NewsDepth Season 49 Episode 15 [Girl] NewsDepth is a presentation of WVIZ, PBS, ideastream Education as made possible by a grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation. [Rick] Coming up this week on NewsDepth. Would you let a seven-year old cut your hair? Plus, we meet an African-American artist as black history month begins. Cover those coughs and wash those hands, it's flu season. And Mary shares Ohio's sporty past, hut, hut. NewsDepth is now. The government is back up and running, at least for a while. Hello everybody, I'm Rick Jackson. Thanks for joining us. After 35 days, the partial Federal Government shutdown has come to a close. That's certainly a welcome relief for the government employees who've been working without pay, and people who had business with government agencies. Congress and President Donald Trump came to a financial agreement to reopen the Federal Government on Friday, January 25th. The agreement is only temporary though, it will keep the government up and running for three weeks. [President Trump] I will sign a bill to open our government for three weeks until February 15th. I will make sure that all employees receive their back pay very quickly or as soon as possible. [Rick] The hope is that during that time a longer agreement on government funding can be made. Reporter John Lornic has the story. [John] 2019 started off rough for about 800,000 government workers. - You know we went a month without any sort of income or any sort of knowing what's gonna happen next. [John] On Friday President Trump agreed to re-open the government which gets though employees back to work. - I have a really fun job. I mean, we like what we do. [John] However. - We're just hoping and praying that we're not gonna be back in the same situation in three or four weeks. [John] The deal that ended the stand-off only goes until February 15th. Republican and Democratic leaders have until then to come up with a border security proposal, and President Trump insists it includes money for his long promised wall. - I don't think shutdowns are good leverage. It's a lesson I've certainly learned in my time here. There's been two shutdowns since the time I've been there, and the aggressor in neither one was the winner. - I'm certainly hope that we can get an agreement. It's been too long. Too many of our federal employees have suffered. [John] If lawmakers can't come up with a plan that funds a border barrier, President Trump says, it's off to the races. The president says he may declare a national emergency, and direct the Defense Department to start building a wall. [Rick] Thanks John. In other political news, the race for the next presidential term is already underway. Yeah, I know, the next election won't happen until November of 2020, but several folks have already declared that they're running for the top spot. The president is limited to two four-year terms. So President Trump can still serve in the role from 2020 until 2024, if he's chosen to do so by voters. But he may have his work cut out for him, as more and more people are entering the competition. Reporter Karin Caifa checked in with politicians on a busy Martin Luther King Jr. Day last week. [Karin] Kamala Harris making it official. [Karin] The Democrat from California is the third senator to enter the 2020 primary field, joining Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who have launched exploratory committees. - I think this is terrific. Democrats are full of ideas and full of energy, and that's how we're gonna make real change in this country. [Karin] Monday also busy for those rumored to be eyeing 2020 bids. [Woman] Are we ready for 2020? [Crowd] Yes we are. [Karin] Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Cory Booker of New Jersey in the early primary state of South Carolina. - We are gathered together 'cause we believe in this democracy and we know in this country the power of the people is always greater than the people in power. [Karin] Former Vice-President Joe Biden at an MLK Day breakfast in Washington. And at the same event, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; recently re-registered as a Democrat. - Whatever the next year brings for Joe and me, I know we'll both keep our eyes on the real prize, and that is electing a Democrat to the White House in 2020. [Karin] The first contest of 2020, the Iowa Caucasus, are just over one year away, next February 3rd. [Rick] Thanks Karin. We of course will be following the presidential race over the next two years. Let's turn to some weather-related news now. Last week we told you all about avalanches. Well a recent avalanche in Snowbird, Utah, stranded skiers and snowboarders in that resort village, until crews could safely clear the roads in and out of town. Kiersten Nunez has the story. [Man] I suspect they'll be a couple hours of traffic coming down. But we're out and that's all we care, we had an awesome day. [Kiersten] These skiers and snowboarders were the first of hundreds of cars finally driving down the canyon. - We were sitting by the police radios, so we we're listening and we were ready to run to the car. So, we just ran to the car, jumped in, and got out. [Kiersten] But all of these people weren't sure if they'd make it home Monday night after a natural avalanche covered the road with 12 to 18 inches of snow in the White Pine area of Little Cottonwood. - Oh, we were in the lodge for about four hours. They close the resorts down at 12:30. [Kirsten] Those at the resorts were under a mandatory inter-lodge, meaning everyone had to go inside the resort's lodges and stay there. - Was pretty crazy, all the dining was full. We had to go to the vending machines, and, my tummy was grumbling. [Kiersten] Earlier in the day we spoke with snowboarders who were still stuck. - I think we're all just gonna be sleeping on the ground in the lodge. [Kiersten] Convinced they'd have to stay the night. - I was kinda expecting it because there was just so much snow. - By virtue of the fact that we've almost received five feet of snow in the last five days, I can't say that I'm surprised that this happened. [Kiersten] And while inter-lodge is rare, it's not unheard of, because Little Cottonwood is one of the most challenging roads in all of North America when it comes to avalanche control. - We don't wanna inconvenience anybody, but we have to err on the side of caution here, and make sure that it's a safe situation. [Rick] Thanks Kiersten. Many of those folks stuck in the lodge overnight said they were looking forward to having the slopes all to themselves in the morning. So I guess that could be a benefit of being snowed in. Well based on our Tweet of the Week, I'd say a lot of you wouldn't mind hanging out in the cold either. Mrs. Sexton at Bexley Middle School tweeted out this video of her students experimenting with dry ice and learning about sublimation. Now sublimation is a chemical process when a solid turns into a gas, without having to turn to a liquid first. Pretty neat. Let's read about your own chilly winter observations, because we asked you last week to write to us about the coolest thing you've seen this season. So let's open up our frosty Inbox. Abbie from William Bruce Elementary had an interesting observation: “Something that I've noticed is that when the temperature dropped and I got in the car to go to school it looked like there was snowflakes on the inside of the car.” Lucy from Silver Lake Elementary found out something cool: “Me and my mom went on the roof and dumped hot water out and as we poured it out it froze, and it was really cool to see.” Jalecia from Gearity Elementary wrote to us: “My neighbor's house has very long icicles on his house. One day while I was walking home from school the icicles were all the way down to the ground. I was very shocked. When I went inside my house, I came back to take a picture. Now I have that as a winter picture in my room as the perfect memory.” Libby from Saint Francis de Sales also noticed some interesting icicles: “What I observed this winter was icicles freezing in a slanted position. They did this because it was so cold here, as the icicles were freezing, the wind blew them into those cool positions. I haven't seen that before.” Madison from Orchard Hill Intermediate wrote to us: “My winter observations are how weird the winter weather can be. Like in my town North Canton one day there was a lot of snow. We even got snow day. The next it was 47 degrees and it was raining. Then, the next it was snowing again.” Wow, you're right, Ohio's weather sure can be confusing. Excellent observations everybody. Another thing you may have noticed this winter is that more of your classmates may be staying home sick.