Vigils honor Sonya Massey as calls for justice grow | The Excerpt

On Monday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Protests and vigils continued around the country over the weekend in remembrance of Sonya Massey. The Black woman was shot and killed by a white sheriff's deputy in her Illinois home earlier this month. Venezuela's electoral authority said overnight that Nicolas Maduro won a third term, despite multiple exit polls pointing to an opposition win. USA TODAY Education and Breaking News Reporter Zach Schermele discusses how many teachers are ready to get back in the classroom after a historic summer of current events. Get ready for Day 3 at the Paris Olympics. USA TODAY Personal Finance Reporter Daniel de Visé talks about why young investors are shifting away from stocks. The platypus is in trouble. But researchers have a plan to help.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Monday, July 29th, 2024. This is The Excerpt.

Today, weekend vigils honored Sonya Massey as calls for justice grow. Plus, the latest from Venezuela's presidential election. And we hear how history teachers are eager to get back in the classroom after this historic political summer.

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Protests and vigils continued around the country yesterday in remembrance of Sonya Massey, a Black woman whose fatal shooting by a white sheriff's deputy in her Illinois home has drawn national outrage. Controversy surrounding the shooting intensified after the release last week of a body camera video that captured the July 6th incident. Activists declared Sunday a national day of mourning for Massey and gatherings were planned in New York, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Massey's home of Springfield, and elsewhere.

Earlier this month, Sangamon County Sheriff's Deputy Sean P. Grayson was fired and charged with first degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, and official misconduct in Massey's death. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond. The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police has filed a grievance, saying Grayson was fired without just cause. The Massey family's lawyer, Ben Crump, said Massey had an encounter with police over a mental health issue the day before the shooting. Crump said Massey had driven herself to a hospital seeking help, but returned home later that day. A warning, the following details are graphic.

An autopsy revealed she was killed by a bullet that entered under her left eye. Crump said, "She needed a helping hand, not a bullet to the face." Massey, a 36-year-old mother of two, on the day of her death called 911 to report a possible intruder in her home. Body cam footage from the scene shows Grayson and another responding deputy speaking calmly with Massey outside the home before entering. Inside, in the footage, Grayson can be heard yelling at Massey over moving a pot of boiling water from the stove to the sink. He then threatens to shoot her in the face and screams to her to drop the pot. The video then shows Massey ducking before Grayson fires at her three times. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his opposition rival, Edmundo Gonzalez, both claimed victory early this morning in the country's presidential election. Venezuela's Electoral Authority said that Maduro had won a third term with 51% of the vote, but opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Gonzalez had won 70% of the vote and that multiple independent exit polls clearly showed his victory. She herself was previously disqualified, but has traveled across the country to support the opposition and has largely been the star of the campaign. For his part, Gonzalez, a 74-year-old ex-diplomat, said he was not calling for supporters to take to the streets or commit any acts of violence.

A poll from Medicine Research, known for its polling of US elections, had predicted in an exit poll that Gonzalez would win 65% of the vote while Maduro would win 31%. Gonzalez won backing even from some former supporters of the ruling party, but the opposition and observers raised questions beforehand about whether the vote would be fair, citing decisions by electoral officials and the arrests of opposition staff. Stateside, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the US had "serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people."

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A busy summer of political news has teachers itching for class to start this fall. I spoke with USA TODAY Breaking News and Education reporter, Zach Schermele for more.

Zach, thanks for making the time as always.

Zach Schermele:

Hey, Taylor. Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So Zach, what are you hearing from teachers in this historic moment?

Zach Schermele:

Honestly, Taylor, this was such a fun story to report out. You know me and that I'm a nerd about education. So as an education reporter, anytime I get to spend the whole day just talking to teachers, it makes me love my job. Stephen Colbert joked the other night on his late night talk show that students across the country are going to be spending whole semesters on this past month on July of 2024. Of course he was being facetious, but honestly, he's not too far off.

Think about it. We had an assassination attempt on a former President after Donald Trump was nearly killed at a rally in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago. Eight days after that, President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the race, something that hasn't happened in more than half a century. And then Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who, if elected, would be the first woman and woman of color to serve in that job.

Taylor, I cover a lot of people in Washington and a lot of students in classrooms outside of Washington, and I can tell you that the dialogues those students have with each other and with their teachers are usually a lot more constructive. So I know as soon as students get back on campus this fall, there are going to be some fascinating conversations that are happening across the country. And teachers have told me they've been getting tons of texts and emails from students. One of the teachers I spoke to even said she's keeping a notepad next to her bed so she can jot down new ideas for lesson plans, that they come to her in the middle of the night.

Taylor Wilson:

Wow. And you also spoke with a teacher, Benjamin, a civics and government teacher in Tennessee. How's he approaching this coming school year after, really, the summer, as you say, of massive political news?

Zach Schermele:

Yeah. So Ben said something to me that I thought was hilarious. I'll just read the quote here, Taylor. He said, "I'm not going to do any in-depth analysis of coconut trees." Of course, that was a reference to that viral clip we've probably all seen of the Vice President Kamala Harris talking about a family anecdote that has spread like wildfire on social media in recent weeks here.

Ben, like many high school government and history teachers said he takes about 10 to 15 minutes at the beginning of every class to discuss what's making news. He's anticipating a lot of questions about Kamala Harris memes this fall, and he looks forward to those, but as often as he can, he continues to try to remind his students that the most important political news is not really about what happens in the nation's Capitol. It's in their own backyards; city commissions, county commissions, school boards, that type of stuff.

Taylor Wilson:

So it seems like teachers are pretty excited to get the school year underway. But why do some history teachers have mixed feelings here?

Zach Schermele:

I think many of them, like you and me, Taylor, are news junkies. So they're excited to delve into debates with their students, and some actually think the proliferation of those political memes on social media will actually translate into more interest in the classroom from students. But the specter of a really divisive presidential election has also heightened their resolve to keep their personal views to themselves. And whether they'll actually have the ability to talk about current events in the classroom is a dynamic that reflects broader debates in schools about the merits of standardized testing and having a flexible curriculum so there's space to have those conversations.

Taylor Wilson:

Do teachers actually have the time and the resources, Zach, to openly talk about all these events? I mean, what are some of the regional or local constraints?

Zach Schermele:

There's always been this debate in history classes in particular about how much time teachers and students should be spending talking about current events versus following more of a chronological timeline. And as the cost of college has soared in this country, standardized tests like the AP or IB exams, SAT 2 subject tests, if you're a high school student or a parent, you've probably heard of those things; these exams have become more important in the eyes of a lot of families. Because if you take them and you get a good score, you can get college credit at a fraction of the price, and that's even more the case if you don't have dual credit programs near you which allow high school students to take classes through local colleges.

So when teachers are trying to teach to a test, that strategy doesn't always leave a lot of room for them to talk about what's happening in the news. And that's not to mention, Taylor, the fact that there's a really big movement in this country for parents, largely conservative ones, to exert more control over their children's educations. And in this social media age, it's very easy for a student to take a video of a teacher on their phone and post that video to social media and have it taken out of context and snowball.

Those dynamics don't exactly incentivize teachers to get into current events discussions, I don't think, but that's what school is for. We have to remember there are a lot of students who can't have those types of conversations at home, and the education system is of course supposed to equip them, young people, to become informed voters.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. The school year is right around the corner. Zach Schermele covers education and breaking news for USA TODAY. Thanks, Zach.

Zach Schermele:

Thanks, Taylor.

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Taylor Wilson:

Today marks the third full day of the Olympic Games in Paris, and it's another jam-packed schedule. The US men's gymnastics team will compete in the team final. The Olympic swimming schedule today features five finals, with US backstroke specialist, Ryan Murphy, and breaststroker, Lilly King highlighting the lineup. And the US women's basketball team plays for the first time at the 2024 Games facing Japan. Overall, at least seven US squads are competing across six team sports. Meanwhile, Olympic organizers canceled triathlon training for the swimming leg for the second day in a row today because of Seine River pollution levels. But they said they were confident medal events would be held this week.

If you're still wondering how to watch the Games, Peacock is streaming every sport and event live as it unfolds, while NBC, USA Network, CNBC and E are carrying various live events and replays throughout the day. And you can follow along with our extensive coverage on usatoday.com.

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Wealthy millennials are rejecting stocks for alternative investments. I spoke with USA TODAY Personal Finance reporter, Daniel de Visé to learn more.

Daniel, how are you, sir?

Daniel de Visé:

I am well. How are you?

Taylor Wilson:

Good, good. Thanks for hopping back on The Excerpt. So I want to just start here. What did this study find about younger investors and their views towards stocks?

Daniel de Visé:

I'm always fascinated when a survey finds really different things with different groups. And this was rich people, people with $3 million in investible assets, and they just gave wildly different answers to the question of, what are your top five things you want to invest in? The older people, and that would be I think 45 and over, it's stocks, stocks, stocks and more stocks. That's what they're interested in. The younger people, millennials and Gen Z, it was everything but stocks. What they prioritized as their top investments are alternative things; crypto, private equity, your own personal company, if you have one, or brand, things like that. Basically, anything other than traditional bread and butter investments.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. So why are wealthy millennials rejecting stocks in this way and going to some of these alternates?

Daniel de Visé:

I think part of it is that millennials came up in the era of the Great Recession, and so their first experience probably in college or out of college was watching the stock market crash. So maybe they don't have all that much faith in the stock market. There's other stuff at work here. If you're a millennial, somebody told me this, who has a bunch of millennial employees, everybody knows somebody who's a crypto millionaire. And so you think and you've long thought that crypto is a pathway to great financial wealth. And basically, these alternative investments hold the promise of out-competing the stock market, and I think these young people are transfixed with that idea.

Taylor Wilson:

You mentioned crypto. I think a lot of folks do see crypto as a risky investment. How do younger and older investors really differ on what constitutes a risky investment in general?

Daniel de Visé:

Yeah. I mean, this is a way back machine question, because you have to go back to when crypto was new, which was around 2009, 2010. At that point, there was a small group of mostly young, mostly male investors who bought crypto for pennies, and those people are now very, very wealthy. It's just like the gang that was in Silicon Valley at the very beginning of Google or whatever and bought the first stock shares. And so, again, if you're in that generation, you know people who got very wealthy off of crypto.

And by contrast, the older folks didn't even begin to understand how to buy crypto. I think it was a native talent for younger people. They understood crypto implicitly; it's their generation. It was kind of like their birthright. The older people just didn't get it, didn't do it. I wouldn't know how to buy crypto if you paid me to, and I'm an older person.

Taylor Wilson:

Well, Daniel, of course, media habits also tend to be different across ages. How do these age groups differ when it comes to where they get their investing information?

Daniel de Visé:

It's very different. The older gang, which again would be Gen Xers, like me, and Boomers, it's old legacy media; USA TODAY, newspapers and their websites, and television. It's funny, television doesn't even sound like a thing anymore; but it is. The younger folk, it's everything but. It's podcasts, it's social media, it is online stuff, but I'm guessing different online stuff; things like Reddit and Flipboard and that. So it's just a different bunch of sources, and young people get pitched things. One of my sources said his millennial employee gets stuff in, I guess this is emails, saying you can own a laundromat. I don't get those pitches.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Interesting stuff. Daniel de Visé covers personal finance for USA TODAY. Thanks, Daniel.

Daniel de Visé:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

The platypus is struggling to survive. That's why Australia and the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance have set up a new breeding center to figure out how to help this unique, strange looking creature breed in captivity. Hendrik Nollens, Vice President of Wildlife Health with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, said the population is believed to be at about 50% of what it once was. Australia's Taronga Western Plains Zoo, with help from San Diego, this month created a new rescue and breeding center to figure out how to help the creatures breed in captivity. The plan began after Australia's bushfires in 2019 and 2020 when the Taronga Zoo was asked to rescue platypuses caught in the fires. You can read more about the project with a link in today's show notes.

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And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods. And if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.