their second years, and all are
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Speaker 1: required to complete a degree even if they choose to
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Speaker 1: go into a security service. and any are eligible to
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Speaker 1: join the Army as soon as they turn 18. There
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Speaker 1: is no pressure on them to join one of the services,
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Speaker 1: Ole said, but most do. More than 60% stayed on
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Speaker 1: the service track they started in these classes, the school said.
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Speaker 1: As long as the fighting rages, these survivors of the
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Speaker 1: fallen are on a glide path to war. Still, whatever
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Speaker 1: their surviving parents might think, and the school declined to
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Speaker 1: make any available for interviews, the families are not making
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Speaker 1: a surprise choice in Ukraine, a nation fully mobilized to
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Speaker 1: repel an existential attack, Lebedeva said. It's not just about
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Speaker 1: family now. It's about an entire country's destiny, she said,
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Speaker 1: before going into a classroom of beanbag chairs to lead
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Speaker 1: a group therapy session. We can't even talk about treating
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Speaker 1: PTSD in Ukraine because we're not post-anything. A champion of
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Speaker 1: modern trauma theory, Lebedeva said she is often frustrated with
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Speaker 1: the school's just-get-over-it approach to counseling, a function of Ukraine's
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Speaker 1: lingering post-Soviet distrust of mental health treatments. But month by month,
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Speaker 1: the school is warming to her touchy-feely therapy sessions, and
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Speaker 1: the credentialized psychologist she brings in, she said. And she
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Speaker 1: has marveled, as many traumatized children begin to stabilize in
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Speaker 1: a regimen that provides five meals a day, rigid expectations,
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Speaker 1: and a shared purpose. Many of these kids have lost
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Speaker 1: one parent, as the other one is a mess, said Libidiva.
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Speaker 1: They haven't been taken care of by anybody. Something is
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Speaker 1: working here. For two years, They live a life that
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Speaker 1: is a mix of orphanage, prep school, and induction center.
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Speaker 1: Mornings begin with porridge served by a woman the cadets
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Speaker 1: call Mama Ira, who kisses their forehead and feeds them
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Speaker 1: some by spoon. No one is losing any weight on
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Speaker 1: my watch, she said as cadets lined up for second breakfast.
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Speaker 1: It's a schedule as regimented as anything their fallen fathers knew.
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Speaker 1: Up at dawn, morning muster, classes, an hour for table
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Speaker 1: tennis or volleyball, homework, and only then phones from 5
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Speaker 1: to 9 p.m. for TikTok and video calls home. Victor
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Speaker 1: and Vitaly said they feel the connection to their dad,
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Speaker 1: a truck driver and veteran who went back into the
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Speaker 1: military after Russia invaded in 2022. I know he would
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Speaker 1: be proud of us, Vitaly said during an interview in
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Speaker 1: the school counselor's office. She handed him a tissue, as
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Speaker 1: the brown eyes beneath his black crew cut filled with tears.
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Speaker 1: His brother, who plans to join the National Guard, looked down.
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Speaker 1: Both have been there. a month. They won't see their
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Speaker 1: mother or be allowed to go home until cadet oath
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Speaker 1: ceremony in October. A family friend recommended the school, where
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Speaker 1: instruction and boarding are paid for by the government. Their
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Speaker 1: mother was pleased when they passed the entrance exam, Victor said,
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Speaker 1: but was sad to be separated from her only children
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Speaker 1: by a three-hour bus ride. She's not doing okay, he confided.
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Speaker 1: Their first-year classmate, Juliana, 15, talks to her mother more,
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Speaker 1: long chats every day. Her mom didn't want her to
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Speaker 1: enter this school at first, pressing her instead to pursue
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Speaker 1: her championship-level gymnastics. But Juliana is determined to join the
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Speaker 1: National Police. She wants to catch bad guys, solve mysteries,
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Speaker 1: find missing, like her father. The counselor brings more tissues
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Speaker 1: when Uliana describes the day in 2024 when she called
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Speaker 1: her father at his assault brigade unit to tell him
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Speaker 1: about a gymnastics victory. He had to rush off for
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Speaker 1: a mission, he said, but the phone would ring the
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Speaker 1: next morning. That was the last time his family heard
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Speaker 1: from him. One of his two companions was killed on
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Speaker 1: that mission, but her father and the other were never
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Speaker 1: seen again. His unit sent up drones to search. Ulyana
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Speaker 1: and her family scorned the gruesome Russian telegram channels that
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Speaker 1: showcased the corpses of killed Ukrainians. Nothing. His name appeared
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Speaker 1: on no one's list of the dead or captured, just
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Speaker 1: the most tormenting list of all, missing in action. Of
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Speaker 1: course we haven't given up hope, Juliana said, her face
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Speaker 1: twisted in pain. We're still trying to find him. In
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Speaker 1: her room, beside her flawlessly made bed, she keeps a
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Speaker 1: photo of him in his uniform hugging her younger self.
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Speaker 1: There's a photo of another soldier hugging another child beside
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Speaker 1: her roommate's bed. Her father is missing, too. It's hardest
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Speaker 1: on the children of the missing, Lepidiva said, They rush
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Speaker 1: to read the names of every prisoner exchange. They see
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Speaker 1: the ubiquitous videos of children running into the arms of
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Speaker 1: returning soldiers. They are denied that and a funeral, too.
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Speaker 1: You don't even get permission to grieve, Lebedeva said. Uliana
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Speaker 1: stands with a smile and returns to the corridor where
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Speaker 1: her classmates are mustering for lunch. The commander barking orders,
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Speaker 1: they turn as one. and walk off. These children are
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Speaker 1: old enough to understand that their loved ones are not
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Speaker 1: coming back from war. And so, with their country cheering
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Speaker 1: them on, they are readying to join them there. And
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Speaker 1: the next story. After wildfires devastated Spokane, a high school
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Speaker 1: became an oasis of normalcy. Dallon Wells Dutt, woke up
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Speaker 1: in a room that wasn't quite his own, an apartment
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Speaker 1: that was not his home. His mother had tried, in
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Speaker 1: the aftermath of a wildfire that destroyed their neighborhood, to
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Speaker 1: replace the philosophy books and family photographs the 17-year-old boy
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Speaker 1: had lost. But his closet was mostly empty, and the
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Speaker 1: teddy bear tucked into a brand-new bed was not the
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Speaker 1: thread-bear one he'd carried everywhere since he was three.' Kiddo,
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Speaker 1: when do you leave for school?' Kimberly Wells Dutton, his mother,
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Speaker 1: asked while Daylon filled a thermos with English breakfast tea.
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Speaker 1: He checked his phone and told her he was about
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Speaker 1: to go. Parking is horrible at this time, so I
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Speaker 1: want to get there a little early, he said. Kimberly
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Speaker 1: watched as her son stashed the thermos in his backpack.
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Speaker 1: He'd always taken school seriously, but this year he seemed
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Speaker 1: especially eager to set off each morning the one place
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Speaker 1: where his life still felt normal. We're doing the final
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Speaker 1: dig today, Cameron Lee told him. I'll give it one
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Speaker 1: last shot, see if there's anything I can salvage. I
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Speaker 1: don't go to the property, he said quietly. He looked
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Speaker 1: around only once, right after everything burned. He told his
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Speaker 1: mother he didn't want to mourn things. He wanted to
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Speaker 1: think of this time as a blip, not as a
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Speaker 1: life-altering loss. He wouldn't let the arsonist set the fire
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Speaker 1: to destroy more than he already had. Still, Dalen didn't
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Speaker 1: wake up some mornings grieving Blue Bear, the stuffed toy
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Speaker 1: his grandma had just given him when he was a toddler.
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Speaker 1: He wished he still had his custom knee braces that
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Speaker 1: allowed him to play football without pain. He wanted the
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Speaker 1: handwritten notes in his yearbooks back, the reversible bomber jacket
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Speaker 1: he'd ordered special off Instagram, his lucky size 15 cleats.
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Speaker 1: He'd known almost as soon as he realized he'd lost
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Speaker 1: his home that he might not play this year. He
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Speaker 1: was a 6'4, 300-pound offensive lineman with loose ligaments. Without
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Speaker 1: the braces, a season of blocking felt daunting. He wasn't
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Speaker 1: sure he had enough of himself to give to a
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Speaker 1: team that had been light on spectators the year before.
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Speaker 1: Since the COVID pandemic, Many Shadle Park High School families
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Speaker 1: had decided they'd rather stay home than shiver in the bleachers.
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Speaker 1: But Spokane felt like a different town now. The sense
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Speaker 1: of community that had fractured during one tragedy had cohered
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Speaker 1: again during this one, and the football team felt like
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Speaker 1: a place where Dallin might offer, if not his knees,
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Speaker 1: then something else helpful. He hugged his mother and then
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Speaker 1: drove toward the school where he'd spent most of his
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Speaker 1: daylight the past three years. When he arrived, he saw
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Speaker 1: Shadle Park looked the same as it had before, huge
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Speaker 1: and teeming with activity. He strode inside, but he didn't
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Speaker 1: pass a single item memorializing the fire. There was no
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Speaker 1: donation box, no hint that 40 students and staff members
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Speaker 1: were living as he was in temporary homes. That decision
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Speaker 1: to provide a disaster-free zone was an intentional one, based
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Speaker 1: on the advice of leaders from other cities where wildfires
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Speaker 1: had leveled entire neighborhoods. Officials understood their schools had to
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Speaker 1: do more than educate students. They had to become safe harbors,
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Speaker 1: a stabilizing force not just for their students, but for
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Speaker 1: entire communities as well. Bell rang and Dalen forgot about
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Speaker 1: the fire and everything it took. He had civics class
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Speaker 1: to attend. Spokane students and teachers were in their final
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Speaker 1: weeks of summer vacation August 1st when the police say
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Speaker 1: an arsonist walked along a railroad track on the west
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Speaker 1: side of town. He found a spot where he knew
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Speaker 1: a fire would get bad, court documents say. and then
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Speaker 1: he lit a device he'd made from matches, notebook paper,
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Speaker 1: and a cigarette. The fire moved quickly. It jumped the
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Speaker 1: Spokane River and then rushed up Green Bluffs until it
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Speaker 1: reached Dalen's house nearly four miles away. He and his
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Speaker 1: family were out of town when their neighbors called to
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Speaker 1: tell them they were being evacuated. All they had time
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Speaker 1: to grab were Dalen's cats. Two other wildfires were burning nearby,
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Speaker 1: and together, They came to be called the Spokane Complex Fires,
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Speaker 1: what one official called probably the largest, most destructive fire
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Speaker 1: in Washington state history. 65,000 people fled their homes. By
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Speaker 1: the end of the week, whole chunks of Washington's second
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Speaker 1: largest city were reduced to ash and the skeletons of cars.
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Speaker 1: As the fires burned, Spokane school district officials knew they
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Speaker 1: already had an important role to play for the families
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Speaker 1: of the 167 students who were displaced. More than a
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Speaker 1: hundred non-profits wanted to help, but you can do unintended
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Speaker 1: harm and just add to the chaos if there's a
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Speaker 1: thousand different entry points for people to access services, Superintendent
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Speaker 1: Adam Swinyard said. And so, Dallin's high school became a
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Speaker 1: melting point and a meeting point as well, both online
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Speaker 1: and in person. The district's technology department worked overnight to
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Speaker 1: create a website where every non-profit could list its services.
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Speaker 1: Other officials quickly turned Shadow Park into a daycare and
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Speaker 1: a disaster assistance center, and dozens of staff members sacrificed
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Speaker 1: their last few weeks of vacation to staff them both.
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Speaker 1: Some of the families who came seeking help were school families.
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Speaker 1: Their kids ran track or played softball. But most hadn't
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Speaker 1: been connected to Shadle Park in years, if ever. That
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Speaker 1: first week, Swinyard sat next to an older man at
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Speaker 1: a cafeteria table. Swinyard asked if he wanted any food
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Speaker 1: or water, and the man started weeping. He told Swinyard
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Speaker 1: all he'd had to remember his father by was the
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Speaker 1: Purple Heart he'd earned on the beaches of Normandy It'd been.
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Speaker 1: on his mantle, and now it was gone. Swinyard and
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Speaker 1: his staff spent weeks handing out free clothes and food.
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Speaker 1: They guided people down to the gymnasium, where booth after
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Speaker 1: booth walked them through the process for making insurance claims
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Speaker 1: and setting up appointments. with the Environmental Protection Agency. Daylon's
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Speaker 1: mom went to the center every other day. Initially, Kimberly
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Speaker 1: was just looking for help to rebuild her life. Having
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Speaker 1: insurance adjusters and people giving away pet food and pots
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Speaker 1: and pans in one place made her suddenly chaotic life
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Speaker 1: feel a bit easier. She kept going. Because it was there,
20:34
Speaker 1: she felt cathartic. Other people were crying and grieving as
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Speaker 1: much as she was, In her son's gymnasium, she felt
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Speaker 1: as if she were part of a community again. Still,
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Speaker 1: she wasn't sure if she should take Dillon with her.
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Speaker 1: She saw the way he went tense at the place
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Speaker 1: he started calling the property instead of home. She didn't
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Speaker 1: want to ruin his idea of school, too. His senior
21:01
Speaker 1: year was only two weeks away. Eventually, he told her
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Speaker 1: he wanted to go. That first day, they stopped by
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Speaker 1: booths handing out gift cards for groceries and thrift store clothes,
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Speaker 1: and then they met with people from a Buddhist temple.
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Speaker 1: Dallin ran into the friends and their parents then. He
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Speaker 1: saw his third-grade teacher and learned he also had lost
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Speaker 1: her house. As he talked to other teachers and counselors,
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Speaker 1: Kimberly realized that the high school was already healing her son.
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Speaker 1: All around them, people were connecting in ways they hadn't
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Speaker 1: in years. Im Phan, whose son Carden Nguyen was playing
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Speaker 1: football with Dallin, hadn't known any of the other sports
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Speaker 1: moms before the fire. But she and Kimberly bonded over
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Speaker 1: raising boys through a once-in-a-lifetime tragedy, and soon Pham was
21:53
Speaker 1: promising to cook Vietnamese dinners for Kimberly. Families were able
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Speaker 1: to fill their newly rented closets with outfits they found
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Speaker 1: at Shadle Park, but most of the donated clothes didn't
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Speaker 1: fit Dallin. Even sports teams didn't think to include size
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Speaker 1: 14 shoes in their generous offerings. But the Booster Club
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Speaker 1: found him a new letterman's jacket, and a local company
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Speaker 1: that takes all of Spokane's school pictures offered to send
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Speaker 1: digital copies for free. As the first day of school approached,
22:27
Speaker 1: Kimberly asked Allen nearly every afternoon if he'd decided whether
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Speaker 1: to play football. He'd torn a ligament in his knee
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Speaker 1: his junior year, and he'd worked hard to rehab it
22:38
Speaker 1: after surgery. He'd spent all summer attending football camps to
22:43
Speaker 1: ensure he'd be ready for the opening game, and he'd
22:46
Speaker 1: talked to recruiters about going to college on a football scholarship.
22:52
Speaker 1: After the fire, though, Dalen and his mom both worried
22:55
Speaker 1: about that playing wasn't the smartest idea. If he got injured...
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Speaker 1: How would he rehab in a second-floor apartment? He told
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Speaker 1: his mom he didn't want to rush to the decision.
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Speaker 1: He'd been a captain of the team the previous year,
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Speaker 1: and he knew if he did it again this semester,
23:13
Speaker 1: he would need to devote most of his time to
23:16
Speaker 1: the team. He didn't want to abdicate any responsibilities, but
23:21
Speaker 1: he also felt like he wanted to spend more time
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Speaker 1: with his family after everything. I don't want to let
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Speaker 1: anyone down, he said. Finally, Right before school started, he
23:33
Speaker 1: went to an amusement park with a few of his teammates,
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Speaker 1: and he talked through his decision with them. The next morning,
23:41
Speaker 1: he called his mom into his bedroom. I've made my decision,
23:44
Speaker 1: he said. I'm not going to return to football. At first,
23:50
Speaker 1: teachers and counselors said they wrestled with how much to
23:53
Speaker 1: talk about the fire. Some wanted to call every family
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Speaker 1: who lived in the burn zone. All of us wanted
24:00
Speaker 1: to jump in and say, what do you need? What
24:03
Speaker 1: do you need? Because that's us. We want to help.
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Speaker 1: Counselor Stephanie Filippi said, a lot of students are just
24:09
Speaker 1: looking for normalcy. After they lose a home, they just
24:13
Speaker 1: want to come back to school and be a normal student.
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Speaker 1: We could provide that safety net and that security and
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Speaker 1: that consistency as a school. For Dalen, much of his
24:23
Speaker 1: routine was gone. His mother had taken his picture in
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Speaker 1: front of the family maple tree every first day of
24:29
Speaker 1: school since kindergarten. Now that maple was scheduled for removal.
24:35
Speaker 1: He stated his senior year the only clothes he had
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Speaker 1: was a pair of khaki shorts and a button-down he'd
24:41
Speaker 1: been wearing the day of the fire. Once he was
24:44
Speaker 1: inside the school, though, he did feel something like his
24:47
Speaker 1: old self. He wasn't a loud guy, but he could
24:50
Speaker 1: be funny and charismatic, a little wisecracking. He spent his
24:55
Speaker 1: mornings studying civics and leadership, and then after lunch, he'd
24:59
Speaker 1: head to the stagecraft, a class that allowed him to
25:03
Speaker 1: write and record sports news segments for the morning announcements.
25:07
Speaker 1: A few days before the football team's second game of
25:10
Speaker 1: the year, Dalen and a wide receiver named Justice Inger
25:14
Speaker 1: brainstormed ideas for future broadcasts.' What PSAs do you think
25:20
Speaker 1: we should do?' he asked Justice. We could interview Hunter
25:24
Speaker 1: and Josh, or for fun spots, we could do notes
25:27
Speaker 1: with Nathan, where Nathan just riffs on things he's taken
25:30
Speaker 1: notes on. They roamed the cafeteria with a video camera
25:34
Speaker 1: for a while. They made jokes and talked to other
25:37
Speaker 1: teenagers into participating in silly montages, and then back in
25:41
Speaker 1: the editing bay, Justice cut the clips together while Dalen
25:45
Speaker 1: palmed a football someone had left behind. He spun the
25:49
Speaker 1: ball around. He went quiet. and ran a finger over
25:53
Speaker 1: the laces. The theater teacher stopped by to talk to him,
25:58
Speaker 1: and although he didn't mention anything that had gone on
26:00
Speaker 1: before school started, school leaders say that kind of check-in
26:04
Speaker 1: will become eventually and increasingly important as the symmetric drags on.
26:10
Speaker 1: Some students were living in RVs, which they told teachers
26:14
Speaker 1: seemed kind of like camping. But Spokane would turn dark
26:17
Speaker 1: and cold soon, And school leaders knew RV living might
26:21
Speaker 1: begin to feel as traumatic as the fire itself. Other
26:24
Speaker 1: kids might realize in winter they no longer had a
26:28
Speaker 1: coat or warm hat. When dealing with kids with trauma,
26:32
Speaker 1: there's no playbooks, Swinyard said. Right now, our work is
26:36
Speaker 1: to make sure we're watching really closely and maintaining lines
26:40
Speaker 1: of communication. One way school leaders have tried to do
26:44
Speaker 1: that is through an initiative they called IRL. The school
26:49
Speaker 1: now requires every student every day to do something after
26:53
Speaker 1: school with other people. We want the kids off the screens,
26:57
Speaker 1: out of their homes, doing things together in real life,
27:00
Speaker 1: Swinyard said. And that's important for every kid, regardless of
27:05
Speaker 1: what they're going through. But it's even more important for
27:08
Speaker 1: kids that are in trauma and are struggling. It's just
27:11
Speaker 1: to get them doing healthy activities, get them moving, get
27:16
Speaker 1: them around each other. And so, when Kimberly called Daylon's
27:20
Speaker 1: football coach to say her son wouldn't play this year,
27:23
Speaker 1: the coach told her he wouldn't take Daylon off the roster.
27:26
Speaker 1: He could still stand with the team on the sidelines,
27:29
Speaker 1: and he could rejoin later if he changed his mind.
27:34
Speaker 1: Kimberly told the coach that was great, but Daylon had
27:37
Speaker 1: something bigger in mind. He wanted to learn from the
27:40
Speaker 1: trainers who'd helped him through his knee injury, she said.
27:44
Speaker 1: He wanted to intercept his former teammates as they limped
27:47
Speaker 1: off the field. wanted to tell them no matter how
27:50
Speaker 1: much everything hurt to keep talking. The Shandle Park Highlanders
27:55
Speaker 1: lost their first game 31-13, but a few days later
27:59
Speaker 1: a crowd filled the entire student section and most of
28:02
Speaker 1: the public stands for a home gain against Sageview. Kimberly
28:07
Speaker 1: and her husband and daughter showed up right at kickoff.
28:10
Speaker 1: They stood at the top of the bleachers and they
28:12
Speaker 1: unwrapped caramel apple suckers. Sageview went up 27 to nothing,
28:20
Speaker 1: with three minutes left in the first quarter. The Highlanders
28:23
Speaker 1: moved backwards on three consecutive plays, but Channel Park fans
28:27
Speaker 1: remained engaged. They yelled. They groaned. They told each other
28:32
Speaker 1: they planned to attend every single game. They may not
28:36
Speaker 1: be good games, one man told another, but the community
28:40
Speaker 1: needs us. Kimberly snapped photos of Daylon. It wasn't in uniform.
28:46
Speaker 1: He was, as his coach had promised, right on the sidelines.
28:51
Speaker 1: He handed out bottles of Powerade as the other boys
28:55
Speaker 1: left the field. He slapped his classmates' backs. When a
28:59
Speaker 1: receiver hit the ground in ankle pain, Daylon knelt beside him.
29:05
Speaker 1: He's exactly where he needs to be, Kimberly said, that
29:09
Speaker 1: this is what's best for him this year. Sageview won.
29:15
Speaker 1: 54 to 6. The Shandell Park crowd had very little
29:20
Speaker 1: to cheer for, but they stayed to the very end.
29:27
Speaker 1: Our next story, Rise in Young Catholic Converts, points to
29:32
Speaker 1: a spiritual longing in the U.S. and Europe. From Paris,
29:39
Speaker 1: when Lee Giragrosian, a 22-year-old medical student from Bordeaux, arrived
29:45
Speaker 1: in Paris this weekend to clutch a glimpse of Pope
29:49
Speaker 1: Leo XIV, she did so as one of the great
29:53
Speaker 1: hopes of Catholicism in the West, a legion of new converts.
29:58
Speaker 1: While the Catholic Church is growing rapidly in Africa and
30:03
Speaker 1: some other parts of the developing world, it is facing
30:06
Speaker 1: mounting challenges in Europe, the United States, and Latin America
30:11
Speaker 1: from secularism, abuse scandals, and competition from evangelical faiths. But
30:19
Speaker 1: it is also witnessing at least one upward trend. As Leo,
30:24
Speaker 1: the first U.S.-born pope, visits France, The Heart of Secularized Europe,
30:31
Speaker 1: Church data shows an increase in the number of converts
30:34
Speaker 1: in several Western countries, including the U.S., France, Spain, Belgium,
30:41
Speaker 1: and Germany. An event in Paris on Saturday, Leo addressed
30:47
Speaker 1: new converts and the soon-to-be-baptized hearing their testimonies. He heralded
30:52
Speaker 1: the paradox of their rise in a fiercely secular Western country.
30:58
Speaker 1: This phenomenon, the Pope said, contradicts every defeatist attitude. He
31:05
Speaker 1: called the trend a marvel and said the Church must
31:08
Speaker 1: work to respect their personal history and offer them a
31:12
Speaker 1: welcoming environment. He said the greatest challenge was to foster
31:17
Speaker 1: the newcomers to ensure they remain in the faith. The
31:21
Speaker 1: convert growth is not only nearly enough to offset the
31:25
Speaker 1: number of people leaving the faith, along with decades of
31:28
Speaker 1: sharp declines in infant baptism rates. Overall, converts were a
31:34
Speaker 1: tiny fraction of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. Still, church
31:42
Speaker 1: officials are hailing the surge in conversions with some of
31:45
Speaker 1: the most striking data coming from France and the United States.
31:50
Speaker 1: In France, adult baptisms jumped to 13,234 in 2026, up
31:58
Speaker 1: from 4,263 in 2019, the year before the pandemic. Teenage
32:05
Speaker 1: conversions jumped to 8,152 this year, up from 7,404 in 2025,
32:12
Speaker 1: according to the French Bishops' Conference. A recent study by
32:17
Speaker 1: the conference shows the new converts skew female and overwhelmingly young.
32:23
Speaker 1: 82% are under 40. with the single largest group between
32:28
Speaker 1: 18 and 25. And despite widespread perceptions that many converts
32:35
Speaker 1: are politically conservative, French clerics say that that is often
32:39
Speaker 1: not so. I don't think I'm very conservative, said Grisagrosian,
32:45
Speaker 1: who converted this year after a traditional two-year period of
32:48
Speaker 1: religious study. I like to think that religion loves everyone,
32:53
Speaker 1: accepts everyone, and wants everyone accepted. Her parents were Protestants,
32:59
Speaker 1: she said, but when a Catholic friend invited her to
33:02
Speaker 1: a service, she was smitten by the beautiful atmosphere of
33:07
Speaker 1: a Catholic mass lit by candlelight and designed specifically for youths.
33:14
Speaker 1: I went every week after that, she said. Those who
33:18
Speaker 1: work with converts say they are often the children of
33:21
Speaker 1: less religious parents, coming from working-class backgrounds, and are being
33:26
Speaker 1: drawn to the faith of their grandparents, often through Catholic
33:30
Speaker 1: friends or family, but also social media. They come searching
33:35
Speaker 1: for answers, trying to make sense of a world gripped
33:39
Speaker 1: by wars and political upheaval, or seeking comfort following the
33:43
Speaker 1: death of a loved one or other major life event.
33:48
Speaker 1: In the U.S., recent year data has yet to be published,
33:52
Speaker 1: and church-backed groups have been cautious. saying it's still too
33:57
Speaker 1: early to discern a trend. But after a plunge during
34:01
Speaker 1: the pandemic, convert numbers in the U.S. have steadily rebounded,
34:06
Speaker 1: according to the Center for Applied Research of the Apostolate,
34:10
Speaker 1: a research group affiliated with the Catholic Church. The popular
34:15
Speaker 1: Catholic app Hallow, citing data from 140 of the nearly
34:19
Speaker 1: 200 U.S. dioceses, said in March that that the number
34:24
Speaker 1: of people participating in the church's program for full entry
34:27
Speaker 1: into Catholicism in 2026 had increased 38% over 2025. That
34:34
Speaker 1: includes people baptized in other parts of Christianity, new Christians,
34:39
Speaker 1: and baptized Catholics who haven't completed Catholic sacraments. Hallow also found,
34:47
Speaker 1: in research released in August, that participant numbers for the
34:51
Speaker 1: church program Mass attendants are up at dozens of U.S.
34:54
Speaker 1: colleges and universities compared with the previous year. The number
34:59
Speaker 1: of Catholic adults in the U.S. is growing at the
35:02
Speaker 1: same rate as Catholics in the overall population, almost exclusively
35:07
Speaker 1: because of immigration and new births. And the number of
35:11
Speaker 1: converts is still dwarfed by the number of people who
35:14
Speaker 1: have left the faith. But experts say the converts are
35:19
Speaker 1: providing a spiritual jolt The Archdiocese of Chicago, Leo's hometown,
35:26
Speaker 1: this year conducted what appears to be the deepest survey
35:29
Speaker 1: into why more Americans are becoming Catholic. It found that
35:35
Speaker 1: 34% of all converts were Gen Z, 35% were Millennials,
35:40
Speaker 1: 20% were Gen X, and 10% were Baby Boomers, indicating
35:46
Speaker 1: that U.S. converts skew younger, as in France. Some previous
35:52
Speaker 1: drivers of conversion, such as marrying a Catholic, seem to
35:55
Speaker 1: be less of a factor. Instead, the report, based on
36:00
Speaker 1: responses from 20 U.S. dioceses, concluded that many people are
36:04
Speaker 1: drawn by the idea of an ancient truth system as
36:08
Speaker 1: an anchor in a rocky, fast-changing world. As in France,
36:14
Speaker 1: some U.S. converts are being triggered by a major life crisis.
36:22
Speaker 1: A Taiwanese immigrant and Catholic convert living in Chicago was
36:26
Speaker 1: raised in a Buddhist home. She attended Catholic kindergarten and
36:31
Speaker 1: middle school, but she said she considered herself agnostic when
36:36
Speaker 1: she moved to the U.S. four years ago. An immigration attorney,
36:41
Speaker 1: she found herself in crisis after her relationship ended. Far
36:46
Speaker 1: from friends and family, she felt isolated. turn to the
36:50
Speaker 1: only church community she'd ever been a part of, Catholicism.
36:56
Speaker 1: Sue felt deeply connected and comforted by the part of
37:02
Speaker 1: Mass when congregants turned to one another, shake hands, and
37:06
Speaker 1: exchange a wish for peace. But as she continued to go,
37:11
Speaker 1: she became more curious about the details of Mass, started
37:15
Speaker 1: reading prominent Anglican theologian C.S. Lewis, and and wanted, she said,
37:20
Speaker 1: to understand my faith in a more systematic and structured way.
37:26
Speaker 1: That's when she joined a conversion class. At the same time,
37:31
Speaker 1: she started to feel more open to the world having
37:34
Speaker 1: a supernatural component, things happening that she felt that could
37:41
Speaker 1: not be explained. There is an attraction to the sense
37:45
Speaker 1: of grounding the church, that it offers in this time
37:49
Speaker 1: when people feel unstable, said Tim Weiske, Director of Parish
37:54
Speaker 1: Vitality and Mission at the Archdiocese of Chicago. We are
37:59
Speaker 1: calling these converts a kind of newcomer. Their families may
38:04
Speaker 1: not be religious, Weiske said, so they are approaching the
38:07
Speaker 1: church alone, without support and with less religious background. In
38:13
Speaker 1: the Chicago Archdiocese, 2,430 adults joined the church for the
38:18
Speaker 1: first time in 2025, the highest number since 2013. In 2026,
38:26
Speaker 1: the Archdiocese experienced a 52% increase of those preparing to
38:31
Speaker 1: join the Catholic Church for the first time at Easter, 1,059
38:34
Speaker 1: people compared with 696 in 2025. The Chicago survey found
38:43
Speaker 1: 12% of all people going through the conversion program, said
38:47
Speaker 1: the installation of the first U.S.-born pope intrigued them and
38:52
Speaker 1: contributed to their interest in becoming Catholic. Experts say more
38:57
Speaker 1: data is needed to understand any possible effect caused by
39:01
Speaker 1: Leo because religious affiliation and behavior has been so chaotic
39:06
Speaker 1: in recent years. It's a hypothetical. that Pope Leo was
39:12
Speaker 1: part of what's happening in the U.S. because it brings
39:14
Speaker 1: increased visibility, said Mark Gray, a senior research associate at
39:19
Speaker 1: CARA at Georgetown University. But as with Francis, Leo had
39:26
Speaker 1: to deal with the post-pandemic. I always caution people, who
39:30
Speaker 1: say it's a Francis or Leo effect. It's so hard
39:34
Speaker 1: to disentangle from other things. Weiske noted that this year's
39:40
Speaker 1: converts began the process before Leo's election. Gray said that
39:46
Speaker 1: Gen Z in particular is exploring using old-fashioned basic tech
39:50
Speaker 1: and shunning alcohol, and for these young people, joining a
39:54
Speaker 1: religious group is part of that pattern. Sue now attends
39:59
Speaker 1: Mass weekly and is grateful for the hardships that led
40:03
Speaker 1: her to her new faith. What I've been observing is
40:07
Speaker 1: that everyone comes for different reasons. My reason isn't something pleasant,
40:12
Speaker 1: she said. I'm just grateful that God brought me this
40:17
Speaker 1: journey and took whatever things aren't supposed to be mine,
40:21
Speaker 1: and I call those fake things. He put so many
40:24
Speaker 1: things in that I am so grateful for. The next story.
40:32
Speaker 1: Why a spacecraft exploring moons where life may thrive is
40:38
Speaker 1: zipping by Earth. The path to Jupiter's moons. which scientists
40:45
Speaker 1: believe could harbor conditions friendly for sustaining life, is long
40:50
Speaker 1: and paved with Earth flybys. The European Space Agency, the ESA,
40:57
Speaker 1: launched its Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, called JUICE, in April
41:02
Speaker 1: of 2023 to focus on the behemoth's two largest moons,
41:08
Speaker 1: Ganymede and Callisto. JUICE will also gather scads of data
41:13
Speaker 1: about Jupiter itself and the smaller moon Europa, which scientists
41:19
Speaker 1: consider one of the most promising places to look for
41:22
Speaker 1: life in the solar system. There's just one hitch. JUICE
41:28
Speaker 1: won't arrive for another five years. The next step is
41:34
Speaker 1: to zip within 5,400 miles of Earth. a Monday morning
41:40
Speaker 1: maneuver that will give JUICE a crucial gravity assist to
41:45
Speaker 1: boost its speed. We still have a long journey ahead
41:49
Speaker 1: before reaching Jupiter in 2031, but every step we take
41:54
Speaker 1: now brings us closer to our destination, said Oliver Wittesee,
42:00
Speaker 1: project scientist for the mission. The flyby will also give
42:04
Speaker 1: the spacecraft a chance to practice observations it will need
42:09
Speaker 1: make as it explores Jupiter and its moons, with the
42:12
Speaker 1: JUICE's instruments gathering data for a week and a half
42:16
Speaker 1: surrounding the close approach. That means, of course, intriguing new
42:21
Speaker 1: images of our home planet from afar. But more of
42:26
Speaker 1: the flyby data will be the sort of thing only
42:29
Speaker 1: scientists could love. For example, the spacecraft will be a
42:35
Speaker 1: rare visitor long tail of Earth's magnetic field, offering experts
42:41
Speaker 1: a glimpse at how much that tail flaps in the
42:44
Speaker 1: face of the constant stream of charged particles flowing off
42:47
Speaker 1: the sun. It's very serendipitous, said Patrick Brown, a space
42:54
Speaker 1: physicist at the Imperial College London, as instrument manager for
42:58
Speaker 1: the JUICE magnetometer. Seeing how the instrument responds to Earth's
43:03
Speaker 1: magnetic field will give scientists the information they need to
43:08
Speaker 1: better interpret what it measures out at Jupiter's icy moons. There,
43:14
Speaker 1: the instrument is a vital part of JUICE's investigation of
43:17
Speaker 1: these worlds. The magnometer will peer beneath each moon's icy shell,
43:24
Speaker 1: measuring its thickness as well as the depth and saltiness
43:28
Speaker 1: of any ocean hiding below. It's those hidden oceans, scientists
43:33
Speaker 1: believe may have the conditions necessary for life to thrive.
43:38
Speaker 1: Lots of liquid water, a source of energy, and the
43:42
Speaker 1: elements most commonly found in organisms. The moons of the
43:46
Speaker 1: outer solar system are kind of like the next undiscovered country,
43:51
Speaker 1: said Cynthia Phillips, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion
43:56
Speaker 1: Laboratory in California. They're very different any place that we've
44:02
Speaker 1: really observed up close before. Phillips is not involved in
44:06
Speaker 1: the JUICE mission, but is the project staff scientist for
44:13
Speaker 1: NASA's Europa Clipper mission, which is also currently en route
44:17
Speaker 1: to the Jupiter system, where the two spacecraft will do
44:21
Speaker 1: complementary work. Although JUICE will gather limited data about the
44:27
Speaker 1: most tantalizing moon, its insights will still flesh out scientists'
44:32
Speaker 1: understanding of Europa's habitability. Studying the whole system of Galilean
44:38
Speaker 1: satellites helps gives us really good context for a place
44:43
Speaker 1: like Europa, Phillips said. JUICE's next milestone will come in
44:48
Speaker 1: three years, when it zips past Earth again before heading
44:54
Speaker 1: out to Jupiter for good. And next, Senate Republicans make
45:01
Speaker 1: a final legislative push ahead of the midterms. Barely five
45:07
Speaker 1: weeks before November's midterm elections, Senate Republicans are rushing to
45:12
Speaker 1: pass more legislation that they can run on as polling
45:16
Speaker 1: shows Democrats within striking distance are retaking the chamber. The
45:21
Speaker 1: Senate is expected to vote on legislation this week meant
45:25
Speaker 1: to protect consumers from high electricity costs caused, in part,
45:29
Speaker 1: by data center building booms. And some Republicans are pushing
45:34
Speaker 1: to take up other bills to address voters' frustrations with
45:37
Speaker 1: the cost of living. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the
45:41
Speaker 1: Republican of South Dakota, decided against sending senators home early
45:46
Speaker 1: last week to campaign, opting instead to keep the Senate
45:50
Speaker 1: in session to try to bolster the Republicans' legislative record.
45:55
Speaker 1: This week is the last that the Senate is scheduled
45:57
Speaker 1: to be in session before Election Day. Republicans are confronting
46:03
Speaker 1: the once unthinkable prospect that they could lose the Senate.
46:08
Speaker 1: Democrats are running competitively, even in some states that President
46:13
Speaker 1: Trump won by double digits in 2024, giving the party
46:17
Speaker 1: a shot at picking up the four seats they need
46:21
Speaker 1: to recapture the chamber. Almost no Republicans is in more
46:26
Speaker 1: danger of losing his seat than Senator John Husted of Ohio,
46:30
Speaker 1: who introduced the data center bill that Republicans are set
46:33
Speaker 1: to take up. Former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, who is
46:38
Speaker 1: challenging Husted, has spent millions of dollars on ads attacking
46:43
Speaker 1: Husted over his support for data centers, which the ads
46:47
Speaker 1: blame at causing electric bills to spike by thousands of dollars.
46:53
Speaker 1: The National Republican Senatorial Committee warned in a memo last
46:57
Speaker 1: month that the ads are affected, describing data centers as
47:02
Speaker 1: an anchor hanging around Husted's neck. Sixty-nine percent of likely
47:08
Speaker 1: voters in Ohio say data centers, the enormous warehouses filled
47:12
Speaker 1: with servers that power the artificial intelligence boom and the
47:16
Speaker 1: rest of the Internet, are mostly bad for home energy costs,
47:20
Speaker 1: according to a Bowling Green State University YouGov poll conducted
47:24
Speaker 1: this month. Husted has defended his record on data centers
47:30
Speaker 1: and criticized Brown for supporting them in the past. He
47:34
Speaker 1: described his bill as a way to show the American
47:37
Speaker 1: people that we're serious about driving down electric prices and
47:41
Speaker 1: making life more affordable for them. And he almost dared
47:46
Speaker 1: Democrats to block it. If Senate Democrats want to be
47:51
Speaker 1: the lone obstacle to passage, then shame on them, he
47:54
Speaker 1: told reporters. That shows that they don't really care about affordability.
48:00
Speaker 1: It's not clear whether Husted's bill will pass. The House
48:05
Speaker 1: approved it overwhelmingly, but Senator Martin Heinrich, the Democrat of
48:10
Speaker 1: New Mexico, blocked Husted from fast-tracking its passage this month,
48:15
Speaker 1: arguing that it did not go far enough. Heinrich sought
48:20
Speaker 1: to pass his own bill, to force data centers to
48:23
Speaker 1: show the costs of upgrading the electric grid, which Republicans
48:28
Speaker 1: then blocked. Husted's bill does not take full effect for
48:32
Speaker 1: two years and would not bring down electricity prices before
48:36
Speaker 1: the midterms. Some Democrats have argued that it would do
48:41
Speaker 1: little to address affordability at all. Senator Husted's bill is
48:46
Speaker 1: a fraud, said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Democrat
48:51
Speaker 1: of New York, He told that to reporters last week.
48:54
Speaker 1: It's voluntary. No company has to do it. Republicans say
49:00
Speaker 1: Democrats are just trying to deny them victories. Senator Bernie Marino,
49:05
Speaker 1: the other Republican in Ohio, accused Democrats of blocking Husted's
49:10
Speaker 1: bill so they can just put up another TV ad
49:14
Speaker 1: to say that electricity prices are high so that they
49:17
Speaker 1: can win an election. He said, Republicans have spent much
49:22
Speaker 1: of the past two weeks working to pass legislation from
49:24
Speaker 1: Senators Ted Cruz, a Republican of Texas, and Maria Cantwell,
49:30
Speaker 1: Democrat of Washington, to overhaul regulation of college sports. Cruz
49:36
Speaker 1: has argued the bill is crucial protect an American institution
49:40
Speaker 1: that millions of people love. But some Republicans have groused
49:46
Speaker 1: that it is hardly the most pressing issue that the
49:48
Speaker 1: party needs to tackle right before the midterms. With gas
49:54
Speaker 1: at over $ 4 a gallon, a persistent war with Iran,
49:58
Speaker 1: $ 40 trillion in debt, the Senate has decided that the
50:03
Speaker 1: most urgent thing is now to dictate how college sports
50:06
Speaker 1: are run from Washington. Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky,
50:11
Speaker 1: sat on the Senate floor. Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana,
50:17
Speaker 1: said he was prepared to support the bill if he
50:21
Speaker 1: secures an amendment vote, but argued it's not a priority
50:26
Speaker 1: for voters, describing it as a way to make the
50:29
Speaker 1: football coaches happy. I haven't met a single person on
50:34
Speaker 1: the Cam train trail when they lie down to sleep
50:37
Speaker 1: and can't who are worried about the football coaches, Kennedy
50:41
Speaker 1: told reporters. Husted is not the only Republican senator facing
50:47
Speaker 1: a tough race who has been pushed to pass legislation
50:51
Speaker 1: that can be campaigned on before heading home. Senator Susan Collins,
50:57
Speaker 1: a Republican of Maine who is seeking a sixth term
51:00
Speaker 1: in the Democratic-leaning state, has pressed Senate Republican leadership take
51:06
Speaker 1: up a bipartisan bill to force insurers to cap the
51:09
Speaker 1: cost of insulin at $ 35. Another vulnerable Republican, Senator Dan
51:16
Speaker 1: Sullivan of Alaska, tried to pass legislation last week meant
51:21
Speaker 1: to protect salmon in his state. He was blocked by
51:25
Speaker 1: Senator Ed Markey, the Democrat of Massachusetts, who said he
51:30
Speaker 1: needed more time to send feedback from fishermen in his state.
51:36
Speaker 1: Husted and other Republicans are campaigning on the tax and
51:40
Speaker 1: domestic policy bill that Trump signed into law last year,
51:44
Speaker 1: which cut taxes on tips in overtime. But some Senate
51:48
Speaker 1: Republicans have pushed for months to do more to address
51:52
Speaker 1: voters' affordability concerns. Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, said
51:59
Speaker 1: he had urged Senate leadership to take up the insulin bill,
52:04
Speaker 1: along with legislation, suspend the federal gas tax and other
52:09
Speaker 1: bills to make life easier for working families. My view
52:15
Speaker 1: is that we ought to be able to have our
52:18
Speaker 1: sole focus, Hawley said. We're not going to do that,
52:21
Speaker 1: and it's not clear to me why we're not doing
52:23
Speaker 1: that here. Representative Ashley Henson, Republican who is facing a
52:29
Speaker 1: tight race for an open Senate seat in Iowa, last
52:32
Speaker 1: week called on the House to return to Washington to
52:35
Speaker 1: vote on suspending the federal gas tax, as well as
52:39
Speaker 1: other steps to reduce fuel prices. The House adjourned earlier
52:44
Speaker 1: this month and has no plans to return before Election Day.
52:49
Speaker 1: Thune has faulted Democrats for obstructing his party's agenda. Republicans
52:55
Speaker 1: and Democrats have spent months negotiating over legislation to overhaul
53:02
Speaker 1: the federal permitting process. which could bring down energy costs
53:08
Speaker 1: by making it easier to build power lines and other infrastructure.
53:14
Speaker 1: Thune said the Senate could take up such a bill
53:16
Speaker 1: before the midterms if the two sides were to reach
53:20
Speaker 1: a deal. But he acknowledged Thursday that it would not happen,
53:25
Speaker 1: which he blamed on the Democrats. While they may acknowledge
53:31
Speaker 1: the need for permitting reform, What they really care about
53:35
Speaker 1: is denying Republicans another legislative win ahead of the midterms,
53:40
Speaker 1: Thune said on the Senate floor. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the
53:46
Speaker 1: Democrat of Rhode Island, and Heinrich said the Democrats' leading
53:51
Speaker 1: permitting negotiations said Friday they wanted to give senators more
53:57
Speaker 1: time to review the legislation. and warned that trying to
54:02
Speaker 1: pass it before the midterms could kill the bill. We're
54:08
Speaker 1: talking about major changes to how America builds energy and infrastructure,
54:13
Speaker 1: they said in a statement. Getting that right has to
54:18
Speaker 1: matter more than election year deadlines. And next, U.S. test
54:25
Speaker 1: scores keep falling. But these states are getting it right.
54:31
Speaker 1: Every few years, international educational test scores are announced and
54:35
Speaker 1: the United States spends a week lamenting the state of
54:39
Speaker 1: its schools before moving on. The latest Program for International
54:44
Speaker 1: Student Assessment, or PISA, released deserves more attention. According to
54:49
Speaker 1: the test, more than a quarter of American 15-year-olds now
54:54
Speaker 1: fail to reach a basic level of reading proficiency. Roughly
54:58
Speaker 1: the skill needed to understand a job posting. Math scores
55:03
Speaker 1: are flat, but sit at the bottom of a decade-long decline.
55:07
Speaker 1: Both are among the lowest PISA scores this country has
55:12
Speaker 1: ever posted. These results are alarming, but not surprising. They
55:18
Speaker 1: match the story that the NEAP, the National Assessment of
55:22
Speaker 1: Education Process, has been telling us for years. Nine-year-olds recently
55:28
Speaker 1: recovered to pre-pandemic performance in reading and approached it in math.
55:34
Speaker 1: But 13-year-olds have lost decades of gain in both subjects,
55:39
Speaker 1: with average reading scores no higher than in 1971, when
55:43
Speaker 1: the test was first administered. In reading and in math,
55:47
Speaker 1: both age groups are still performing at 2012 or below levels,
55:51
Speaker 1: the peak of the accountability era. The latest piece of results...
55:56
Speaker 1: land as the federal role in education is receding. States
56:00
Speaker 1: have always been the primary educators of policy, but have
56:03
Speaker 1: never been truer than today. The good news is that
56:07
Speaker 1: some of them are already providing that progress is possible.
56:12
Speaker 1: There's no state-level PISA data, but NAEP shows that disappointing
56:16
Speaker 1: national results mask significant state-by-state variation. Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, and
56:24
Speaker 1: the District of Columbia have all posted sustained post-pandemic NEAP gains,
56:29
Speaker 1: even as scores have fallen nationally. And they've done so
56:33
Speaker 1: with higher poverty rates, except for D.C., lower per-pupil spending
56:37
Speaker 1: than in the national average. In three decades of testing,
56:41
Speaker 1: this is the first time a cluster of states has
56:44
Speaker 1: moved outcomes this way. Several have been climbing for far longer.
56:50
Speaker 1: In 2013, Mississippi ranked 49th among the states in fourth-grade reading,
56:55
Speaker 1: By 2024, it ranked 9th, an astonishing change in a
57:00
Speaker 1: state long written off because of poverty and politics. Louisiana
57:04
Speaker 1: ranked 50th in 2019 and leaped to 16th by 2024
57:09
Speaker 1: and is the only state for 4th grade reading to
57:13
Speaker 1: surpass pre-tandemic levels. Tennessee was in the bottom 10 in
57:17
Speaker 1: 2011 but is now 17th across the foreign NAEP test.
57:22
Speaker 1: near the top of the nation for black student scores.
57:27
Speaker 1: While this southern surge is well documented, it remains misunderstood.
57:32
Speaker 1: The states prioritized literacy instruction grounded in the science of
57:36
Speaker 1: reading and adopted stronger math curriculums, but that's only part
57:40
Speaker 1: of the story. It also embraced practices that drove national
57:44
Speaker 1: progress in the late 1990s and 2000s. High standards, meaningful accountabilities,
57:51
Speaker 1: relentless focus on student achievement, backed by strong political leaders
57:56
Speaker 1: committed to implementing the work effectively. It is policy, not politics,
58:03
Speaker 1: that determines student outcomes. And this concludes the reading of
58:08
Speaker 1: the Washington Post for today, Monday, September 28th. The reader
58:12
Speaker 1: today has been Rod Brotherton. Thank you, as always, for listening.
58:17
Speaker 1: And now, please stay tuned for continued programming right here
58:22
Speaker 1: on Radio Eye.