--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning. It's Wednesday, July 14th. 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: Senate Democrats say they found a way to fund President Biden's top economic priorities. The budget number they agreed to is $3.5 trillion. And they can pass it without Republican support. CNN has the details of the bill.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Democrats say this money would go toward expanding Medicare and the child tax credit. The bill could also potentially change the immigration system and tax code. In order to pass, this bill is going to need support from all Democrats. President Biden is expected to talk to Senate Democrats today. He's trying to win support from moderates concerned about the price tag.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Cuba has seen some of its biggest demonstrations in years. People took to the streets to call for food and COVID vaccines and freedom. In the U.S., this is putting pressure on a new administration that hasn't prioritized Cuban relations since President Biden took office.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: As Miami Herald explains, Biden is being pulled in opposite directions over Cuba. Republican lawmakers want the White House to take a forceful stance and are calling for tougher sanctions. They also want Trump-era restrictions against Cuba to stay in place.
--:-- Shamita Basu: U.S. policy toward Cuba has changed over recent presidential administrations. The Herald walks us through the history. The Obama administration took steps toward normalizing relations with Cuba. But Trump reversed those policies. Biden pledged to reverse those reversals, potentially including restarting cruises and commercial flights. But he has not given specifics yet.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: While the GOP is urging a hard line, some Democrats are arguing for historic change. Some on the left are calling for an end to the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. It's been in place for decades now. The White House has offered support for the Cuban people, but said little about potential policy changes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A country that drew little attention from the administration so far is now proving difficult to ignore. Many Americans whose homes are destroyed by natural disasters are having trouble getting government aid to rebuild. This is an especially big problem in the Deep South.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: That's where a legacy of discrimination left some Black homeowners unable to prove they own their property. People are getting trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare that's preventing them from rebuilding. Washington Post reporter Hannah Dreyer went to rural Alabama to understand what's happening.
--:-- Hannah Dreyer: I went to Hale County expecting to see homes with tarps over the roof or homes with stairs that were busted up. But instead, what I saw were these homes that had stood for years and years since a generation after the Civil War that were now just totally gone. So you'd walk up and see stairs that had led to a home, but now the home was just splinters in a tree. Or a place that had been a peach orchard, but now where the orchard had stood, it was all just snap trees.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Dreyer explains, in the South, more than a third of Black-owned land is passed down informally. This is one of the legacies of the Jim Crow era, when African Americans were shut out of the legal system. That discrimination led to an informal system where property changed hands without deeds or wills.
--:-- Hannah Dreyer: The lack of a formal paper trail is a problem when families need to prove ownership in order to get FEMA disaster aid. The Post's analysis found that in parts of the Deep South, FEMA rejected up to a quarter of applicants because they couldn't prove ownership. There's no legal requirement for definitive proof in order to get aid. It's a policy FEMA came up with to stop scammers. And that policy is hurting Black homeowners.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Dreyer told us past denials left many residents reluctant to even ask FEMA for help. I think Black people in this part of the country are pretty used to the federal government telling them no. There's also a long history there of white people trying to take land. So I think a lot of Black tornado survivors were suspicious. Like, why is FEMA so interested in making me provide a deed? What is the federal government trying to do with this?
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are ways to recognize people who inherit property informally. After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, FEMA created a process where people could self-certify home ownership. But that only applies to islands and tribal areas. So for now, many Black homeowners in the South are stuck.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: An estimated 1.3 million adults in the U.S. have something in common with Britney Spears. They're living under illegal conservatorship. That means someone else has been put in charge of their finances and their daily life. The next hearing in Spears' case is today. And what's happening to her has put renewed focus on a conversation that's been happening for a long time among disability rights advocates who say conservatorships can be abusive.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, a diverse group of national politicians is calling for reform. Not all problems can be solved at the federal level. States have primary control here. But lawmakers say Congress can still take action. Political reports on how both sides of the aisle are jumping on this issue, from Elizabeth Warren to Ted Cruz.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Conservatorships are designed to handle the affairs of people who have difficulty doing it themselves. But in the wrong hands, these legal arrangements can be tools for stealing and abuse. The victims are often older people. Critics in Congress say the federal government can help by gathering better data and providing support to states so they can better look out for people living under conservatorships.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Advocates for vulnerable Americans say they're hoping the spotlight on Spears' conservatorship will help drive reform. The senior director at Syracuse University's Disability Rights Center says he's working with people right now who are in situations like Spears. But he says, quote, the difference is they are not pop stars.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The cyclists in this year's Tour de France are nearing the finish line, but there's one unofficial rider who's already done. When Lachlan Morton pedaled onto the Champs-Élysées before sunrise on Tuesday morning, he not only finished all 21 stages of the race, he did it without any support crews or prepared meals. The Wall Street Journal has the story of the rider who's trying to capture the original spirit of the race by doing it more like it was done 100 years ago.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Morton slept in a sleeping bag. He ate food he could buy at rest stops and gas stations along the way. And when his clip-in cycling shoes were hurting his knees, he tried riding with sneakers. He eventually used a pair of modified Birkenstocks that became his signature look for the ride.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Yeah, Morton was not trying to make it easy for himself. See, the official cyclists take a bus between stages of the race, but Morton pedaled the distance in between each leg. That made his route over 60% longer than the actual race. His ride raised money for an organization called World Bicycle Relief. The charity provides bikes to people in the developing world. The goal here is to prevent them from having to walk long distances. Bikes make it easier for them to get to school, to doctors, and to the market.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And while you're there, check out some of our audio stories. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
