--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, April 19th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, the Supreme Court is set to make a major ruling on abortion. The shooting of 16-year-old Ralph Yarrow brings new attention to self-defense laws in Missouri and around the country, and why severe turbulence is becoming more common on flights. But first, Fox News will pay Dominion Voting Systems more than $787 million. The settlement is the largest known defamation payment in American history.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It ends the lawsuit Dominion brought against the network for airing lies that the company helped rig the 2020 election. This means a trial will not happen.
--:-- John Poulos: Announcing the settlement deal in a statement, Fox News acknowledged that there were false claims made about Dominion. Throughout this process, we have sought accountability and believe the evidence brought to light through this case underscores the consequences of spreading lies. Truthful reporting in the media is essential to our democracy.
--:-- John Poulos: Dominion, our employees, our people, our partners are grateful to the court for allowing us the process for the truth to come out.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The settlement is nearly $800 million. But for context, in its last fiscal year, the Fox Corporation overall reported around $14 billion in revenue across its businesses.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some critics of the settlement say there would have been more truth and more accountability coming out if there had been a trial by jury. Dominion attorney Davida Brooke told CNN that the large payout does hold Fox News accountable.
--:-- Davida Brooke: And the hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence released before the trial were very revealing. This case didn't settle before the documents were made public. This case didn't settle until the world got to see what really went on at Fox News in 2020. And that was what we were focused on.
--:-- Allison Camerata: Allison Camerata worked at Fox News for 16 years. She's now a CNN anchor, and she said on her current network that the settlement let her old company off easy.
--:-- Allison Camerata: Obviously, it's a big windfall for Dominion. It's chump change for Fox. They make more than a billion dollars a year, their news division. And so this is I think this is a victory for Fox. They don't have to put their big stars on the stand and they didn't even have to issue a public apology.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The settlement reportedly does not require Fox News to issue an on-air correction or apology. The network has given minimal airtime to the case and the settlement.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Primetime hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity didn't reference the settlement at all on their shows last night.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There's no guarantee that a jury would have ruled against Fox News, and many media law experts cautioned that a ruling against Fox News could have set a dangerous precedent that would undermine press freedoms.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We'll never know how a trial and the inevitable appeals would have gone down, or what the impact would be. But the end of the Dominion case isn't the end of questions about Fox News' accountability for spreading election lies.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The company also faces a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit from another voting company, Smartmatic. As with Dominion, Fox has called that case meritless and promised a strong defense.
--:-- Shamita Basu: After the settlement news came out, Smartmatic's attorney said Dominion's case, quote, exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox's disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's now quickly look at several big stories developing out of Washington. Today, the Supreme Court is expected to make a major ruling on abortion.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It involves access to the abortion pill, mifepristone. There was a lower court ruling that would sharply limit access. The Biden administration says the pills should remain available while the legal moves play out.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If the Supreme Court does not intervene, the restrictions will take effect at midnight.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yesterday, the court heard oral arguments in a closely watched religious freedom case. A Christian mail carrier had sued his employer, the Postal Service, over being forced to deliver packages on Sundays.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires companies to reasonably accommodate religious observance, but not if that creates what's called an undue hardship on the business.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Washington Post analyzed the arguments and said the justices seem to be interested in a compromise that would allow for religious rights in the workplace but without putting too much burden on managers and co-workers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Last night, President Biden is directing the federal government to help make child care and other family caregiving more affordable.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He signed an executive order to explore ways to use existing federal spending on family care. Biden called the issue of supporting families and caregivers fundamental to who we are as a nation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Under this order, almost every federal agency will collectively take over 50 actions to provide more peace of mind for families and dignity for care workers and who deserve jobs with good pay and good benefits.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Biden originally wanted hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding for child and senior care, but those proposals failed to make it through a divided Congress.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We talked yesterday on the show about the shooting of 16-year-old Black student Ralph Yarrell. 84-year-old white man Andrew Lester faces felony charges in the incident.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Prosecutors say the teenager was at the wrong address and was shot by Lester twice. Lester is now out on bail. Yarrell's family says he is recovering.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We're going to go beyond the headlines now and look at broader concerns about whether Missouri's self-defense laws are leading to more gun violence.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Many states have similar laws, which have been controversial. Missouri law allows homeowners to defend themselves without first trying to retreat.
--:-- Josh Campbell: This all comes down to reasonableness. Now, in order to use deadly force, you have to have two things.
--:-- Josh Campbell: You have to have a reasonable belief that the subject of your force poses an imminent threat, and you have to reasonably believe that your deadly force is necessary to stop that threat.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The law dates back to 2007, which was a pivotal year for gun laws in Missouri.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's when Missouri lawmakers passed a sweeping bill that also allowed people to carry a concealed weapon without first getting a permit.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At the time, there wasn't a lot of opposition to the bill in the state legislature. All Republicans and the majority of Democrats voted yes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Today, the conversation is different. Missouri gun control activists and Democrats are calling for changes to the state laws saying they create an atmosphere where people are more likely to open fire.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Republicans have supermajorities in the state legislature and they say they have no plans to change gun laws.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In recent years, state Republicans have proposed ways to make the law stronger.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Dozens of states have laws similar to Missouri, where people have no duty to retreat from an attacker.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Florida was the first state to pass the so-called stand-your-ground law in 2005, and others followed.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A 2022 study looked at what happened in states after passing laws like this. Gun homicide rates went up by as much as a third.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Bumpy flights have been in the news a lot lately. And we're talking severe turbulence, so bad that some passengers and crew members have ended up in the hospital.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Wall Street Journal reports on how climate change is making this kind of turbulence more common.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Meteorologists say that climate change is distorting the jet stream and that means what's called clear air turbulence is happening more often.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's worrisome for pilots because this kind of turbulence is especially hard to predict and avoid.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Generally though, severe turbulence is rare so aviation professionals don't want flyers to get too worried.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A while back, the journal talked to American Airlines pilot Stuart Walker about this kind of turbulence.
--:-- Stuart Walker: It typically does not last but a couple thousand feet. So if we just descend a couple thousand or climb a couple thousand, we can usually fly out of some of that rough air.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The journal also has a few common sense tips to be ready for turbulence.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You know, things like keep your seatbelt on, make sure kids under two are secure, and keep your laptops and phones in a stable place so they don't fly around if things get a little bumpy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Also, sitting in line with the wings will give you a slightly smoother ride than the back of the plane.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next from New York Magazine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's about Emma Tucker, the new Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief. She had barely started the job when she faced a huge crisis, Russia's detention of reporter Evan Kirshkovich.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's playing for you next, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
