--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning. It's Wednesday, April 13th. I'm Duarte Giraldino. And I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: New York police are looking for a suspect in the attack on a Brooklyn subway that injured at least 23 people during yesterday morning's commute. A gunman fired multiple shots and released smoke grenades. Ten people were hit. Others had smoke inhalation injuries. None were life-threatening. The man's name is Frank James. Police believe he rented a U-Haul van whose keys were found at the scene. The NYPD flyer includes a screenshot of a YouTube video posted by James. CNN reports on multiple video posts where he talks about violence and mass shootings.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Shooting survivor Hueri Benkata spoke to CNN. This pregnant woman was in front of me. I was trying to help her. I didn't know there were shots at first. I just thought it was a black smoke bomb. She said, I'm pregnant with a baby. I hugged her. And then the bum rush continued. I got pushed. And that's when I got shot in the back of my knee.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: For many New Yorkers, the attack on the subway felt like an attack on everyday life in the city. The N-Train runs through New York's most populous boroughs. It drops tourists off at Times Square. It brings families to Coney Island, carries people to work and children to school. It's the train I used to take every day for years. Benkata, who you just heard, told CNN after coming out of surgery, he feels shocked and shaken. He doesn't know if he can ever ride the train again.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The price of gas is soaring even more lately because Russia invasion of Ukraine drove up global energy prices. President Biden is doing something new to try to keep prices for drivers under control. He's issuing an emergency waiver to allow what's called E15 gas to be sold this summer. And while it may help ease the immediate burden on your wallet, critics say E15 could hurt the environment and some cars.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: If you've never heard of E15, chances are you're not alone. Bloomberg has an explainer. E stands for ethanol. It's a fuel made from corn and other plants. For years, we've been mixing it with gasoline as a way to cut down our reliance on oil. When we say E15, that means the fuel contains 15% ethanol and the rest is gasoline. E10, with only 10% ethanol, is pretty common at gas stations. E15 is currently 5 to 10 cents cheaper per gallon.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Hearing that, you might wonder why stations weren't allowed to sell more E15 already. Here's where a little science comes in. E15 sales are restricted during the summer because of hot weather. Heat causes liquids to evaporate more, including liquid fuel. And because E15 has more ethanol than other fuels, it evaporates more quickly. That means it enters the atmosphere and causes more smog. That's why up until now, the EPA has blocked the sale of E15 in the summer.
--:-- Shamita Basu: E15 can also potentially damage older cars. It's still not recommended for cars older than 2001. And some automakers void warranties if drivers put E15 in the tank. So it's a good idea to consider all of this before you make a switch at the pump.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: One of the most stressful parts of applying to college practically disappeared during the pandemic. When testing centers locked down, many schools waived requirements for SAT and ACT scores. NBC News reports on what was maybe the biggest shakeup to the admissions process since standardized testing went mainstream a half century ago. And now we're starting to see the impact on campuses around the country.
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--:-- Duarte Giraldino: This story looks at how it all played out at Cornell when COVID hit. Its colleges switched to test optional or test blind. That's where admissions officers don't look at scores. Total applications went way up from 50,000 to more than 70,000. The university had to hire more people to deal with them. And the few students who got in were very different than before. There was a nearly 50 percent increase in the share of first-generation college students.
--:-- Shamita Basu: COVID created a kind of forced experiment. Critics of standardized tests had long argued that they put some applicants at a disadvantage. That includes Black and Hispanic students, immigrants, and people who come from low-income families, or those whose parents didn't go to college. Before the pandemic, some schools already shifted to test-optional. The University of Chicago did in 2018, and it reported big increases in student diversity. Now colleges are studying the results and reconsidering their policies.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Some of them are making permanent changes. The University of California and Cal State are staying test-optional or test-blind. MIT, on the other hand, says it's going back to requiring standardized test scores. Many competitive schools say they're going to decide later as they gather more data about how these new students do in school.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This reporter profiles a New York high school student. She is the daughter of Ecuadorian immigrants and had nearly straight A's. She dreamed of going to Cornell, but her SATs, they weren't great. Before the pandemic, she might not have even bothered to apply. But when she could do it without submitting a test score, she went for it. And last month, she got great news. Cornell offered her a spot in the class of 2026. She's hoping it keeps the policy in place so future students like her can skip the test and take their shot.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: With inflation so many things are much more expensive than they were before. Groceries, rent, even the dollar store has raised their prices. But there's one product where the price tag hasn't changed at all, and that's Arizona iced tea. It's still only 99 cents. The LA Times has a story, and it's filled with all sorts of fun facts. Like, did you know that prices that end in nines are more resistant to change, even when inflation is on the rise?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Since Arizona iced tea hit the market back in 1992, the price hasn't changed. Even though the price of aluminum is way up, same with the price of corn syrup. The founder says he's fine with keeping the price the same, even if it means he makes less profit. He says he doesn't want to do what the bread guys and the gas guys and everyone else does, passing on cost hikes to the consumer. He's so committed, the price is printed on the cans.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Now, this team makes up about a quarter of the company's revenue. It has other higher margin drinks. Still, the company's gotten pretty creative when it comes to finding ways to cut costs in order to make money with that 99 cent price tag. Like cutting the amount of aluminum in the iconic cans and opening its own factory. And get this, their trucks mostly make deliveries in the middle of the night to avoid traffic.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, it might seem extraordinary that anything could be the same price today as it was 30 years ago. But just consider this. There's actually another beverage that holds the title for having the longest static price tag. And that's Coca-Cola. One bottle of Coke was priced at only five cents for more than 70 years. Arizona iced tea still has a long way to go to break that record.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
