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

Trump works to amp up the arrests of undocumented immigrants.

A farmer benefits from the increase on the price of eggs.

An Ohio native became the first African American poet to earn national distinction.

And a group in Nevada breaks stereotypes.

"NewsDepth" is now.

(bright upbeat music) With orders from President Donald Trump, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, started a federal immigration roundup across the country.

Hello, everybody, I'm Gabriel Kramer.

Thank you for joining us.

The Trump Administration says it is targeting undocumented immigrants for arrest.

The undocumented immigrants could be deported to their countries of origin after processing.

Deporting means to expel a foreigner from a country typically on the grounds of illegal status.

Now, officials from some cities across the country are taking protective measures for their immigrant communities.

One of the cities taking precautionary action is Cleveland.

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said in a statement that since it is not a legal requirement, he will not task the city's police department with enforcing immigration law.

Laura Aguirre has more from other parts of the country.

- I think that people generally agree.

If you have a convicted felon, they should be deported.

- [Laura] On that, there is bipartisan agreement.

- If they are indeed criminals, yeah, they're gonna be shipped back to their country of origin.

- [Laura] Including how that's done.

- Look, everybody should be treated with dignity.

Everybody should be treated the right way.

- [Laura] But it's the scope and speed that's concerning.

Illinois is one of several states and territories where the operations are underway.

The state's Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights says a hotline to report possible ICE sightings has been ringing nonstop since Sunday's blitz began.

Likewise for another such hotline in Arizona.

- We've been getting a lot of calls, text messages, about different possible raids.

- [Laura] Residents here, like those in other targeted cities, are fearful it's not just criminals the agents will handcuff.

- It's a wide net, seemingly, being casted.

And inevitably, you'll have effects of racial profiling and upsetting a community that would otherwise collaborate with law enforcement.

- Thank you, Laura.

Some people under the Temporary Protected Status program are also worried that the current state of immigration in the United States might affect their ability to live and work here.

Reporter Madeleine Wright speaks to a Philadelphia woman from Venezuela about her anxiety over an uncertain future.

(speaker speaking in foreign language) - [Madeleine] She's a wife and mother living in Philadelphia after escaping political persecution in Caracas, Venezuela.

She asked we keep her identity anonymous.

For safety reasons, her family was given legal permission to live and work in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status Program.

But she worries she could get deported after President Donald Trump ordered federal officials to review the program.

- [Speaker] It is very frustration, very fear, and it's the emotion, multiple emotion in my heart.

- [Madeleine] Her TPS status is valid through summer of 2026, but she doesn't know if she'll be allowed to extend it.

Immigration advocate Rossana Arteaga-Lopenza says many people are concerned.

- It puts the Venezuelan community in a jeopardy situation because we are unable to go back to our country, because politically, it's falling apart.

- With planes of immigrants being sent back to their countries, this mom says the fear of being deported is worse.

(speaker speaking in foreign language) She says, "We're not all criminals."

She says she's working with her lawyer to understand her rights.

- Thank you, Madeleine.

Valeria Maldonado is an undocumented student in South Florida, and she's now facing the decision to drop out of college due to not affording tuition.

A law enacted in 2014 helps dreamers like her afford education by paying in-state tuition rates, but Florida legislators are pushing to repeal it.

A dreamer is a person who has lived in the United States as an undocumented immigrant since they were kids.

Dreamers are eligible for a special immigration status under federal legislation.

Ivan Taylor has the story.

- Yeah, we'll just have to stop school for now, just because I can't afford it.

- [Ivan] Valeria Maldonado is an undocumented student facing a harsh reality, the proposed end of a program that allows her to pay a lower tuition to get an education.

What are you going to school for?

- I am doing nursing to be a registered nurse.

- [Ivan] Governor Ron DeSantis and legislators both support a measure that would repeal a 2014 law that lowered in-state tuition for dreamers like Maldonado.

- If in-state tuition continues, then I will go for my bachelor's.

- [Ivan] If she's allowed to keep in-state tuition, her yearly tuition would be $6,500 at FIU where she wants to attend.

If the legislature and governor get their way, her tuition would nearly triple to over $18,000.

- We are here to defend in-state tuition because this, again, is a common-sense solution.

- [Ivan] At a press conference on Tuesday, activists criticized the position of Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez who championed the law 10 years ago, but withdrew her support over the weekend.

- Here are pleas to let my community pursue higher education.

- Thank you, Ivan.

Now, onto some egg news.

Egg prices are projected to rise by more than 20% in the next year, significantly outpacing the overall 2.2% expected inflation rate for food.

This increase is partly driven by the highly-infected bird flu, which is reducing the poultry supply in the United States.

A group already noticing the price hike are restaurant owners.

Molly Levine visits a New England diner that has recently adjusted their menus.

- I call them diamonds, yes.

- [Molly] Rare and expensive, but Jefferson Diner's Kellie Mungo isn't talking about a girl's best friend.

She's talking about eggs.

- Every day, I think it's gonna come down, and it just keeps going up.

Right, Susie?

- [Susie] Right.

- [Molly] But the 55-year-old Warwick diner... - My mother started, eggs were probably 50 cents a dozen when she started.

- [Molly] The bird flu is just another bump in the road, but it's a bump they're certainly feeling.

- [Kellie] Four cases of eggs that are 600.

- [Molly] She gets the diner's eggs from a local vendor in Johnston for normally about half that price.

- This is a half a case.

So four halves, which are 30 eggs to a layer, six layers in it, half a dozen.

So, it's an awful lot of money.

- [Molly] Causing her typical diner prices to go up slightly.

For each egg you order, add 25 cents to it.

- So everybody understands, but this egg crisis is gonna take its toll.

- [Molly] And Jefferson Diner is far from the only business impacted by the bird flu.

- Before, I would say all the omelets were around like $8, so they have gone up significantly.

Like now, they're all around 12 to $15.

- [Molly] The Cozy Grill just down the road is adjusting their menu.

- When people come in, it's definitely...

They can see it in the prices, but we're trying not to change too much.

- [Molly] Back at Jefferson Diner, she thanks customers for supporting local and hopes the egg prices will drop soon.

- As long as the door keeps opening, we will continue to be here.

- Thank you, Molly.

There is a silver lining to the increase in egg prices.

Small farmers are getting more sales.

While egg shelves in Massachusetts grocery stores are often empty, local farmers say customers are turning towards their small businesses.

Daniel Coates cracks the story wide open.

- As I've gotten a lot more customer calls.

- [Daniel] For Nallie Pastures in Dracut, business is booming.

(chickens clucking) Stephen Hall is overseeing the small farm for 10 years now, watching over more than 300 chickens on his property.

He says more and more customers are turning to their local farmers.

- As opposed to maybe something that's coming from Iowa, where they're having issues with bird flu.

- [Daniel] Skyrocketing prices have driven industrial eggs off local grocery store shelves.

The cause?

A worsening bird flu nationwide that's hit supply chains the hardest.

(chickens clucking) But Nallie Pastures takes a different approach, keeping roughly 46 chickens and 15 separate coops that move to new fresh grass every day, a safe way to avoid a bird flu outbreak.

- When they get infected, it just causes a huge loss.

- [Daniel] Dr. Priya Patel oversees New England Wildlife Centers.

Lately, their phones have been ringing off the hook for concerning reports of bird flu in Massachusetts.

- Sick and already dead, mostly waterfowl, so ducks, geese, swans.

- [Daniel] Just this week, two birds were found dead on a Hudson pond, a park in Brockton was shut down over bird concerns, and Plymouth cited 60 birds were found dead.

- The most cases we've seen in the shortest period of time.

- [Daniel] But it's best to avoid any bird, whether alive or dead.

Hall expects more homegrown farms like his to pop up soon, able to rely on their own chickens and raise them safely.

- And if they support us with more demand, we can grow.

- Thank you, Daniel.

During February, we celebrate Black History Month.

So I thought it was a great opportunity to share the story of one of my favorite writers, Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Born in Dayton, Ohio in 1872 to former slaves from Kentucky, Paul Laurence Dunbar began writing poems at age six.

He got inspiration from the stories his mother told him about plantation life.

Dunbar became the first African American poet to earn national distinction.

Mary highlights his incredible body of work in this week's "Know Ohio."

(upbeat music) - Roses are red, violets are blue, and I've got a great "Know Ohio" for you.

Okay, I'll admit I'm no poet, but this guy I'm about to tell you about definitely is.

And he used the medium to change opinions and break barriers.

His name is Paul Laurence Dunbar, and he was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1872 to former slaves from Kentucky.

Drawing from the stories his mother told him about plantation life, he began writing poems at age six.

And by age 14, his work was already published in a local newspaper.

And as a student at Dayton Central High School, he teamed up with a friend and classmate you've probably heard of, Orville Wright, to publish the Dayton Tattler, a short-lived newspaper aimed at the Black community in Dayton.

After high school, without the finances to continue his education, Dunbar was forced to take a job as an elevator operator.

But instead of giving up on his poetry, he worked at it even harder, using his meager salary to self-publish his first book of verse "Oak and Ivy."

And he quickly earned back his investment by selling copies of his book personally, often to people riding on his elevator.

This tenacity, combined with undeniable talent, caught the attention of both literary community and Black leaders.

With the support, Dunbar got to work publishing a dozen books of poetry, along with novels, short stories, lyrics, and a play.

Dunbar became the first African American poet to earn national distinction.

Dunbar's extraordinary life was cut short when he contracted tuberculosis and died at just 33 years old.

But his work lives on.

In fact, the title of Maya Angelou's acclaimed autobiography, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," is actually a line from a Dunbar poem.

Paul Laurence Dunbar is buried in Woodland Cemetery in Dayton, along with his lifelong friend and early collaborator, Orville Wright.

(graphic whooshing) (bouncy music) - Thank you, Mary.

We now would love to read poems from all of you.

For our "Write To Us" this week, we want you to write a poem about your family's history.

Students can use our inbox form online or send us an email to newsdepth@ideastream.org to share their poems.

I'll be able to read some of them for our next episode, and maybe I'll even write a poem myself.

Last episode, we learned about how communities are dealing with the heavy snowfall, and we wanted to hear about your community.

Let's open our inbox to see how cold weather has impacted your neighborhood.

(graphic whooshing) (bright music) (notification chiming) Annie Ruth from Sidney City Schools in Sidney, Ohio was disappointed because the weather canceled a field trip.

"The cold weather has affected our community so bad our schools got canceled for three days in a row.

Because of this, we missed our opportunity to go to Scene75 in Dayton.

We were very upset by this.

It is so cold here in Sidney that I feel I can get frostbite at any minute."

(notification chiming) Jackson from Dodge Intermediate School in Twinsburg, which by the way, our intern Aiden went to school there, loves the snow.

"The cold weather here is not impacting us this week as bad as it was the last few weeks.

However, we do have a lot of snow, and it's usually colder than 20 degrees.

We still have a lot of snow, and it hasn't melted in over a month.

I think everyone should see and feel snow at least once in their lifetime."

(notification chiming) Aniyah from Franklin Elementary in Wadsworth was excited to get snow days.

"In our area, most days it was okay to drive.

My neighborhood did not have any power outages.

Our school had two snow days, I was so excited when I found out we had two snow days."

(notification chiming) Anthony from Hilltop Elementary in Canfield said it snowed so much, it made it dangerous to drive.

"Dear 'NewsDepth,' the way the snow has affected my location is that the roads were very dangerous to drive on.

And we had three snow days in a row."

(notification chiming) And Sofia from Cassingham Elementary in Columbus said they got lots and lots of snow this month.

"Dear 'NewsDepth,' I live in Columbus so we don't get a lot of snow, but a few weeks ago we got a big amount of snow.

It was really fun, but the roads that morning were covered in snow.

My brother and I saw a lot of snow plows.

We got a snow day.

After the snow melted, we got more snow and more snow.

Since the weather is getting warmer and the snow was melted, it was fun while it lasted."

Thank you all for writing.

You know where I live, near Downtown Cleveland, the roads were pretty slick last month.

But the worst part?

It was so cold, sometimes below zero degrees Fahrenheit.

Oh, man, so cold.

All right, let's get back to the news.

Donovan Childress created the Black People Hike group back in 2020 while still in high school.

He wanted to encourage the Black community to engage with nature and break stereotypes about outdoor activities.

A stereotype is a simplified overgeneralized belief about a group of people, and stereotypes can often be negative because it can affect the way someone is treated without actually knowing them.

Shawna Khalafi has the story.

- I love hiking, but I don't see too much people of color out with me, so I decided to create Black People Hike Las Vegas.

- [Shawna] Donovan Childress created the Black People Hike group in 2020 when he was in high school.

He wanted to encourage others in the Black community to get out in nature and break stereotypes by trying new outdoor activities like hiking.

- It's actually our very first hike, ever.

(hikers chattering) Very smoothly, enjoyed every aspect of it.

- I feel like if we expose them to nature, it will definitely try to just diminish the stereotype that has been with Black people in the outdoors.

- [Shawna] The Black People Hike group started with only four people, and in just a few years, it's grown to 50.

- We actually had a hike with the NAACP and Congressman Horsford.

It just blew up from there.

Even though that my goal has been to bring people of color and see what Nevada has to offer, it's also turned into like a networking and sense of community.

- [Shawna] And it's not just hiking.

The group also organizes outings for fishing, kayaking, even skiing, all activities that Childress says you don't typically see many Black people participating.

- Skiing was really popular last year, and just to see a lot of Black skiers, I'll never think that I'll see the day of that happening, but here we are on the forefront of it.

- Thank you, Shawna.

And that brings us to our poll for the episode.

This week, we want to know, you guessed it: Do you like to hike?

Jump over to our poll page to vote.

You can choose between, yes, I love hiking and being outdoors, or not really, I'm more of an indoors person.

On our last episode, Anna shared dishes that told us about our state's history, and we asked you: What is your favorite Ohio food?

Coming in first place, we have Buckeye Chocolates.

About 67% of you said you loved the sweet treats, and I don't blame you.

And second place is Cincinnati chili.

34% of you said it was your favorite.

And we have a tie for third and fourth place because 17% of you said you love the Ballpark Mustard as well as sauerkraut balls.

And guess what?

Put them together, even more delicious.

Maybe this week's poll will inspire you to go for a walk outside, if it's not too cold out, of course.

But look out for those pesky, invasive plants.

Some of them can be harmful to humans by just touching them.

In this "Spot On Science," Dr. Emily Rauschert explains the qualities of invasive plants and how they are harmful to other plants, ecosystems, humans, and the economy.

(bouncy music) - You are being overtaken by green invaders.

No, not aliens from outer space.

I'm talking about plants from other states and even other countries.

You've probably heard of invasive species of animals that arrive here and impact the local environment, but have you ever heard of invasive plants?

Well, I invited Dr. Emily Rauschert over to explain.

She's an assistant professor of plant ecology at Cleveland State University.

I started by asking her: What is an invasive plant?

(graphic whooshing) - An invasive plant has to have two important qualities.

One is that it's not from here, so it's not from Ohio or it's not from North America.

But there are a lot of plants like that that we really value.

Like, a lot of our crops are also not originally from Ohio.

So, to be considered an invasive, it also has to be causing harm in some way.

So it might impact human health in a negative way.

It might lower the diversity of other plants because it competes with plants.

It could also cause economic damage, so we have to pay a lot of money to get rid of it or to fix problems that it creates.

And sometimes, they change the way ecosystems work as well.

- So, tell me a little bit about some of the invasive species that you brought in for us to see today.

What's this first one in the front with these pretty berries?

- So this first one in the front with the berries is a bush honeysuckle, which is an invasive shrub.

And unfortunately, once you have it, it gets spread by birds who love to come and eat the little red berries.

So, it's difficult to get rid of it once you have a lot of it because the birds will keep spreading it.

Another plant that I brought, this is the common reed, which is also called Phragmites.

And this one is of a special concern because it can grow so densely that no native plants can grow with it, and it can take over large wet areas, and really just become the only plant you see there, which can be harmful for the wildlife as well.

And so there's a lot of big projects to try and get rid of some of it so that native plants can come back.

- And another one, this one.

On the end, I recognized this when I saw it.

It's your simple English ivy.

I didn't realize this was an invasive species.

I see this in everyone's yard.

- This is a really common species for people to plant for ground cover.

And unfortunately, if it just stayed in your yard, it wouldn't be so bad.

But it can spread into forests a little bit.

And then native plants have a hard time growing through because there's so much ivy growing very densely.

And so English ivy is one of the plants that is also not native, and it's causing trouble for some native species.

- So some of that harm that we've talked about with these is it makes a lot of competition for other plants.

- [Dr. Rauschert] That's right.

- And that it can be really hard to get rid of.

And you said that there's another one that, thank you for not bringing it in, what is it called?

- Giant hogweed, yes.

- And what does giant hogweed do?

It's an invasive plant.

- So giant hogweed is a phototoxic plant, meaning it has toxic effects in the light.

So if you get the sap on your skin and then you're in the sun just a little bit, you can get a really bad burn from the sun.

So that's one of the ones I didn't wanna bring because I don't want any of us to have that problem.

But it is a human health impact species, so we work very hard to get rid of it when we see it.

- Right, that's like a reverse sunscreen.

- That's exactly right, it's just like reverse sunscreen.

- And so what can we do to kind of stop invasive plants from growing?

- So the first thing is to not plant invasive plants if you can avoid it.

There's a lot of great native nurseries, and that's the best way is to not have them here in the first place.

If you already have them maybe in your yard and you wanna get rid of them, you could try pulling them out or digging them out.

We call that mechanical control.

That works if there's a little bit, but sometimes that's a lot of effort.

And so you can use herbicides to get rid of some invasive plants, and that works better if it's a bigger area that has a problem.

We also sometimes have biological control where scientists have found insects, or sometimes it's a fungus, that will hopefully attack just the invasive plant and nothing else as a way to deal with a problem that's on a larger scale.

But you have to be careful with biological control that it really just impacts the invasive and it doesn't hurt any of our native plants or our crop plants.

(graphic whooshing) (bright music) - What would you do if you saw an empty patch of grass at your school?

Would you walk through it, walk past it, ignore it, or would you start a reforestation project and turn it into a natural habitat?

Well, this week's A+ Award winners did just that.

(graphic whooshing) A science teacher at Lakota East High School, Mark Folta, introduced the Lakota East Reforestation Project to the school's principal and athletic director back in 2017.

He asked for the grass to not be cut, to let some of the natural plants start to grow.

And once those started growing, the students were able to get their hands dirty.

They started to plant tree saplings in their school's plant nursery to later be moved out to the one acre patch of grass around Earth Day.

A plant nursery is a place where plants are grown and propagated until they're ready to be transplanted or sold.

Animals like deer and rabbits would eat a lot of the small plants and stunt their growth.

So, with donations of money and larger trees from organizations like the Taking Root Foundation and the Lakota Foundation, the students at Lakota East were able to transform the area into a full-blown natural habitat for plants and animals in the area.

This was, by no means, a small project.

Since 2017, more than 200 students from Lakota East have contributed to the reforestation efforts.

Students from the National Honor Society, Lakota Environmental Advocates Forum, AKA LEAF, the football team, and Mr. Folta's environmental science classes all joined the fray.

Kyle now graduated and attending Notre Dame, led the volunteer list for the Reforestation Project, along with Madison.

And Anne did her part by designing the Lakota East Reforestation sign, which was paid for by a grant from the Butler County Educational Service Center.

The habitat includes about 90% native trees, like Buckeye, Eastern red cedars, black cherries, and ash trees.

Although there are some invasive species, like the Bradford pear, that gives the students more opportunity to learn and problem-solve.

Moving forward, Mr. Folta and his students would like to limit the number of invasive species at a pollinator garden and plant some sunflowers.

Ohio has lost more than 95% of its native forests, but students at Lakota East are making a change and learning while doing it.

Like Mr. Folta said, they're touching the soil and the soul.

Great job to this week's A+ Award winners.

And special thanks to our intern Aiden for producing that A+ segment.

Thank you, Aiden.

We're almost out of time for this week's episode, but we can't forget about NewsHound.

Let's see what he has found for this week's "Petting Zoo."

(jaunty music) (NewsHound barking) Hey, there, NewsHound.

So you've been our Cuteness Correspondent for a little while now, but we don't know you that well.

Can you tell us, I don't know, what's your favorite snack?

Cheese?

Oh, I like cheese, too.

So, what story do you have for us today?

Wow, a story about the city of Tucson, Arizona employing a team of goats to clear vegetation at a wetlands park.

To learn more about those hardworking goats, click the Petting Zoo button on our website.

(graphic whooshing) (bright music) That's a fun story.

Thank you, NewsHound.

Well, that's all the time we have for today, but you can keep the conversation going, and there are plenty of ways for you to stay in touch with us.

You can send us a letter.

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

ZIP code here, 44115.

And you can email us at newsdepth@ideastream.org.

Plus, you can catch all of our special segments on YouTube.

Hit subscribe if you're old enough so you don't miss out on any of our new videos.

Thank you for joining us, I'm Gabriel Kramer.

We'll see you right back here next week.

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

(bright upbeat music) (ethereal music)