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** THE WEEKLY REVEAL
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Saturday, May 3, 2025

This week:
* Marines still wrestle with what they were asked to do in Iraq.
* On More To The Story, our guest unpacks how America’s public schools became “a microcosm” for the country’s political and cultural fights.
* Why an Ohio elementary school has some of the best readers.

On World Press Freedom Day, we can’t take our freedom for granted.

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** THIS WEEK’S REVEAL
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** In Fallujah, We Destroyed Parts of Ourselves
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Marines from 3rd Platoon of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, stand in front of the vehicle that will insert them into Fallujah, Iraq. Credit: Courtesy Robert Day

Kathleen Faircloth didn’t want her only son, Bradley, to enlist in the Marines.

“He was the reason I lived,” she said.

But off he went to the Battle of Fallujah.

It’s been just over 20 years since that battle: a bloody campaign in a destructive Iraq War that we now know was based on a lie. But back then, in the wake of 9/11, the battlefield was filled with troops who believed in serving and defending the country against terrorism.

This week on Reveal, in an episode that first ran in January, we’re partnering with the nonprofit newsroom The War Horse to join Bradley Faircloth's unit as they reunite and try to make sense of what they did and what was done to them. Together, they remember Faircloth and unpack the mental and emotional battles that continue for them today.
Listen to the episode ([link removed])
🎧 Other places to listen: Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) , Spotify ([link removed]) , iHeartRadio ([link removed]) , Pandora ([link removed]) , or wherever you get your podcasts.


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** MORE TO THE STORY
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** How Public Schools Became Ground Zero for America’s Culture Wars
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Student demonstrators in Katy, Texas, protest against the school district’s transgender policy. Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

Mike Hixenbaugh first knew things had changed when someone on a four-wheeler started ripping up his lawn after his wife placed a Black Lives Matter sign outside their home on the suburban outskirts of Houston.

Hixenbaugh is an award-winning investigative reporter for NBC News. He’s covered wrongdoing within the child welfare system, safety lapses inside hospitals, and deadly failures in the US Navy. But when his front yard was torn apart in the summer of 2020 in the wake of the George Floyd protests, he saw a story about race and politics collide at his own front door. So like any investigative journalist, he started investigating, and his reporting about the growing divides in his neighborhood soon led him to the public schools.

As more than a dozen states sue the Trump administration over its policies aimed at ending public schools’ diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, More To The Story’s host Al Letson talks with Hixenbaugh ([link removed]) about how America’s public schools have become “a microcosm” for the country’s political and cultural fights—"a way of zooming in deep into one community to try to tell the story of America.”
Find this episode wherever you listen to Reveal, and don’t forget to subscribe:

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** One Number to Know
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40%

Nearly 40 percent of fourth graders in the US struggle to read at even a basic level. But in Steubenville, Ohio, virtually all of its students have been taught to read well.

Steubenville has routinely scored in the top 10 percent or better of schools nationwide for third grade reading, according to data from the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University—even as researchers have long found that districts serving low-income families almost always have lower test scores.
Listen: Teaching Kids to Read: How One School District Gets It Right ([link removed])


** In Case You Missed It
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🎧How Police Guns End Up in the Hands of Criminals ([link removed])

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🎧 ([link removed]) Trump's Deportation Black Hole

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This issue of The Weekly Reveal was written by Kate Howard and edited by Nikki Frick. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend ([link removed]) . Have some thoughts? Drop us a line (mailto:[email protected]) with feedback or ideas!

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