5 Things podcast: Scalise withdraws, IDF calls for evacuation of Gaza City

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has withdrawn from the speaker election, throwing the House GOP into further chaos. The Israel Defense Forces call for an evacuation of all civilians in Gaza City. A Colorado police officer has been convicted in the death of Elijah McClain. USA TODAY National Correspondent Deborah Barfield Berry looks at the popularity of Black history museums. USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub explains why the new map of the human brain is so significant.

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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 Friday, the 13th of October 2023.

Today, more chaos on Capitol Hill, plus Israel calls for evacuations in parts of Gaza, and there's a new map of the human brain.

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The House fell into more chaos last night after Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise withdrew from the speaker's race. That's despite being formally nominated this week by the House Republican Conference. Scalise was expected to launch a speakership bid following the ouster, former speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, but uncertainty surrounded his bid for speaker even after he was formally nominated on Wednesday. Some lawmakers had expressed concerns over Scalise's health since he's currently battling blood cancer. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan was Scalise's main rival in the speaker's race, but he lost the internal conference vote to be nominated this week. It's now uncertain if he'll seek the nomination again and even more uncertain if he can unite a fractured House GOP conference behind him. Without a speaker, the House remains paralyzed and unable to take any legislative action.

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The Israel Defense Forces called for an evacuation of all civilians in Gaza City earlier today. That's after the United Nations said it received a warning from Israel to evacuate 1.1 million people living in the north of Gaza within 24 hours. The military warned and civilians that armed forces would be operating in the city in the coming days. What that operation looks like remains to be seen. Enas Hamdan, an officer at the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency in Gaza City said, "This is chaos. No one understands what to do." Alarmed civilians and aid workers already in distress from Israeli airstrikes and a blockade have been sent into chaos. And a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent told the Associated Press that there was no way a million people could evacuate that fast.

An Israeli bombardment this week has killed more than 1500 people in Gaza, and more than 400,000 people, accounting for around 18% of Gaza's population, have fled their homes, many of them packing into schools run by the United Nations. Israeli officials say a siege will continue until Hamas militants free the 150 or so hostages captured in last weekend's assault. Since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007 both Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade restricting the movement of people and goods in and out of the territory. Hamas' unprecedented attack last Saturday in Israel, along with days of heavy rocket fire since have killed more than 1300 people in Israel.

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Jurors convicted a Colorado police officer yesterday and acquitted a former officer of charges in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain. He was a Black man who died after being stopped by police in a Denver suburb. Aurora police officer Randy Roedema was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third degree assault. A jury found Jason Rosenblatt, who was fired in 2020, not guilty on all charges.

In closing arguments, prosecutors reminded jurors that McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, was walking home in 2019 when he was stopped by police and violently restrained. He was not armed or accused of committing a crime, but a 911 caller had reported a man who seemed sketchy. Roedema, Rosenblatt and another officer, Nathan Woodyard, pinned McClain to the ground and placed him in a since band chokehold. And before paramedics arrived, he was injected with the powerful sedative ketamine. McClain died days later.

The city later agreed to pay $15 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by his parents. An amended autopsy report released last year determined that McClain died because of complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint. In court, prosecutors played video of the struggle and witnesses testified that though the ketamine killed him, he likely inhaled vomit into his lungs while being restrained, making it harder to breathe. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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Black history museums are becoming more popular. I spoke with USA Today national correspondent, Deborah Barfield Berry, about their popularity amid efforts to restrict Black history teachings in public schools. Deborah, thanks for hopping on 5 Things.

Deborah Barfield Berry:

Thank you for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

What are we hearing from museums around the country?

Deborah Barfield Berry:

What I've been hearing from several directors of museums as well as the head of the African-American Museum Association, is that they have been experiencing some growth in visitors, but not just in terms of just growth of visitors, but that there's a growing interest in what they do in the space that they provide. And some of them are talking about even offering some classes on African-American studies separate from their coming to the museum. And the group of historians had their annual conference in Florida to talk about what they are trying to do, how they are trying to teach other people how to teach Black history because it has become so much of an issue.

Taylor Wilson:

Why is Black history seeing this renewed interest nationwide now?

Deborah Barfield Berry:

Part of it is actually in response to a pushback in some states to restrict the teaching of African-American studies or Black history in some places. Some of it is in response to the banning of books. And in many cases, some of those books are books written by Black authors. So what there has been is a renewed interest in or a resurgence of interest in learning about Black history, whether it's in a classroom, whether it's in a church, or whether it's going to Black museums.

Taylor Wilson:

Deborah, debates over Black history and how to teach it are nothing new in this country. What has this conversation been like historically and how is it influencing what we're seeing today?

Deborah Barfield Berry:

Well, as you said, it's not new. There's been different levels of debate about it. What has brought it more to the forefront is the fact that some states and/or education departments are going the extra step or the extra mile in trying to restrict it. So in response to that, people have been more riled up or are more angry, more upset or more disappointed in how it's being handled. So they say, "Okay, well, if you're not going to teach it, then we're going to teach it. We're going to make sure our children and our adults know what the history of Africans in America looks like. And it won't be a watered down version." Again, their language, "It won't be a watered down version. It won't be a restricted version. It will be the truth as we know it, the truth as we see it, the truth as we teach it."

Taylor Wilson:

And museums aren't the only organizations that have seen interest grow recently around Black history. Deborah, what other groups are seeing the same?

Deborah Barfield Berry:

Some of the groups that share and teach the African-American experience. One example that I use in a story, which I actually had been on one of their tours, is the Gullah Geechee Heritage Tours Group. They said in the recent years, and particularly in the recent months, they've seen many more Black customers. It used to be all white customers. Now they're seeing more Black customers. They can't say that it's just about this response to the history, but the timing is what it is, and they're welcoming that and they think, for some reason, there's a whole lot more interest in learning about history. Gullah Geechee is one of the richest histories of Africans in America. And so there's been much more of an increase in customers there.

Taylor Wilson:

Deborah Barfield Berry, thanks for your insight here. Really appreciate it.

Deborah Barfield Berry:

Thank you for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

There's a new map of the human brain. I caught up with USA Today health reporter, Karen Weintraub, to find out what implications that could have for treating brain diseases and more. Hello, Karen.

Karen Weintraub:

Hello. Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for hopping back on. So what has this latest research found?

Karen Weintraub:

They looked at the human brain at a cellular level that had never been done in this amount of detail before. Somebody compared it to me that before we kind of had the rough outline of the shoreline and now we have a satellite view, the topography, but we're still not quite at the GPS level.

Taylor Wilson:

How does the research actually work here and where do the brains come from?

Karen Weintraub:

Yeah, so typically brain research is done on people who have passed away and donated their brains to science. In this case, they also used some brain tissue that was donated from living people who had epilepsy surgery or cancer surgery. So they were able to do work on living tissue. And the reason that matters is they can see more of the connections of the circuits that are active so they can better understand what happens in the living brain.

Taylor Wilson:

What are the implications for disease research on all this?

Karen Weintraub:

Yeah, so understanding kind of what the different cell types are, and at this really micro level helps them understand which cells are involved in disease and which cells go wrong. So I was talking to a brain cancer researcher and he was saying that they've seen some cells that look like they're kind of trying to build a new brain inside your brain during cancer and other cancer cells that have wound repair programs going that look like they're trying to fix a cut kind of thing. And so these two things are going crazy with these cells simultaneously and understanding that maybe helps develop treatments or it certainly helps researchers better understand what's going on with brain cancer.

Taylor Wilson:

And another interesting part of this piece to me, Karen, was about the animals. What have we learned here about how our brains compare with other animals?

Karen Weintraub:

So there were 21 different studies that were part of this package. A couple of them compared our brains to primate brains, other primates, gorillas, chimps, macaques. They found that a lot of the cell types were the same, but the activities were different. So we've got the same hardware, but different software, I guess would be the way to put it.

Taylor Wilson:

I mean, Karen, there's still a lot we don't know even after this research. What happens next in terms of mapping the brain and this type of research?

Karen Weintraub:

Right. So now they have sort of a standard by which to compare other brains. So they dove deep into three brains for this. They now need to look at a lot more to better understand individual variation, gender variations. So your brain and my brain are probably different in some fundamental ways, but we don't know what those are yet. And also healthy brains versus different types of brain conditions. Now they can use the "normal brains" as kind of the reference brain to compare against these other conditions.

Taylor Wilson:

All that yet to come. Karen Weintraub covers health for USA Today. Thank you, Karen.

Karen Weintraub:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. We're produced by Shannon Rae Green and our executive producer is Laura Beatty. I'm Taylor Wilson back tomorrow with another episode of 5 Things.