Almost 50 thousand people descended on Cleveland in 2016 for the last Republican National Convention. This year's RNC in Charlotte, North Carolina only saw about 300 people attend in person due to the coronavirus pandemic. The party decided that each state and territory would only allow six delegates to attend the convention. The week of events is slightly different from the DNC's all-virtual convention last week, with a mix of live and virtual events.

To start the hour, we wanted to check in with a couple of Ohio delegates on how this experience compares with previous conventions, and how they're feeling about how it's going so far.

Then.. all this week ideastream is looking at the many challenges in returning to school this fall in our series Homeroom: A Return to Learning. We'll continue with a conversation about how the coronavirus is impacting kids mental health.

And, multi-instrumentalist and composer Nathan-Paul Davis and performance poet Orlando Watson joined ideastream's Dan Polletta for the August edition of Applause Performances.

Guests:
LaVerne Jones Gore, Delegate & Republican Candidate for Ohio 11th Congressional District

David Johnson, Delegate & Chair, Columbiana County Republican Party & Treasurer, Ohio Republican Party

Kristi Westphaln, PhD, Nurse Practitioner & Post-Doctoral Fellow, Case Western Reserve University

Lisa Ramirez, PhD, Pediatric Psychology Specialist, MetroHealth & Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University

Nathan-Paul Davis, Multi-instrumentalist and Composer

Orlando Watson, Performance Poet