(upbeat music) - Coming up next on NewsDepth, Nick explains the process of making laws, people in Ukraine are preparing for winter without heat, we celebrate Native American Heritage Month.

And, are you a cat person or a dog person?

Newshound is very curious to find out.

NewsDepth is now.

(upbeat music) The midterm elections are behind us, but for the elected officials, the hard work is still ahead of them.

Hello everybody.

I'm Gabriel Kramer, in for Ed Jackson.

Thank you all for joining us.

Reelected Governor Mike DeWine, took the stage last week to thank the people of Ohio, again, for voting.

- So the people of Ohio, thank you.

Thank you for your trust, thank you for giving us the opportunity to continue to serve.

And again, the thing though, you can talk about all the assets that we have, but the most important thing, is the people.

Think about it.

We're a state of people.

We just get up in the morning, we go to work.

We're people who get things done.

We solve problems, we don't whine about 'em, We just go solve them.

- Mike DeWine finished his acceptance speech by saying that he plans to finish a project he started during his first term as governor.

Another significant race in this ballot, was that of the Ohio senator.

Republican JD Vance won that position.

Although this is his first elected office, he has a background in business, and he said he is ready to get to work for the people of Ohio.

- To the people of Ohio, I wanna say something.

I know, of course, we won a very good victory and I'm very proud of it, because of all of you, we won a great victory.

But I wanna say everything to whether you voted for me or not.

If you're watching on TV, whether you voted for me or not, the thing that I promise to do is go to the United States Senate and fight every single day for the people of Ohio.

Thanks to you, we get an opportunity to do just that.

- A crucial victory in Nevada, has led to Democrats retaining control of the Senate for the next two years.

Now all eyes are on who will gain control of the House, which is still up for grabs.

Gloria Pazmino has the latest.

- This is so such a cause for a celebration.

- [Gloria Pazmino] A celebration indeed for Democrats, who will now retain control of the Senate on Capitol Hill.

The critical win comes after Nevada Democratic incumbent, Catherine Cortez Masto, defeated Republican challenger, Adam Laxalt, after trailing him for days as votes were counted.

- We've known this was going to be a tough campaign, but like all of you, I'm a Nevadan, and I know what it takes to deliver for my home state.

- We won because we had a really good agenda that we actually passed, that helped the American people on things they cared about.

- This should have been a huge red wave.

It should have been one of the biggest red waves we've ever had, because the President Biden's approval rating was so low.

- [Gloria Pazmino] Democrats managed to hold, at least 50 seats in the Senate.

The victory comes as a major boost for President Joe Biden.

Now the question remains, who will control the House?

So far, Democrats hold 204 seats to Republicans 211.

The number needed to control the lower chamber is 218 seats.

- Let's just get through the election, okay?

They haven't won yet.

- As I've said all along, be perilously close.

We can win it.

Whether we're gonna win it, remains to be seen.

- [Gloria Pazmino] And we may not find out who wins the House for weeks, as the vote count continues in states like Arizona, California, and Oregon, with the large share of mailed-in ballots.

- Thanks, Gloria.

I bet you're wondering why electing senators is so important to the people of the United States.

Well, that's because the Senate and the House have the responsibility of making the laws.

Nick Castele has a brand new politics on point explaining the process of how laws are made.

Did you know that it is a federal crime to damage a lamp owned by the government?

So who or what determines what's illegal and what isn't?

Laws.

(trumpet music) Today we're going to talk about how two of the three branches of government work together to create new laws, the legislative branch and the executive branch.

Laws start at the legislative branch.

As a reminder, the legislative branch is made up of two chambers in the federal government, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

All 100 senators and 435 representatives make up Congress.

A law starts as a bill.

A bill is just a fancy word for an idea for a new law.

Depending on what kind of law this would be, the bill can come from either chamber of Congress.

But let's use an example that follows a bill from the House of Representatives.

A representative with an idea for a new law proposes the bill to the House so they can vote on it.

Before they vote on the bill, this House assigns a committee for due diligence.

Due diligence means that enough research and analysis has been made to cover all possible scenarios that could be affected by this new law.

If the bill passes by a simple majority of the House of Representatives voting in favor of it, then it gets sent over to the Senate.

The Senate debates and votes on the proposed bill one more time.

If at least 51 Senators out of the 100 vote to approve the bill, this means the bill is one step closer to becoming a law.

The bill is now off to the executive branch or the president.

It has to be a little more official than just sending the president an email.

The final version of the law has to be printed on parchment paper and hand delivered to the president, becoming an enrolled bill.

The president now has to carefully review the entire document, and only has 10 days to sign the bill into law.

If the president does not sign the bill within those 10 days, however, it becomes a law by default, if Congress is still in session.

But if he has some concerns and vetos the bill instead, it goes back to Congress.

In our case, it goes back to the House of Representatives, where the original idea came from.

They can now vote to override the president's veto.

If the bill makes it all the way to the finish line and becomes a law, it must then be taken to the Office of the Federal Register at the National Archives, to be assigned an official public law number.

There are laws on the federal level, all the way down to a state, county, or even city level.

And there are all different types of laws that are meant to protect our rights.

For example, there's laws that protect individuals from other individuals, laws that protect businesses, laws that protect properties, and laws that protect individuals from the government itself.

- Thanks, Nick.

Last week for our poll, we asked if you thought all adults living in the US, should be allowed to vote.

60% of you voted yes, every adult should be allowed to vote, and 38% said no, it depends.

We also asked you to write us your argument to support your vote on the poll.

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

(upbeat music) Lucius from Lakeview Intermediate School in Stow, starts us off with, "Dear NewsDepth, I feel every adult should be allowed to vote with some limitations, though.

I think if someone is not willing to put their mind and time into voting, they simply shouldn't vote.

Voting is a process and it takes time.

Whether you vote in person or get it mailed to you, it takes a lot of time to vote.

For example, you need to do a bunch of research and think very hard about it."

Ella from Avon Heritage Elementary in Avon, wants everyone to have a voice.

Yes, because people over 18 should always get a voice.

Younger people under 18 should always have a voice too, but they wouldn't know maybe what's happening or what will happen if they vote.

That's why I think every adult should be able to vote.

They should all have a voice.

James from Lindsey Elementary in Chesterland Road, I think pretty much most American grownups should be allowed to vote, but I selected it depends, because there are grownups in the US, that might not be Americans.

They might be visiting or not citizens.

But we should be careful because we don't want to say very many Americans can't vote, but maybe there are some cases, so I said it depends.

Laney from Rush Wood Elementary and Sagamore Hills, has a list of reasons to support voting.

Every adult in the US should be allowed to vote because they are people to be respected.

First reason is they should be 18 and older to be allowed to vote.

My second reason is, I think girls and boys should all be allowed to vote.

My third reason is, people will get mad if they don't get to vote.

That is my reason people should vote.

And Jayden from Parsons Elementary School in Columbus, thinks parents keep their kids in mind when casting their votes.

Dear NewsDepth, I think every adult should be allowed to vote, plus kids are not involved in voting.

Parents on the other hand, are more representative and they're allowed, and more cautious in voting.

That's why I think every adult should vote.

Thank you to everyone who wrote in, your letters keep getting better and better.

But let's get back to the news.

Ukraine has liberated dozens of settlements in the Kherson region, that is according to President Zelenskyy, in a nightly address last Saturday.

- As of this evening, the defense forces have won back control in more than 60 settlements of Kherson region.

The police have started taking stabilization measures.

Stabilization measures are also ongoing in Kherson itself.

- This doesn't mean that the conflict has come to an end just yet, and cities have a long road to recovery.

In the past month, Russia has attacked energy infrastructure in Ukraine.

Military engineers have been working around the clock trying to prevent a total collapse of the grid.

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

This includes buildings, roads, and power supplies.

And keeping warm is on everyone's mind ahead of a winter, expected to be the harshest in 30 years.

Nick Robertson has more from Ukraine.

- Gas just came back to Kramatorsk, a boon of battlefield gains.

Maria, a 70 year old pensioner wasn't expecting it, had bought a wood burning stove.

It was hard without gas, she tells us, and now thanks to God we're okay, but for how long?

When the government turned the gas back on here at the beginning of November, they did it without any big announcement, because like every other critical service here, gas depends on electricity, and that's what Russia's targeting.

When I met the mayor here three months ago, he was urging residents to leave ahead of winter.

- We do not have gas at all and it's not possible to repair our gas lines.

- When we meet now, he tells me the population is actually increased by 30 to 35,000 people.

Over 80,000 total residents returning home, even though the situation, because Russia is targeting the power grid, is much more precarious.

Lives, he fears, may be lost, in what he expects to be the harshest winter since independence 30 years ago.

- When the electricity disappears, cities are plunged into darkness.

Anything can happen.

Boilers can stop, gas distribution networks can stop.

It can be left without everything, even without heat.

- Keeping warm is on everyone's minds.

This factory making heating logs from sunflower seeds demand outstripping capacity.

- Our requests have gone up three or four fold.

We don't have enough trucks for deliveries.

- They're working at full capacity here.

Everything that's ready, shipped out immediately.

But the whole system here, extremely vulnerable.

The electricity could go off at any moment.

Every log delivered a few hours spared from the cold.

Each sack, perhaps a week's piece of mind.

Has he got everything that he ordered?

His answer, everything, everything.

All good, perfect.

I don't have words.

Food is also on people's minds this winter, mostly pensioners, mostly poor, bundle up against the cold.

A free bread distribution, tempting them out of frigid homes.

If they help us like they do here, it will be fine, 84 year old Yulia tells us.

I'm a child of World War II, she says.

We were cold, hungry, but we survived.

Across town, another pensioner, 82 year old Alexandra shows us the basement she shares with neighbors, already stockpiling food for winter.

No gas for warmth here, just an old electric heater.

But when there's no electricity, you have no heat.

How do you stay warm?

We just have to put on our coats, wrap ourselves in blankets and go to bed, she says.

That's how we live.

- Last week we talked about COP 27, the annual Climate Change Conference from the United Nations.

This year it's being held in Egypt, and President Joe Biden is now at the conference.

He spoke about the role young people have on environmental issues.

After that, he is set to tour Asia for back-to-back summits.

Amy Kiley has a look at this trip.

- Young people voted to continue addressing the climate crisis.

- [Amy Kiley] Hot off the midterms, President Joe Biden is tackling that perceived mandate.

He's kicking off a week long international trip by speaking at the COP 27 in Egypt.

The name means it's a conference of the parties that signed the 1992 UN Climate Agreement.

- Over the past two years, the United States has delivered unprecedented progress at home, through a generational investment and upgrading our nation's infrastructure.

- [Amy Kiley] After Egypt, Biden's itinerary includes a couple of days in Cambodia, that's for a summit between the US and the Association of Southeast Nations.

Then he's set to attend the G20 summit in Indonesia.

- The president will have the opportunity to hold a number of other bilateral meetings on the margins of the G20.

- [Amy Kiley] The White House says he'll speak with Chinese president, Xi Jinping, Monday.

Relations between the two countries have been strained since Pelosi's trip to Taiwan in August.

Biden's meeting with Xi isn't about the environment, per se, but the US climate envoy points out.

- As the two leading emitters in the world, and as the two largest economies in the world, China and the United States really need to cooperate on this.

- Thanks, Amy.

A study estimates the world has about nine years left to prevent catastrophic global warming.

The Global Carbon Budget 2022, found that's about how long it will likely take nations to run through the remaining carbon budget, if they don't take action to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Greenhouse gases are gases in the Earth's atmosphere that trap heat warming the Earth's surface.

Researchers found to have a chance of achieving that, the world cannot release more than 380 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent during the coming decades.

That's equal to about nine years of current emission levels.

An environmental scientist is someone who studies the natural sciences to protect the environment and human health.

For our writing question this week, we want to hear your questions.

If you could speak to an environmental scientist about their job, what would you like to know?

Head online to send us your questions.

Now it's November, which means it's Native American Heritage Month.

This month we celebrate the indigenous peoples in America and the rich cultures and contributions.

Indigenous means originating from a particular place.

For this week's Know Ohio, Anna Huntsman talks about the Native American tribes that inhabit the state.

She points out features in Ohio, that's still bear native names, including Chillicothe in the Cuyahoga River.

(upbeat music) - Every time I take a road trip through Ohio, I always like reading the names of the cities, towns, and landmarks I pass, Cleveland, Toledo, Chillicothe.

And then I wonder, how did this place get its name?

Well, many of the names of Ohio cities, lakes, rivers, and landmarks have Native American origins.

But when we say Native Americans, we're not talking about one uniform culture.

We're actually talking about a diverse group of tribes and civilizations scattered across the present day United States.

In fact, the word Ohio itself, actually comes from the Iroquois Nation.

In the 1600s, before colonization, Iroquois was a powerful civilization made up of five different tribes.

They were conquerors who spread across present day New York, Pennsylvania, and eventually pushed their way into the rich Ohio Valley.

They called the river that separates Ohio and Kentucky, the Ohio, which means roughly, Great Creek.

And our state took its name from there.

It was also the Iroquois that named the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland.

In Iroquois language, Cuyahoga means crooked river, and given the way it winds through Cleveland, that's a pretty accurate description if you ask me.

Southwestern Ohio is home to the prestigious Miami University and two large rivers, the Great Miami and the Little Miami, all take their name from the Miami people, a group of tribes that migrated south into Ohio, in about the 1700s.

the Miami civilization spread across portions of Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.

Their language is Algonquin.

After a series of wars led by Chief Little Turtle, at the end of the 1700s, the Miami people eventually were forced out of Ohio by European settlers.

The Miami people are allied with the Shawnee Nation, and it's this tribe that gave the city Piqua, Ohio, its name.

To the Shawnee, Piqua or Piquea, means a man coming out of the ashes, which is part of the tribe's creation myth, that says a man was born out of the smoke and ashes from an ancient fire.

The Shawnee are also responsible for one of my personal favorite city names, Chillicothe.

It's so fun to say, and it's derived from the Shawnee word, Chalahgawtha, which means principle place, because Chillicothe is where the Shawnee tribe leadership lived.

There are so many more interesting native Ohio civilizations that shaped our state.

So next time you travel across our state, keep an eye out for some of Ohio's most interesting names.

They're often reminders of our state's native past.

- Thanks, Anna.

Of course, Ohio is not the only state with rich native history.

The Lakota Sioux, historically known as the iconic warrior horseman of the northern plains in Colorado.

But there are native languages dying, with only a few thousand people still able to speak it.

Colette Bordelon reports on an effort to preserve an important part of Lakota culture.

- I'm still here in wicala.

Wicala.

- [Students] Wicala.

- Ca, ca, wicala.

- [Colette Bordelon] Learning language isn't easy.

- I am so excited to be here, and it's so much information.

I'm overwhelmed.

- [Colette Bordelon] And learning this language.

- Khanjta.

- [Colette Bordelon] Is helping Diana Gera learn more about herself.

- I can say a lot, but I can't say it in Lakota yet.

- Toward 1950s, (indistinct).

- [Colette Bordelon] Every word, a way to connect to the past.

- So much was lost, and I'm just doing my little part to reconnect.

When I was a young child, my mother was killed.

I lost all connections, to my relatives, to my family.

- [Colette Bordelon] Her journey has led to her Lakota roots.

- I know my big smile where it comes from, and it comes from my Lakota relatives.

- It's the essence of our identity.

- [Colette Bordelon] Alex Fire Thunder doesn't necessarily see himself as a teacher.

- Teaching is just sharing, for me, that's it.

It's just sharing what was shared with me, and it doesn't belong to me.

- [Colette Bordelon] He's the deputy director of the Lakota Language Consortium.

The group says the last generation of first language speakers are now in their seventies, and the language has not been passed down to the next generation since the mid 1950s.

Lakota is one of only eight Native American languages with more than 5,000 speakers.

The goal is to pass it on to even more people.

- If we don't do that, the language doesn't survive.

- [Colette Bordelon] A way to connect the past with the present.

- It was so lost, and I just hope I can keep that fire going.

- [Colette Bordelon] Learning more about a language and how to carry on the tradition for future generations.

- I love being Lakota.

I love who I am.

And I'm a beautiful indigenous creature.

- Thank you, Colette.

Now, here's a question for you.

Do you prefer dogs or cats?

Multiple studies show the stress relieving benefits of being around animals.

But which animal you're more open to interacting with, may depend on your personality traits, that's according to a recent study.

In today's Health Minute, Mandy Gaither has more on the findings, and what the researchers hope you take away from what they've discovered.

(upbeat music) - [Mandy Gaither] Whether it's the wagging tail, soft fur, or unconditional love, in times of stress, a canine can and often does bring comfort, but... - People often ask, "Why not cats?"

- [Mandy Gaither] Patricia Pendry wanted to answer that question in a study, she and her co-author, not only research whether people would be open to comfort cats being brought in during times of stress, but also, who's more likely to have a fondness for fee lines?

- We found that the trait, a personality trait that we refer to as emotionality, was strongly associated with one's interest in interacting with cats.

- [Mandy Gaither] Pendry says those studies were more likely to report being open to cats if they experienced strong emotions and reacted strongly to a feeling or an experience.

She says further study is needed to find out why, but Pendry believes highly emotional people may be more attuned to a cat subtle behaviors.

- We often hear, "Oh!

People don't wanna interact with cats.

Dogs are always preferred."

I'm hoping that people can recognize that, that is definitely not true.

- [Mandy Gaither] So does that mean cats should be incorporated into comfort animal visitation programs?

Pendry says, not necessarily.

- We want to be careful to make sure that we work with animals for whom this is a positive experience, rather than bringing stress to the animals.

- Thank you, Mandy.

Now for this week's poll, we wanna know if you like cats or dogs better?

Head online to choose between, I'm a cat person or I'm a dog person, or a people person.

I would consider myself more of a people person, but I wonder how Newshound would answer that poll.

Let's ask him.

Hey, Newshound.

(dramatic music) (cat meows) Hey, are you a doggy daycare?

Of course, playing with some dogs is one of your favorite things.

But it's time for work, so get to it.

Oh!

You found a story about turkeys who love to cuddle.

To check out these affectionate birds and the rest of the farm animals, click the petting zoo button on our website.

Thanks as always, Newshound.

You know who else is a dog person?

Brendan.

This week's A plus award winner.

Here at NewsDepth headquarters, we all try to give back to the community, and we all love animals.

This week's A plus award winner found a way to combine both of those things by volunteering at the Cuyahoga County Animal Shelter.

Brendan Anderson, a 10th grader at Nordonia High School, has been a volunteer at the shelter for five years.

That's a third of his life.

He told us that it all started when his family was adopting a dog.

The staff at the shelter gave his family information about the junior volunteer program for ages nine through 11.

After completing the junior volunteer program, Brendan continued to help out at the shelter with his mom, for the last five years.

He told us that he spent his time at the shelter doing all sorts of odd jobs.

We were really surprised by some of the things he's done for the canine community at the shelter.

He told us that he's done the laundry to keep the dogs bedding clean, he's fed the dogs and washes all the dogs dishes, and he even got to make treats for the dogs.

Brendan even shared the recipe with us.

The treats are made of pumpkin puree, oats, and peanut butter.

All you have to do is roll all the ingredients together into little balls and freeze them.

Newshound says they're delicious.

Brendan told us that he's learned a lot of valuable lessons through his volunteering at the shelter.

He shared them through his work.

He's learned the importance of responsibility and time management.

Brendan's mother told us that she's very proud of how much empathy Brandon shows the dogs waiting to find their forever homes.

Empathy means that you're able to understand the feelings of others.

Brendan spends about two hours each Saturday at the shelter, and he even gets to play with the puppies from time to time.

He told us that the work is really important to him, because the animals he cares for, needs someone to help them out.

This week's A plus award goes to Brendan, for his five years of service at the Cuyahoga County Animal Shelter.

If you're wondering, Brendan's dogs are a Boxer Foxhound mix, and a Pit Bull Terrier.

Now, that's it for our show this week.

We'll be on Thanksgiving break for the next two weeks, so next time you'll see us will be December the 8th.

Teachers, if you'd like to get a heads up of when we're on break and a tease of upcoming episodes, you can join our newsletter.

You can sign up for that online at ideastream.org/newsdepth.

And remember, we want to hear from you, and that goes for all of you watching, students, teachers, and those of you at home.

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

You can email us at newsdepth@ideastream.org.

You can send us a letter.

We're at 1375 Euclid Avenue, that's Cleveland, Ohio.

Zip code here is 44115.

Or you can tweet us, Our handle is @NewsDepthOhio.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Gabriel Kramer.

We'll see you right back here in December.

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

Career Callouts featured in NewsDepth, they are funded by the Ohio Broadcast Media Commission.

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