Update, August 26, 2017: On this episode of Reveal, we introduce #citizensleuth – a collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity. The project aims to answer questions such as "How much is President Donald Trump worth?" or "Is he or anyone in his administration profiting from their positions?" We've created a database listing all the assets that members of his administration have disclosed and we're asking the public to take part in our investigation. Citizen sleuths have already uncovered some leads.
Then we revisit our episode with CPI that investigates the high levels of pollution near US schools and how it affects the kids who breathe it in.
We team up with the Center for Public Integrity to investigate the high levels of automobile exhaust that surround US schools and how the bad air affects the millions of children who breathe it in. Throughout the country, thousands of public schools are within 500 feet of pollution-choked roads such as highways and truck routes.
Every day in Newark, New Jersey, more than 600 semitrailer trucks rumble past Hawkins Street School. Inside, many kids suffer the consequences of polluted air. We meet one family that has struggled with asthma, and we learn that older semis with outdated diesel engines wreak havoc on the air by remaining on the road.
And we find out from CPI reporter Jamie Smith Hopkins how many schools operate near busy roads – and how she was able to figure that out.
Next, Reveal reporter Amy Walters takes us to El Marino elementary school in Los Angeles next to the 405 freeway. That's the busiest highway in America, but inside almost every classroom, the kids breathe clean air. How's that possible? Parents and teachers got together to install air filters at El Marino. One mom with a science background tells us how they did it.
- Learn more or listen again to this week's episode.
Image: Michael I Schiller for Reveal