The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.4 CRUEL & UNUSUAL?! Louisiana Wants to Chop Convicts' Balls Off, Messi v Logan Paul, Demi Lovato &

Episode Date: June 4, 2024

Head to https://tryfum.com/defranco and use code DEFRANCO  to get a free gift with your Journey Pack!  Today. Beam’s Dream is clinically shown to improve sleep. Click https://shopbeam.com/defranco and use code DEFRANCO to get up to 35% off. New 3-Packs & Cyber Lime Collections NOW LIVE @ https://BeautifulBastard.com ==== ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩- – 00:00 - Louisiana Lawmakers Approve Castration Bill 02:32 - Gypsy Rose Sues Blogger, Demi Lovato Talks Mental Health, Lionel Messi vs Prime 05:43 - InfoWars to Remain Up and Running (For Now) 07:15 - Canadian Youtuber Accused of Sedition in Trinidad and Tobago 10:27 - Sponsored by FUM 11:28 - Far-Right Paper The Epoch Times Indicted on $67M Money Laundering Scheme 13:50 - Program Allows Lawmakers to Expense Millions in Travel Costs Without Receipts 17:25 - Biden Signs Order to Temporarily Seal Southern Border, Cut Off Asylum Protections  19:32 - Sponsored by Beam 20:38 - FL Homeowners Reject Offer to Restore Beach Erosion For Public Access 22:58 - Special Education Teacher Shortage Disrupts Classrooms  ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Jared Paolino Associate Producer on Special Education: Maddie Crichton ———————————— #DeFranco #AlexJones #DemiLovato ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show. You daily dive into the news. I'm just going to be clear right at the top here. There might be several points in today's show where you're like, is Phil high? No, I'm not. I am. I'm just currently dealing with a 100, 203 degree fever rather than take the time off

to rest and to recover. I work through it to have a false sense of superiority over others. With that said, I'm just going to hit you with that chimp, and we're going to jump into the news. This is a news show. Louisiana may be about to become the first state to start chopping people's balls off as a punishment. Right, and that's thanks to a new controversial bill sitting on the governor's desk as we speak. Because not only Louisiana, but also Texas, Florida, and California currently permit chemical castration as a punishment for sexual crimes against children, which, you know, involves medication that stops the production of

sex hormones to lower a person's libido. The key thing there being it is generally impermanent. Of course, surgical castration entails lopping off your testicles or yanking out your ovaries, which is most certainly permanent. And that's what Louisiana lawmakers want to provide as an option for judges doing sentencing. But they're also throwing in a few caveats to make it a teeny bit less extreme. Like, for example, limiting the punishment to cases where the victim is under the age of 13, requiring a court-appointed medical expert to agree that the offender is fit for a surgical procedure, and requiring that the procedure be performed while they're still in detention.

Also, if one of these convicted people, they refuse to let the state of Louisiana near their balls. It's not like men in black suits are going to hold you down and whip out the bone salt. Instead, what would happen is you would face non-compliance charges that carry up to five extra years in prison. The key thing is that this bill passed both the House and the Senate overwhelmingly, with most opposition coming from Democrats. So notably, the bill itself was actually sponsored by a Democratic senator, with it now landing in front of Governor Jeff Landry, who came into office in January as a tough-on-crime Republican. Now, as far as the arguments for and against here, the obvious point in favor is that this would theoretically prevent offenders from re-offending.

Also, there's the aspect of retribution, which one lawmaker put forward. I know the surgical castration seems excessive. I view the same for the 5-year-old, for the 10-year-old, for the 12-year-old. But on the other side, you have lots of people slamming the bill, pointing out that there's always the possibility that you could castrate someone who's innocent. And in fact, Louisiana does have an unusually high number of wrongful convictions. In addition to that, there's also the argument that even if a person is guilty, castration is both cruel and unusual, a violation of a person's rights.

The critics also saying there's not a whole lot of evidence pointing one way or the other to the policy's actual efficacy. With all that said, I gotta now pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this? Are you for it? Are you against it? Why, why not? And then let's break down some interesting quickie news,

starting with Gypsy Rose Blanchard, because she and her family are actually suing a true crime blogger for fraud and defamation. Because according to Rolling Stone, Gypsy Rose and her family struck a life rights deal with a creator by the name of April Johns in 2017, back when Gypsy was still in prison for her role in her mother's murder. April reportedly promising to produce projects on Gypsy's behalf through her production company, Mad Ginger Entertainment. So the family gave her tons

of access to documents, interviews, photos, records, the whole lot. But by 2019, they didn't renew the contract, saying that April had failed to secure any media projects. Now the lawsuit claims that after this, she still produced content about Gypsy online, even going on to discuss her fallout with the family and accusing them of hiding things. With it then further alleging that she posted some of the materials that the Blanchard family gave her, like cell phone numbers and crime scene photos, including some of Gypsy's mother's dead body. And the Daily Beast adding that the suit claims that she made repeated accusations that the Blanchard family was stalking her and encouraging others to do the same, though she had no evidence. Also saying

that she made disparaging posts online, like one that read, call it obsession. Fine. I'm obsessed with the fact a murderer and her lying con artist stepmother are conning the world one paycheck at a time. We're gonna have to wait to see what happens there. But then in other news, you had Demi Lovato opening up and shedding light on some of her mental health battles. Demi speaking at a benefit for the Center for Youth Mental Health in New York Presbyterian last night, and there she revealed she's been to inpatient treatment five times. With People Magazine reporting, Demi said, every single time I walked back into a treatment center, I felt defeated, but also saying that she found a light at the end of the tunnel and adding, I think the glimmer of hope was when I started

putting in the work and I started to, whether it was work, a program, or talk to my treatment team and build relationships there. And adding that by the fifth time she went into care, she felt like she had hit rock bottom, but that it also took treatment to understand that this wasn't her whole identity. I think I just knew what I needed to do, which was to live a life in recovery. And that was something that I pushed off for so long. It wasn't until I went into treatment for the first time that I realized this isn't who I am. It's just a part of what makes me me. And I mentioned this because I do think that it serves as a reminder

that even if you feel alone, you're not. There are many paths ahead of you. They are well-traveled paths. And the feeling of failure, it doesn't have to be the destination, but rather something that just happens along your path. Because it's not game over until it's game over, right? There are a lot of twisty turns that happen in life.

But then the final bit of quickie news involves celebrity and business news. And specifically, we're talking about Logan Paul versus Lionel Messi. Right in that, because Messi just launched a new sports drink called Mass Plus by Messi. With him saying that he launched the product because I wanted a drink that I could share and enjoy with my family, friends, and teammates. With a report from CNN saying that he made it in partnership with White Claw's parent company and that it'll be available in Miami before a wider rollout in July. The outlet noting that it's a challenging market to enter,

and it obviously poses major competition for Logan Paul and KSI's Prime. Though also there we've seen some Prime fans accusing Messi of ripping off Prime, saying the bottles for his drink look just like Prime's. KSI even chiming in on the comparisons, replying to a tweet about the drink by saying it looks familiar. To them then calling Cristiano Ronaldo the goat on his Instagram story, which some saw as an apparent shot at Messi's goat status. Though I will say I'm very interested to see how this is going to play out. Because while obviously Logan Paul and KSI are very popular, Prime is incredibly popular,

Messi, I mean, he's massive on a completely different scale. He's the second most followed person in the world on Instagram. His reach is massive. And it'll be interesting to see how the rollout of this drink plays out. And then Infoowars is not shutting down, at least for now. Because over the last weekend, you may have seen headlines about how Alex Jones was claiming that Infowars might go to dust in 48 hours, holding emergency broadcasts, quite literally crying about it. But yesterday, a judge said that he could keep operating for the next two weeks until it's decided if his assets should be liquidated. Also, if you need a quick refresher as far as like how we got here, Jones was actually ordered to pay $1.5 billion to the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims after he spread vile conspiracies claiming that it was a hoax, leading to the parents of dead children getting harassed.

With him and his company Free Speech Systems then filing for bankruptcy reorganization. But on Sunday, the Sandy Hook families filed a motion to have Free Speech Systems liquidated, though the judge said that it won't be decided on until June 14th. According to the Associated Press, the company can keep the payroll and other expenses going until then. So this is a temporary win for Alex Jones. What is coming is, like I mentioned, his ranting about bankruptcy going incredibly viral. Them saying the deep state, the feds, you name it, are after him. At the end of the day, we're going to beat these people. I'm not trying to be dramatic here, but it's been a hard fight. These people hate our children.

Right, and that clip actually sparking a ton of outrage from people who had just no sympathy for him and his tears. Some sharing the names and faces of the murdered kids that he used to fuel political conspiracies. Others writing things like, I literally wish the pain of the Sandy Hook parents a thousandfold on him from now until the rest of time. I'm happy to see Alex Jones so broken after terrorizing victims in the neighboring community to me. A Sandy Hook victim's father took his own life in 2019 because he was overcome with grief while this piece of shit made money by terrorizing them and claiming the shooting was fake. And then in big international news, a controversy involving a Canadian YouTuber has gripped the small Caribbean nation of Trinidad

and Tobago, right? And this is a controversy that's shedding light on the pervasive violence that has plagued the country for so many years. So at the center of this, you have a YouTuber by the name of Christopher Arthur Hughes. He's a travel vlogger who goes by the name Chris Must List. And he's especially known for traveling to what are commonly considered some of the most dangerous places on earth,

or at least in a specific country, whether it's Haiti, South Sudan, or the roughest neighborhoods of Atlanta. And for the past few weeks, he's been in Trinidad and Tobago, with him yesterday seeing a site that not many visitors to the country get to see, the inside of a courtroom. And he was actually there for a bail hearing in connection to sedition charges levied against him by the government. With that specifically having to do with videos shared on his YouTube channel featuring, according to police, individuals

professing to be gang members, advocating criminal activities, and using threatening language. And with that, these videos, which have now been deleted from YouTube, do show Hughes in areas that local authorities consider hotspots due to high crime rates. With in fact, some videos showing Hughes speaking with men brandishing handguns and assault rifles. Real thing, not no play thing. Hard copper in your skin. You know we always have it, we out on all the time. And so with that, Hughes made bail, which was set at 100,000 Trinidad and Tobago dollars,

which is a little less than 15,000 US. With him then taking to social media last night to celebrate his release, saying, Freedom at last. I'm free on bail. Thank you for all the love and support from my subscribers around the globe. I love you all. I appreciate you all. But of course, it's not total freedom. He's required to stay in Trinidad and Tobago until further advised. And if he hasn't already, he'll have to hand over his passport to the Canadian High Commission. With from here, prosecutors having a couple of different options. Where the worst case scenario for Hughes would be a fine and five years in prison. But notably with that, there's opposition not only from Hughes' family and followers who have started a petition,

but also from people inside the government. With that including one of the country's senators, David Nikid, who's part of the country's main opposition party. He actually defended Hughes, saying that the YouTuber simply was giving a voice to young people in the ghetto. People that he says have just been neglected by the government. Christmas list, who provided an ear to people that the PNM has discarded. You have great food in our country, you see YouTubers coming in talking about food content. You have great tourism in our country like Maldives, you see people coming talking about tourism. You have horrific crime, graphic crime coming in our

country. You'll have YouTubers coming in. That is the nature of the world. Instead of, as one newspaper has put it, instead of shooting the messenger, get your bloody job done. And with that, there's no doubt that crime and gang violence is a major national issue in Trinidad and Tobago. It's actually the country with the sixth highest crime rate in the world and notably to his credit, Hughes' videos have come at the issue through multiple different angles and primarily featured voices of people in various Trinidadian communities rather than his own. In this one, for example, he's joining local activists in a peace walk demanding an end to gang violence. We are tired that we cannot come outside. Our kids cannot play in the yards anymore. We can't just come outside after certain hours, even in broad daylight. You know, they are shooting people.

They are killing people. It's like a plague. It's touching almost every household in the communities. And of course, Hughes' content can be controversial as well. But whether or not you like his videos is a different question from whether he should be in jail or not. But for now, we're going to have to wait to see what happens, how this actually plays out. And in the meantime, I'd love to know your thoughts. And then you've heard me talk about how good habits can take time, but with fume, it can at least be fun and not suck so much. And that's because fume, the fantastic sponsor

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that the paper made two changes that transformed it into one of the country's most powerful digital publishers. First, it embraced Donald Trump, right, publishing more articles explicitly supporting Trump and criticizing his opponents. And in fact, according to NBC News, spending more than $1.5 million

on 11,000 pro-Trump advertisements in just a six-month period. And secondly, it became a prominent spreader of right-wing conspiracy theories on social media, and especially on Facebook. The lies shared, including that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election, that COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous, and even one theory that global elites want people to eat bugs. So with that, the Epoch Times has grown massively. And according to its website, it now operates in 35 countries and in 22 languages. And in fact, in 2020, its total revenue increased to $71 million from just $15 million a year before, which is a 373% increase.

And coincidentally, by which I mean possibly not coincidentally at all, that was around the same time this alleged money laundering scheme began. And actually with that, the DOJ indictment is specifically against the organization's chief financial officer, Wei Dong Guan, who also goes by Bill. According to the indictment, when Banks asked Bill about the sudden increase in revenue, he lied, claiming that the increase in funds came from donations. But then, in 2022, he wrote a letter addressed to a congressional office falsely stating donations constitute an insignificant portion of the newspaper's overall revenue. And these lies helped the DOJ uncover what it's calling a sprawling transnational scheme to launder at least approximately $67 million of illegally obtained

funds. And specifically, under Bill's management, employees used a cryptocurrency platform to buy millions of dollars worth of prepaid debit cards. We're talking debit cards that have been loaded up with money from fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits or other illegal means. And then they used stolen identities to open additional financial accounts, which they then used to transfer the funds to bank accounts associated with the media company. These were sometimes laundered through Guan's personal accounts. So at the end of all that, Guan got charged with one count of conspiring to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and two counts of bank fraud, each of

which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. And also with his, Bill got arrested yesterday, though he's pleaded not guilty. So we're gonna have to wait to see what happens, though the Epoch Times, for its part, has said that it intends to and will fully cooperate with any investigation dealing with the allegations against Bill and saying that it has suspended him while the case plays out. And then imagine that you went on a work trip or you stayed at a hotel and you got dinner and it cost you a good amount of money. So you wanted to have your job reimburse you. When your office asks for receipts from your trip to prove how much money you spent, you say, ah, shit, I don't, I don't have any. I forgot to ask.

And they respond, you know what, don't worry about it. Just tell me what you spent and I'll give that to you. Well, that might seem like a totally absurd and impossible scenario in the real world, but that is literally exactly what's happening with lawmakers in Congress. Except with them, it's the American taxpayers like you and me who are footing the bill.

And now there's evidence that indicates that at least one member may have abused that system in violation of federal law. Because that's what was revealed in this new report from the Washington Post, which found that 300 House members were reimbursed at least $5.2 million for food and lodging while in business in D.C. last year under a new program, a program that notably allows them to expense these items using taxpayer dollars without ever providing a single receipt. But that program set up by a House panel last year in order to make it easier for lawmakers to cover the cost of maintaining separate homes in D.C. in the districts they

represent. With the idea here being that these reimbursements would be an alternative to raising the representative salaries. Because you know, while Congress members make double the median household income at $174,000 a year, they're usually required to have two households, including in D.C., which is stupid expensive. With many members also spending a lot of money frequently commuting back and forth large distances. You know, raising your own salary, not the best look, which is why they haven't actually done it in 15 years since 2009. But still, there are plenty of groups that argue there are many benefits to just increasing lawmakers' salaries to cover the costs that they need. Like one, attracting more people to public service, and two, discouraging corruption. Or maybe also

three, discouraging super sketchy programs that experts say are clearly ripe for abuse. With some even describing it as a ridiculous loophole that makes it almost impossible to tell what's a legitimate payment. Now, notably here, there are certain restrictions for what Congress members can be reimbursed for. They can't expense principal or interest on their mortgages on their D.C. homes. Though they can have taxpayers cover their taxes, insurance, maintenance, and utilities. They can also only get reimbursement for days that they're actually working or flying to D.C. You know, they aren't allowed to ask for more than their actual expense, which I feel should go without saying. But they also don't have to abide by recommended spending caps, so reimbursements have varied wildly among lawmakers. And according to the Post,

out of 435 voting members of the House, 319 received some kind of reimbursement last year, with that split pretty evenly between the parties, 153 Democrats and 166 Republicans expensing food and lodging. Though notably, the number one top spender was everyone's favorite Florida man, Matt Gaetz, with him getting reimbursed for nearly $30,000 in lodging expenses and over $10,000 for food just last year alone. Beyond that, we saw some representatives who owned houses in the D.C. area requesting way higher reimbursements than other members who had similarly priced homes, with this including Republican Nancy Mace and Democrat Eric Swalwell. With Swalwell getting nearly $19,000 for lodging expenses over 11 months,

while Mace was reimbursed $19,395 over a nine-month period, right, an average of over $2,000 a month. And that's actually super significant here, because sources told The Post that Mace has actually been informed by people involved with her office finances that she couldn't claim more than around $1,800 a month in expenses. With one source even showing the outlet a document that calculated her monthly expenses at $1,726. The former staffer has claimed that she instructed her staff to try and get the maximum reimbursement possible for each day that the house was in session, regardless of her actual expenses.

And that's a huge deal because experts say that misusing taxpayer funds under the member's allowance could amount to a violation of federal law, with violators facing potential corruption charges. Now, Mace, for her part, has denied the allegations, though she also refused to answer specific questions about explaining them in detail, with her office insisting that she followed the reimbursement rule as a claim that was also echoed by spokespeople for Gates and Swalwell. But we also end up kind of just having to take their word for it,

because they don't need to provide receipts. Which, I mean, for all accounting purposes, is fucking insane. And then Biden just did a complete 180 on immigration, right? Because just today, the president officially signed a sweeping immigration order that will effectively allow him to temporarily shut down the Southern border and cut off longstanding protections for people seeking asylum. And according to a White House fact sheet, the order will ban migrants who cross the border illegally from seeking asylum when the number of people trying to enter the U.S. reaches a certain threshold. While the fact sheet did not specify the threshold, sources have widely told reporters that the order will kick in when the number of illegal crossings

hits 2,500 a day, with it then reopening when they drop to 1,500. And notably, because the daily illegal crossings are already above 2,500, the order will take effect immediately. Right, but this temporary measure might not be so temporary because it'll be very hard to cut illegal crossings below 1,500. In fact, the last time that it dipped that low was in July of 2020 during the height of the pandemic. And with that said, officials who spoke to the media did say that there are some limited exceptions. Like, for example, minors who cross alone, those experiencing medical emergencies, and victims of human trafficking. But regardless, I mean, this is a massive shift in current immigration policy, which usually allows migrants seeking asylum to be released into the country ahead of their court dates. And what's more, this also marks a huge reversal for Biden himself in regards to immigration policy,

with the New York Times describing it as the most restrictive border policy instituted by Mr. Biden or any other modern Democrat. And in fact, it's not just more restrictive than past immigration stances Biden has taken. This proposal is very similar to one that Trump actually enacted back in 2018 that also suspended asylum rights using the same legal framework, which notably is a move that Biden himself had criticized while campaigning for 2020, arguing that at the time it went against decades of U.S. asylum laws. But also a key thing here is that Trump's action there actually was struck down by a federal court, which is why you have many experts saying that Biden's new order is all but certain to be challenged in court immediately. So as far as whether it's going to withstand litigation, I mean, we're going to have to wait to see. But I mean, for Biden,

the biggest thing here is perception. Because immigration is a huge hot button issue among voters. And the Biden administration has gotten a lot of heat from both Democrats and Republicans for embracing more progressive or lax policies in the past, which is why this sharp U-turn is a clear effort to court certain voters ahead of the election. And administration officials painting this action as one that's necessary because Republicans failed to pass the sweeping border security bill earlier this year after Trump told them to kill it. Or with it widely reported that he just didn't want Biden to have a win on immigration ahead of 2024. And then, you know, sleep is major for everyone. Fact. And if you're struggling to turn your brain off once your head

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from getting swarmed. Which is bad not only because these beaches provide tourism and nests for sea turtles, but also because they are the first line of defense against storms and hurricanes, where they essentially absorb the storm's energy, providing a physical shield, especially with dunes that protect property. And so to fix this, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, they restore eroded beaches by bringing in thousands of tons of new sand. And currently, they've got $42 million worth of sand ready to go with Pinellas County's name on it, but only on one condition. The coastal property owners have to sign easements granting perpetual public access to the portions of the beach behind their properties, with the agency explaining that it's not going to spend

public money beefing up private property. And they need signatures from literally every single property owner because the project won't work unless it's continuous along the entire stretch of coast. But what we're seeing is that about half of the 461 property owners refusing to budge. And it's been that way for over a year now, with even county officials going door to door pleading with them to sign. But as one resident who did agree to the easement explained, many of the properties, they're rentals owned by people out of county or out of state. They're not going to... Meet Tim's new Oreo Mocha Ice Caps with Oreo in every sip.

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toward the Army Corps, with Pinellas County Coastal Manager telling 10 Tampa Bay, I don't want everybody to sign the easement. I want the Army Corps of Engineers to use their head and realize not everybody's gonna sign. They need to change the way they're looking at this. Right, to be clear, the easement requirement is not a law, it's just a policy. And the agency didn't even strongly enforce it until after Superstorm Sandy

in 2012, when after years of deadlock between local governments and property owners in New Jersey, the state government used eminent domain to just seize the beaches. So the point is, all of this is a choice. And to make things even more maddening is that most of the county's beaches are already public. According to Grist, state law makes all beaches with artificial sand public to the erosion control line, which is about the same as the line marking high tide. So the beach being fought over here isn't even the part touching the water. It's just the portion between the property and high tide line, which in many cases is only a few dozen feet. And the refusal of either side to compromise on that is the reason why Florida's next storm is going to batter this community harder than before. So, you know, just another fun day in local politics. And then, the U.S. is in desperate need of special education teachers.

You know, you've likely heard that we've been facing a severe teacher shortage ever since the pandemic. I mean, it's something we've talked about. And it's a massive problem that's persisted for years that has caused massive disruptions to students at every grade level. But disabled students are potentially having the roughest go of it because the shortage specifically of special ed teachers has become more and more pronounced lately. It turns out that at the start of this year, 70% of schools

surveyed by the National Center for Education Statistics, they said they needed to fill special ed positions with those roles being cited among the most difficult to hire for. And that group also finding that as of March, around half of public schools will need to fill these jobs by the start of the upcoming school year, and 40% will need to hire classroom aides. And this isn't going to affect just like a few kids. According to Pew, public schools in the U.S. educate 7.3 million students with disabilities, which is a number that's increased in recent years. But also a big thing is this is not an easy thing to hire for. With Education Week finding that over half of principals and district leaders say that it is severely or very challenging to hire special ed teachers.

And another 24% saying that it's somewhat challenging. In fact, only 8% in total said that it was easy or not challenging. And of note here is that one single special ed teacher might cover a lot of ground in their day-to-day. They're working with multiple students in different grade levels on different subjects, and while doing that, communicating with all of their families on their progress. What we see is that when these positions go unfilled, that means that the students might lose some access to these teachers or not receive special ed services at all. And that's even though millions of these kids are legally entitled to them. In severe cases, you have places like NPR noting that some students might miss massive chunks

of the school year if they don't have the proper staff to help them. With them specifically here focusing on Emma, a 17-year-old in Del Norte County, California, where she deals with multiple conditions, including cerebral palsy. She's immunocompromised, uses a wheelchair and a feeding tube, and is nonverbal,

so she uses an iPad-like device for communication. And you had her mom telling NPR that she missed school all of October and November because there was no aid to help her with the classes that she takes, which are mostly over Zoom. So as a result, her mom said that she lost out on the lessons that she really enjoys, and she regressed on her communication device. And it's very common for students who don't have a routine to fall back. And the district superintendent, Jeff Harris, actually spoke on this, saying when you have a child who can't do something that they were able to do before because they don't have that consistency. That's hard.

I mean, that's a knife to the heart. And Emma's family, along with a handful of other families in the district, they actually filed a lawsuit against the state's Department of Education, with them reportedly accusing officials of failing to fix the severe staffing shortage in the district, which has left the students' academic,

social, and emotional needs unfulfilled, saying the state has sat idly by while disabled students with exceptional needs in the district are told to stay home from school or forced to sit in classrooms where no learning occurs. With one teacher in the county telling Wild River's outpost that she hopes the lawsuit will prompt change, explaining, my hope is that we get leadership in place that have empathy for our students and what our families are dealing with that are actually willing to be here and be present. Right, and this is reportedly there are other extreme problems within this district

alone. Because of staffing shortages, some kids who need dedicated aides end up with staff who aren't properly trained. And so we see things that happen, like one student who has autism and is nonverbal being choked by a fill-in aide because the aide thought the student was gonna bite them and didn't follow procedures to deescalate the situation.

And that incident leaving the student so traumatized, he was scared to go back to school. And on top of all that, the school couldn't even provide a new aid, so he was out of class for two months. So unsurprisingly, that family is also part of the lawsuit at hand. Now for his part,

Superintendent Harris couldn't comment on that incident or the lawsuit, but regarding the overall shortage, he did tell NPR, it's very, very, very, very difficult when we are trying to bring people on board, trying to provide these services when we want the best that we can give

because that's our job and we can't. Looking at the efforts to bring people in, they just haven't been effective. Like I said, this shortage is happening all over the place. That district has some severe examples of the consequences, but schools nationwide are also struggling to hire specialized staff. And as far as why it's so hard to fill these jobs, well, you have people like Elizabeth Bettini, an associate professor of Boston University's School of Education and Human Development, telling Education Week, generally, school is not oriented around students with disabilities. It's not oriented to meet their needs. Therefore, it's not oriented around the needs of the teachers who are serving them. That

leaves them kind of back-ending a lot of services and supports. Explaining that special ed teachers, they're often left out a lot. Their planning time isn't often accounted for in their schedules. They're not a part of curriculum conversations. And they end up on the spot having to come up with workarounds when technology inaccessible to disabled students is introduced in the classroom. Often feeling like they're left completely to their own devices as the people in charge usually don't have enough background in special education. With Bettini here even saying, that's why I left. I just felt like I couldn't meet all of my students' needs with the resources and support that I had, no matter how hard I worked. So you have some saying that schools need to focus on retention, right?

Not necessarily finding new people, but making sure that the people you have stay in special education. It targeted feedback from these teachers to make sure that they have planning time, they have flexibility, making sure the school itself is not adding to their already stressful jobs. Others also suggesting that pay increases could help. And of course, also, you know, public school systems are generally not known to be money trees. So you have some arguing for more funding on a federal level. The National Association of Elementary School Principals actually publishing a piece about funding shortfalls last year, noting that way back in 1975, the country passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and it authorized

funding for 40% of average per pupil spending nationwide to cover a portion of special education needs. But noting since the law was enacted, the closest the federal government has come to reaching the 40% commitment was 18% in 2004 to 2006. And current funding is at less than 13%. And adding continuous underfunding of IDEA and additional cuts to K-12 programs that work in tandem are detrimental to the hard work of educators in addressing the unique needs of all students. You had the group urging Congress to fund these programs, which hopefully something comes from it. But also for now, most schools are just left to scramble. Because like I said at the top of this, this comes as there are nationwide shortages of teachers in general. And while special education shortages

create very unique issues, the staffing overall, I mean, that's a problem. And so with all that said, you know, we're left to see what happens. And in the meantime, there's just going to be a lot of kids left behind. But that is where your Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning dive into the news is going to end. But I'll see you soon. because remember, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.