WH: UFOs likely research or commercial, Haley kicks off presidential run: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Unidentified flying objects might have been research or commercial balloons
The White House says that unidentified flying objects might have been research or commercial balloons. Plus, USA TODAY Education Reporter Kayla Jimenez looks at the challenges to get healthy lunches into schools, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is running for president, residents in an Ohio town remain concerned about toxic chemicals after a train derailment, and Senior Research Scientist Margo Bergman explains the connection between toys and nostalgia.
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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. 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.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Wednesday, the 15th of February 2023. Today, what US officials are now saying about the latest unidentified objects they shot down. Plus the challenge to get healthy lunches into schools, and a new candidate has entered the Republican presidential field.
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The three unidentified flying objects shot down from North American airspace might turn out to be balloons used for research or commercial purposes that posed no direct threat to the United States. That's what White House spokesman John Kirby said yesterday. No one has come forward to accept responsibility, and there are still a number of unanswered questions. Making things more complicated, the US has not yet retrieved debris from the objects shot down over Alaska, Canada's Yukon territory, and in US airspace over Lake Huron, because each is in a remote area. Meanwhile, Kirby said, the US has not seen any indication that points directly to the recent objects being part of China's spy program. The US still says the object it shot down about a week before, off the South Carolina coast, was a Chinese spy balloon.
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New federal rules proposing healthier food in school lunches are running into challenges from the schools themselves. Many public schools say they just don't have the staff or resources to deal with the changes. I learned more from USA TODAY Education Reporter Kayla Jimenez. Kayla, thanks for hopping on the podcast.
Kayla Jimenez:
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
There are new proposed federal rules pushing for less sugar and less salt in the food that's served at public schools. What are these changes proposing specifically?
Kayla Jimenez:
Some of those changes include making sure that sugar is only 10% of calories in a week, reducing salt intake. There could be a possibility of reducing flavored milk in younger grades. So there's a variety of changes that they're proposing to make school lunches healthier, that they say align with the latest nutrition science.
Taylor Wilson:
Kayla, you write in your piece that this actually presents a pretty big challenge for a lot of public schools and school districts around the country. What kinds of challenges are we talking about?
Kayla Jimenez:
Yeah, I think everyone agrees that we want the nation's kids to be healthier, but the schools are reeling from staffing challenges and even supply shortages. They're saying they can't access even ingredients that don't meet the current standards by the USDA. And a recent School Nutrition Association survey almost estimated about 90% are facing those shortages and staffing issues. So there's this argument that if they're going to be able to make healthier lunches, they're going to need to do more scratch cooking and they don't have the staff or supplies to do that.
Taylor Wilson:
Are there any solutions here to try to get schools on board?
Kayla Jimenez:
So I did talk to someone from the USDA yesterday and she had emphasized that it's going to be a rollout. The proposed changes could go to 2029, so they're saying we're giving schools this time. I have heard from schools that they're worried that unless they get more financial investment from the government, it's going to be hard to meet that need.
Taylor Wilson:
What do health experts and advocates say about why changes like these are needed?
Kayla Jimenez:
To keep up with the latest nutrition science is what they've been emphasizing, decreasing obesity rates in kids, and getting everyone up to board with the healthiest foods. I talked to Lisa Johnson, who's a director of food service in Washington, and she said she'd loved to do that, but sometimes they order apples and they have that on the menu and then they don't come that day.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Kayla Jimenez covers education for USA TODAY. Kayla, thanks so much.
Kayla Jimenez:
Thank you.
♦Taylor Wilson:
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has launched her bid for president.
Nikki Haley:
You should know this about me. I don't put up with bullies, and when you kick back, it hurts them more if you're wearing heels. I'm Nikki Haley, and I'm running for president.
Taylor Wilson:
The move comes after Haley teased it for weeks. The former UN ambassador used the video on her Twitter feed to outline her biography, and to attack President Joe Biden and Democrats. She said nothing about former President Donald Trump, at least not explicitly, but Haley's comment in the video about bullies may have been a message to him. Her declaration makes her the first major Republican candidate to challenge him for the 2024 Republican nomination. Trump and his allies have stressed, in recent weeks, that she once said she would not seek the presidency if Trump did. Other prominent Republicans are also considering runs at the White House, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
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Officials in Ohio said yesterday that toxic chemicals released last week, after a train derailment have affected local air and water while entering the Ohio River. But Tiffany Cavalack, Chief of the Division of Surface Water at the EPA, said toxicity levels remain low.
Tiffany Cavalack:
The spill did flow to the Ohio River during that initial slug, but the Ohio River is very large and it's a water body that's able to dilute the pollutants pretty quickly. We're seeing very low levels of contaminants, and so all of the treatment being done at those water systems, take out any contamination before it finished water.
Taylor Wilson:
No one was injured when about 50 train cars derailed in East Palestine, Ohio on February 3rd. But amid fears of a potential explosion, officials evacuated the area and intentionally released toxic vinyl chloride from the train. There will be a town hall meeting tonight in East Palestine to address lingering questions. Since the incident, several lawsuits are pending against rail operator Norfolk Southern. The company announced this week that it was creating a $1 million charitable fund to help the community.
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Toys and nostalgia. Whether it's Legos, Barbies, a pet rock or Barney, many of us associate toys and playing with childhood, and that can bring a wave of memories. Margo Bergman is a senior research scientist and part-time professor at the University of Washington at Tacoma. She says that nostalgia is all in the science.
Margo Bergman:
We still haven't figured it out completely, exactly what mechanism kind of catches the attention. But psychologists, neurologists, neuroscientists, have all been kind of working on it. It seems to be some combination of something that is simple enough to capture the attention of whatever age group is interested in it, but has enough depth, or something interesting and hooky, that it gets the parents interested in buying it.
Taylor Wilson:
This idea is especially back at the forefront after it was announced that Barney is coming back with an animated reboot. Margo says Barney in particular highlights this idea of nostalgia.
Margo Bergman:
Barney, caught you on different levels, it caught you on different senses. So there was the music aspect, there was the visual aspect. It was very simple, but eye-catching with lots of bright colors. You could sing the song, small children love repetition. That's something that, psychologically they've shown, is that children love anything that can repeat.
Taylor Wilson:
And she said the timing makes sense because kids who once loved Barney have grown up and now have the dollars to spend on that nostalgia.
Margo Bergman:
What's behind all reboots is a sense of nostalgia, as they said, the search for more money. I think it's always kind of whoever, somebody has thought, this was something I remembered in my childhood that was really good, maybe that they're looking at the programs that are out there today and they're seeing that they're maybe too complicated, or that they're seeing a need for something that's that level. There's nothing for that age group that's just right, and so they're looking for that reminiscence of what they had.
The people that were the target age group for Barney are getting into the decision making groups. They're the ones that are in their 30s and 40s now, and they're the ones out there making the decisions like, "Hey, I liked this. Why wouldn't we want to try to make this happen again?"
Taylor Wilson:
Thanks to USA TODAY Video Producer Patrick Colson-Price, and thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every morning right here, wherever you're listening right now. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WH: UFOs likely 'commercial', Haley begins WH bid: 5 Things podcast
