On today's episode of The Excerpt podcast: The Israel-Hamas truce deal has been delayed. USA TODAY National Correspondent Elizabeth Weise talks about the importance of Rancho Cielo. A lawyer on New York Attorney General Letitia James' staff says a gag order should be reinstated for Donald Trump. Officials say there were no signs of terrorism after a speeding vehicle exploded on a U.S.-Canada border bridge. Operation Santa makes dreams come true.

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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 and Happy Thanksgiving. I'm Taylor Wilson and today is Thursday, November 23rd, 2023. This is The Excerpt.

Today, there's a delay to the Israel Hamas truce deal, plus how a campus in California is helping students find purpose, and we learn about Operation Santa.

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A deal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas appears to have hit a last minute bump in the road. A senior Israeli official said late yesterday that the release of hostages agreed to by Israel and Hamas won't begin until tomorrow at the earliest, a day later than expected. More than 1.7 million Palestinians have fled their homes amid weeks of Israeli bombardment in Gaza and hundreds of families in Israel have been eagerly awaiting news of their loved ones who were kidnapped by Hamas last month. The truce agreement calls for Hamas to free 50 women and children among the estimated 240 hostages being held by Hamas over a four-day period. Israel says a temporary ceasefire will be extended an additional day for every 10 hostages released.

Qatar and Egypt acted as key intermediaries in the deal while the US and President Joe Biden were also directly involved, Americans were among those taken hostage by Hamas. International aid organizations are pushing to increase aid deliveries into Gaza during the ceasefire and UN Secretary General António Guterres said in a social media post, "The UN will mobilize all its capacities to support the implementation and maximize positive impact on the humanitarian situation in Gaza."

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Rancho Cielo aims to give students in a poor part of California the skills to get good jobs and a sense of purpose. I spoke with USA Today national correspondent, Elizabeth Weise, for more. Hello, Beth?

Elizabeth Weise:

Hey, I have a cold. Sorry for my cracking voice.

Taylor Wilson:

Well, no worries. It's a treat to have you on regardless. Thanks for doing it. Let's start here, Beth. What is Rancho Cielo and what's its purpose?

Elizabeth Weise:

It is this really cool school. It's in Monterey County. If you've ever been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium where you've watched the golf at Pebble Beach, where you've been to Carmel-by-the-Sea where Clint Eastwood used to be mayor, that is Monterey County, and Salinas is a big town there and the coastal areas are very, very wealthy, but the inland areas, it's pretty poor, mostly Latino. They've had a real gang problem. 10 and 20 years ago, Salinas was known as the youth murder capital of the country. I mean, they had a horrific gang murder rate. So all of that was going on and Rancho Cielo, it started out as a school for kids who had somehow been part of the juvenile justice system and high school was not working for them, and it's kind of expanded now to a place for kids for whom high school just wasn't working. I got to say, it's kind of an amazing place, which is why I wrote a story about it.

Taylor Wilson:

It's a great story. Beth, what are some of the programs and methods of support that Rancho Cielo offers its students?

Elizabeth Weise:

So the thing about the ranch is it used to be, like back in the '50s, it was like the boys' home. It was juvie for boys in that county. It's way out at the end of town in this empty space, and they built barracks and that's where they sent the kids. It's a school where kids, 16 to 24, kids who are just falling through the cracks and not doing well for whatever reason can come. They can get a high school diploma, they can get a GED, they can do all of these great vocational programs that we've lost in most high schools these days. So they have building and construction, they have the auto and diesel repair, they have ag tech, they have a culinary arts program that actually has an amazing restaurant, I ate there. On Fridays, they offer this three course prefixed meal for 50 bucks that was as good as anything you get in a fancy restaurant and it's all done by the students.

Their goal is to make sure that these kids who were struggling and often failing are, one, getting emotional support. And I mean, it's the stuff that middle-class kids take for granted. They don't know how to ride bikes. A lot of them didn't have driver's licenses because in California, high schools don't really have driver's ed so much anymore. Whatever it takes to get these kids not just on par with kids who have a lot of support, but to get them with really marketable skills.

Taylor Wilson:

So, Beth, yeah, it's impressive stuff. What success stories have we seen come out of Rancho Cielo?

Elizabeth Weise:

Their data shows that of the 40% of the youth in Monterey County who interact with the juvenile justice system go on to have another encounter with law enforcement at some point. The kids who are at Rancho Cielo, 80% of them never re-offend. That's huge. I mean, it's not just huge for the kids and for their lives and for their families. It's huge for the county because it saves so much money. I mean, sending a kid to the juvenile justice system or to prison, it's like $100,000 a year. You send them to Rancho Cielo, it's 20, a lot of which is part of this public-private partnership.

There was this one amazing thing. So there is this Orange County sustainable housing competition that was held. 14 schools around the country came and built tiny homes that were sustainable and that you could replicate that and you would have maybe housing for homeless or housing for low-income people. All the other schools, 13 of the 14 schools were colleges. Rancho Cielo, which has a really strong construction program, they sent their students and they won. It's a very cool program and it's one that the people who are involved with it and also the state of California, they're doing research to figure out how can this be replicated elsewhere? Because clearly we need places where kids who learn differently, who maybe need more support can really thrive.

Taylor Wilson:

Elizabeth Weise is a national correspondent for USA Today. Great story and thanks for coming on and talking about it. Thank you, Beth.

Elizabeth Weise:

You're so welcome.

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Taylor Wilson:

A lawyer on New York Attorney General Letitia James's staff says that Donald Trump's complaints about a clerk in his New York civil fraud trial are baseless and inappropriate, and that a gag order restricting his comments should be reinstated. Dennis Fan made those arguments on an appellate court yesterday. Trump has repeatedly criticized Judge Arthur Engoron and his chief law clerk, Allison Greenfield, as partisan.

Trump's ability to make public comments in his cases have caused tricky legal battles, as courts navigate the unprecedented nature of having a leading presidential candidate and former president on trial. Trump has appealed gag orders in two cases, the New York Fraud trial and the pending federal election conspiracy trial. The fraud trial resulted from James suing Trump, his sons Eric and Donald Jr., and their namesake company. Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled they committed fraud for years and he's now considering what damages to impose.

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A speeding vehicle on the US side of a US-Canada border crossing near Niagara Falls blew up yesterday killing two people and causing federal authorities to shut down multiple border checkpoints amid international concern. The two people found dead were inside the vehicle that exploded. The FBI said in a statement that a search of the scene revealed no explosive materials and no sign of terrorism. One witness, Mike Guenther, told WGRZ-TV that he saw a vehicle speeding toward the crossing from the US side of the border when it swerved to avoid another car and crashed into a fence and exploded. The Federal Aviation Administration initially ordered a halt to international arriving and departing flights at Buffalo International Airport in response to the threat and lifted it after about two hours, according to a CNN report.

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Every year around this time, kids write their letters to Santa and the US Postal Service helps make dreams come true.

Children's voices:

Dear Santa, May I please have an extra big box of Beyblades because I've been super good this year? Love Ashton.

Dear Santa. I am six years old.

Dear Santa, I actually want a Teddy Bear.

Dear Santa, Please can have a gift card to the pet store so I can get something cool for my pet fish Topaz's tank?

Dear Santa, I want presents, please.

Taylor Wilson:

Every year millions of children write to Santa, and thanks to the generosity of thousands of kind strangers, some of these lucky children will hear back.

Chris Karpenko:

Gosh, people have been writing letters to Santa for so many years.

Taylor Wilson:

Chris Karpenko is the senior Director of Customs and Marketing at the United States Post Office.

Chris Karpenko:

For Operation Santa, it started probably more officially in 1912. Our Postmaster General, Postmaster Hitchcock, had authorized the ability for us to open up children's letters that were written to Santa and respond to them, and then what ended up happening is we started to allow the public access to respond to those letters, and it was just really this overwhelming sort of approach of random acts of kindness, if you will.

Michael Munoz:

It was such a magical experience.

Taylor Wilson:

Michael Munoz has been adopting letters to Santa for over 20 years now.

Michael Munoz:

Just read all these letters of really needy children, children asking for things like coats and boots and things, and since then I've been hooked.

Taylor Wilson:

Michael recognized that there was a great need for Operation Santa in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

Michael Munoz:

I was very curious if the USPS extended Operation Santa to Puerto Rico. I found out it did not, and so I set out on a mission to find somebody to help me make this happen. Lo and behold, through the magic of the internet and Twitter, the USPS heard me and not only extended the program to Puerto Rico that year, but also the US Virgin Islands.

Taylor Wilson:

For Chelsea Smith, what moved her most was a young person seeking acceptance.

Chelsea Smith:

There was one really special letter I adopted a while back. This was a queer kid who wrote in that he was in a family that was not accepting. They were very much denying it, and he was really just looking for some love. He wanted to feel accepted. He wanted to feel seen because he was in an environment where he didn't. I was able to look up what are some really good, well-written, beautiful narratives that he can enjoy. I really hope that they helped and made him feel like he was a little less alone. Honestly, it's really just about making the kids feel seen, making them feel like there's still a little bit of magic.

Taylor Wilson:

Chris Karpenko, who runs the program, hopes that the magic and goodwill of letter adopters like Michael and Chelsea will continue to keep the program alive and well for years to come.

Chris Karpenko:

It's probably the most comforting part about all of this is that there's a level of humanity and kindness in all of these things. That's probably why the program has lasted so long in that there are people out there that want to do good things just because it's a good thing to do.

Taylor Wilson:

So if you're looking to spread some holiday cheer to a good little girl or boy this Christmas, head on over to uspsoperationsanta.com where you can adopt a letter from a deserving boy or girl and make some holiday wishes come true.

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Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. From all of us here, we wish you a happy and safe Thanksgiving. I'm Taylor Wilson back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA Today.

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