Health care workers to meet the need. And almost every day somebody goes without care how the support system is failing, those working in the Home Care Industry and the people relying on them. Plus doing your taxes might just get easier. Just push a button saying, yes, this is my return. Thats really simple. We explore the irs new program to modernize how you file your taxes and its an all too familiar story for many small towns in america. Businesses and factories close and the people leave the property that they own started to diminish. But for african town alabama jones, a hometown hero, has returned to rebuild the place that gave him his start. My dream for for africatown is that everybody can see the history. Im soledad obrien. Welcome to matter of fact america are living longer than past generations, and that can mean facing hard choices about how to manage their Ongoing Health care needs with a high cost of assisted living, many seniors are aging at home. They relying on home care workers fofor much needed help with day to day life. But t theres s a severe s stafg shortagege. Inindustry expxperts say t thaty 1 million new caregivers are needed to meet the current demand. Low wages, few, if any, benefits and no paid time off make recruiting and retaining workers difficult. Home care jobs pay a median rate of 14 an hour and North Carolina ranks near the bottom when it comes to support for home care workers. Our correspondent Dan Lieberman traveled to the state to hear from clients and caregivers firsthand. Shes my lifesaver. Im serious. 80 year old sally hawk has a special bond with joan kester, whos been her Home Health Care aide for the last seven years. Ive had two major operations on my back and three on my neck and one on my hand. One of my arms. Its really tough and im scared about her because you have to lift your leg so hard to get in and out and and doctor said, if i fall, i cant have another operation. Sally suffered a debilitating back injury in 2016 with no family nearby to care for her. She was paired with joan through a local home care agency. I do this job because i can give care and compassion to the elderly that deserve to be cared for. Joan is a certified nursing assistant with three decades of experience. She works 70 hours a week, seven days a week, taking care of five clients for 14 an hour. You can go out there and find a job at mcdonalds, making more than you can for home health. Home care workers are in short supply here in wilmington, North Carolina, where like so much of the country, a tight labor market and an increasingly high cost of living is making it hard to attract workers. Do you ever think about other jobs that might be easier that might pay more . I know theyre out there. I see it. Thats not for me. This is my calling. So were on tons of different job boards at bayada Home Health CareAgency Looking for staff is a full time job for director Matthew Hannigan with a staff of 100. He needs twice as many workers almost every day. Somebody either goes without care or their schedule is affected. Why is it so hard to find people to do this job . Its a hard job. Thats the thing. We sort of live and die, i guess, by our reimbursement rates that we get back. Hes talking about medicaid reimbursement rates set by each state and paid for with a mix of federal and state dollars. That rate determines what agencies can pay workers by the hour. How do you get by . I cut back on going places other than work. I cut back with my food, going shopping. I dont go shopping because i cant afford to. These workers, they cant afford their own life yet theyre being asked to do this very difficult job. So what needs to change . I mean, really, i think it comes down to the funding we need to figure out a way to to pay them a living wage. At this point, there is a crisis. There is such demand for home care workers. Kezia scales is an expert on the direct Care Workforce for phi, a Research Institution focused on improving elder care and disability services. Workforce projections suggest that were going to need nearly a million new workers to meet demand. The magnitude of the challenge is really quite astounding at this point in our culture. Is there this idea that if its your family member, you should take care of your own family . This responsibility doesnt really fall on taxpayers. Family caregivers provide the lions share of long term care, long term supports. But families cannot do it all. Some some individuals dont have families close by. There is also a role for for Public Policy to to meet needs that are not already met by family caregivers at duke raleigh hospital, case manager amy fracola sees patients staying longer because of the shortage of Home Health Care workers. Theyll give us an idea of when they could potentially pick up a new patient, and sometimes thats weeks. The phone is nonstop. All day long, we have a waiting list through one of our programs that has well over 100 people on it. And how long do people have to wait for care . We have people that have been on there for two years. Sally hawk children live out of state, so she feels lucky to have joan in her life if you have children. But why is it important to still have joan every day . Theyre not here. Im by myself. I wouldnt have anyone to get groceries or anything. I feel like im a burden to her sometimes. I need her so much im a frail person. For matter of fact, im Dan Lieberman in wilmington, North Carolina. Next on matter of fact, an online tax filing system run by the irs. You would have access to the information that the irs has so you dont make silly errors that come back and bite you later on. We talked to a Taxpayer Advocate about how the program could help you. Plus, this world Series Winner skipped the ticker tape parade because home was where his heart was. We want to share this with the community. Meet the professional baseball player on a mission to help revitalize his hometown. Youre watching matter of fact, americas number one nationally syndicated Public Affairs news magazine. Bug spraray works bebest. When youour family actuallyly wears it. T. Get ododorfree eight hohour protectction from m mosquitoes s and tics without the ick. Zevo onbody repellent. Peoplele love it. Bugs hate e it. Your brarain is an a amazing th. But as y you get oldlder, it naturalally begins to chan, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. Thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actutually improroves mem. The sesecret is anan ingredit origiginally disiscovered. In jellylyfish. Inin clinical l trials, prevagenen has been n shown to impmprove shortrtterm mem. Prprevagen. Atat stores evevee without t a prescripiption. Febreze your bathroom. Needs febrbreze small l spaces. The alwayson, odorfighting air freshener you set and forget. No outlets used, no batteries needed, no effort t required. So youour bathroomom stays continuoususly fresh for 4545 days. Thats thehe power off fefebreze smalall spaces. Its frustrating. And it takes a lot of time. The average person spends about 13 hours preparing their tax return. 70 of taxpayers actually qualify for free filing through vendors the irs refers them to. But only a tiny sliver. 4 take advantage of that. So whats the fix . The irs says its ready to pilot its own free online tax filing system. No surprise, its facing strong opposition from the 14 million tax prep industry. But if its successful and expanded, how would it work . Nina olson was the national Taxpayer Advocate at the irs for nearly two decades. Shes now the executive director of the center for taxpayer rights. Nina olson, so nice to talk to you. So if you roughly eyeball the number of organizations that offer tax prep, theres i mean, off the top of my head, a dozen or so. Why would the irs want to get into this now . Well, i think this has been the normal way that tax administrations around the world have operated there definitely benefits with having the irs provide e a product bebecause is all the ininformation. So the idea is that you would be able basically to see what information the irs has on you, and that would be w2 1099. You know, all sorts of information. And you could just load it into this direct file product that the irs would be building. But you could also just download it and send it to your software that you purchased off the shelf or you could have it downloaded to your return preparer if you went to someone. Is this the irs is trying to do good in a way for people that almost sounds crazy coming out of my mouth. I think the irs has its own interest in this as well as the benefit for the taxpayer. So 40 of individual taxpayers have w2 only income and are non itemizers. And those are very simple returns. And for them to be able to just see the w2s out there and then have them into a product like that, you could just say, yes, this is correct. And here the children that are on my return and then just push a button saying, yes, this is my return, thats really simple and its also accurate. So it saves you from errors. The other thing that really is important is that there is a lot of idedentity thefeft going ono. One of the benefits of being able to see all of your account information, you can see, oh, look, theres a w2 two that doesnt belong to me. So you can let the irs know at the very beginning this is not my w2. And then you dont to wait ar to get your refund because you have to go through all this Identity Theft process when it comes to having a third party. Im assuming that they are there to help me eke every dime out of every deduction i can get. Is the irs really trying to help me give as little money to the irs as possible . Well, i think there are two things about that. Most taxpayers have the simplest returns possible. So there really isnt that much chance to get every single penny out in the area of benefits that are run through the Internal Revenue codede, whether its mae some provisions for education or for the earned income credit. There are people who dont claim it, who look eligible for it. The irs has said that they would like to do is use this system to say, as youre filing your return, you may be eligible for this. Here the rules. Think about it. But it looks to us like you may be eligible. Bill nina olson is an advocate for taxpayers. Thank you so much for your insight. Appreciate it. Thank you. Coming up, my thing was winning retired baseball player cleon jones jones helped his team clinch a world series title, but now hes trying to score a different victory, one for his hometown. They see a rundown Old Community of poor people unhappy people. We go to africatown, alabama, to see how the community is now launching a comeback. See how the community is now launching a comeback. Or. My late fatherinlaw lit up a room, but his vision dimmed with age. He hadad amd. But his vision dimmed with age. I didntt know it t then, but it c can progresess t, but his vision dimmed with age. An advananced form of the d disease. But his vision dimmed with age. Hihis strugglele with visionon loss fromom amd made m me want to o help you see warnrning signs s of ga. Hihis strugglele with visionon loss fromom amd lilike straighght lines thtt seem wavy,y, blurry, hihis strugglele with visionon loss fromom amd or m missing visisual spots st make it t hard to sesee fs hihis strugglele with visionon loss fromom amd like thihis one, or troublele with low w lt that m makes driviving at nigt a real chahallenge. If y youve beenen diagnosededh amd anand notice v vision chan, dont wait. Ga is irreversible. Its important to catch it early. Talk to your eye doctor about ga and learn more at gawontwait. Com a singngle strand d of mrna. Could inindividualizize how wewe approach h cancer. And ththe companyy thats getting g us there . . Modederna. Thisis changes e everything. Former Major League Baseball player is going to bat for his hometown. Left fielder cleon jones was part of the mighty mets. The team that won the 1969 world series, and jones retired from baseball in 1976. But hes found a new passion. For the last 40 years, hes been revitalized. Africatown its a neighborhood of mobile, alabama. Our correspondent alexis clark went there to talk to cleon jones about his passion for africatown cleon jones is hometown africatown in mobile, alabama, a community that once had around 12,000 people has dwindled to 2000. What was it like growing up in africatown . The most wonderful place in the world . Your neighbors were like family. When did you first become exposed to baseball . My grandpa were great baseball fafans. We h had this bibig radio anandn to the d dodgers gamame and Jace Robinson got to the dodgers and we sit around like we were watching tv growing up, jones and his friends play baseball in the street or local park. I never owned the Baseball Club until i was 13 years old. We had a broomstick and we had soda bottles, caps. But meager resources didnt stop. Jones was a gifted athlete. He was eventually scouted. My goal was to make it to the big leagues, and he did just that, joining the new york mets and playing in the 1969 world series. Theres a fly ball hit out to left waiting is jones. The e mets are thehe world cham. Jones skippeped the victorory tr tape paradade in new yorork city insteaead, he and his wife, angela, chosose to celebrarate k home in africatown. My wife and i both said we want to share this with the community and say thank you for what youve done for our family because you made us. Jones says the years havent been kind to africatown there are Railroad Tracks on one side and interstate highway on the other, and its surrounded by polluting industry. Two of the three nearby paper mills closed about 25 years ago, leaving just one with fewer jobs. The people have also left their store to leave doubt and therefore the property that they own started to diminish. There was nobody to keep them up. We will have our Second Annual health this wealth wall revitalizing africatown is something thats often discussed at the weekly community. Meetings led by cleon and angela in a space called the den. Right now were a food desert. You cant buy a coke in the community. We have one of the largest paper producing meals in the united states, and their products are sold throughout the united states. But we dont have a store in this community to go and buy a roll of their tissue. The stores arent going to come unless you got the people to support the stores. So the den is home to not just these meetings, its also filled with the history of africatown and the slave ship, the clototilda. Pick it up in 2019. Shipwreck wreckage in mobile bay was identitified as a a clotild, helping to u uncover thehe storf the e 110 enslavaved africananso were smumuggled intoto the area. People are drawn to the africatown now because of the history, but when they come, theyre disappointed. They see a rundown Old Community of poor people, unhappy people. Jones and his family started the last out community foundation, which partners with the city and other organization to help restore the neighborhood, whether it be roof, home repair or just helping someone that needed groceries. We paint, we do yard work. We do it all, even though jones has helped repair more than 100 homes, he knows it will take more than that to rebuild his hometown. What is your dream for africatown . Everybody can see the history to see the tourism, to see each and every church fully inhabited. The way it used to be. So were back up to 12, 14,000 people. Thats my dream. A dream he and angela have shared for decades. 59 years is a long time to get to 60. Then were going were going to tie tonight again in mobile, alabama. Im alexis clark. For matter of fact. Ahead on matter of fact, more students are heading to Community Colleges. Whats behind the renewed interest . Plus, this beetle was long viewed as a crop destroying pest. Now, researchers say you wouldnt have some pantry staples without it. To stay up to date with matter of fact, sign up for our to stay up to date with matter of introducucing togoss new news frech dip p sandwicheses. Feataturing fresesh artisan n d piled hihigh with tendnder roast b beef, smothered d with meltyty provolonone cheese, just enougugh chipotlele mayo and d served witith hot au j for dippining. Try ththe roast bebeef or pasti french d dips today. Y. Onlyly at togogos. Seeing a rebound for more than a decade . Enrollment in Community Colleges was steadily declining, plummeting even during the pandemic. But new findings by the National StudentClearinghouse Research Center show enrollment rose. 0. 5 this spring. Over last year. There could be a few reasons new students are looking for a faster path to better paying jobs. And obviously college can be really expensive. The average cost of a Public University is about 11,000 a year. Compare that to just under 4,000 for community college. Doug shapiro is the executive director of the National StudentClearinghouse Research Center. Any increase at all, even a tiny one, seems like great news. There seems to be a shift across Higher Education towards students being more interested in shorter term degrees and certificates. So increase enrollments are quite common in areas like Computer Science and even things like manufacture. Community College Students are also more likely to already have a full time job or be a single parent or be a High School Student whos looking to earn college credit. Still ahead on matter of fact, meet the weevil. Long considered a pest. This beetle is getting new respect. When m moderate to sevevere ulcerarative colis takekes you off f course. Puput it in chcheck with r ri, a onceddaily pill. L. Whwhen i wanteted to see results s fast, rinvnvoq deliverered rapipid symptom m relief and helplped leave bathroomom urgency b behind. Check. When u uc tried to slow me down. I got t lasting, s steroidfrere remimission withth rinvoq. Check. And d when uc cacaused damage rinvoq came through byby visibly r repairing my colon l lining. Check. Rapipid symptom m relief. Lasting g steroidfrfree remimission. A. And the chahance to visiy repapair the c colon linini. Check,k, check, anand check. Rinvoq c can lower y your abily to fight infnfections, inclcluding tb. Serious ininfections and blblood clots,s, some fat; cancers, i including l lymphoa and skskin cancer;r; death,h, heart attack, stroko, and tearars in the s stomach or intesestines occucurred. People 50 0 and older r with at least 1 1 heart disisease risk factotor hahave higher r risks. Dont t take if alallergic to rinvovoq as serioious reactioions cacan occur. Tell youour doctor i if you ae or m may become e pregnant. Puput uc in chcheck and kekep it thehere with ririnvoq. Ask yourur gastroentnterologit abouout rinvoq and lelearn how ababbvie can help y you save. The best reputation. The pests are known to get into your flower and nibble on your pasta in the pantry. But the long snouted beetles are good for something. Pollination. Now bees and butterflies are t e bestst known pollinators flying from flower to flower fertilizing plants as they feed. But weevils work differently. In a global study coauthored by researchers in chicago, scientists found that weevils use one plant for both food and egg laying. They spend their entire life cycle with just one plant pollinating, just that one. And that means that both the weevil and the plant need each other to flourish. Heres how they help us. Weevils pollinate oil palm plants which are used to make Peanut Butter and nutella and researchers are hoping that this discovery means more people will understand their importance to the ecosystem and not just kill them. Remember, theyre not just pests. Theyre also pollinators. Thats it for this edition. A matter of fact. Im soledad obrien. Ill see you back here next week. As a reminder. You can always watch. Matter of fact, during the week on fyi and youtube