--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Friday, November 12th. I'm Shamita Basu. And I'm Duarte Giraldino. 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.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: A disturbing pattern is emerging from the many threats made against local election workers. Reuters has been documenting and studying hundreds of intimidating messages sent to election officials in 12 states. What they found is, in a lot of cases, law enforcement is not taking these threats seriously. And many of the people doing the harassing live in different states than the people they're targeting.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We spoke with reporter Linda So about what's motivating the people behind these threats.
--:-- Linda So: They all believed that the 2020 election was stolen. Many of them believe that Trump won that election and that he should still be the president. Reuters managed to get in touch with nine people who admitted to making some of these threats. Eight of them spoke on the record. They identified themselves by name and told Reuters that it wasn't just former President Trump who directly inspired them, but also Trump allies, people who cited false fraud claims to denounce election officers around the U.S.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Also, many of them consumed far-right websites or got their news from sources like OAN, BitChute. And they shared conspiracy theory videos with us that expressed concerns about the 2020 election and that there was fraud and that it was stolen.
--:-- Linda So: As I've said, when Reuters told these nine people their messages scared election workers, only two of them expressed regret. The rest were unapologetic. Some even said election workers deserved the menacing messages.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One person Reuters spoke to, his name is Ross Miller. He's a real estate investor in Georgia. He targeted a Fulton County elections director. And basically told him that he better run, that he would be tarred and feathered and executed unless he did something about the voter fraud.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: However, the police department there, the Fulton County Police Department, declined to investigate the matter because they said that the message did not constitute a threat under Georgia law.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That lack of action is part of a pattern Reuters identified this wave of harassment in an earlier investigation over the summer. Based on that reporting, the Department of Justice launched a task force to investigate threats against election officials. But so far, there have been only a few arrests and no convictions.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Members of local law enforcement told Reuters many of the threats simply couldn't be pursued. But legal experts told Reuters more than 100 of these threats could warrant prosecution.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In June, Congressman John Serbanes of Maryland introduced legislation that would make it a federal crime to intimidate, threaten, or harass election workers. The bill hasn't been voted on yet.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In the meantime, some election workers told Reuters they're worried about the long-term impacts of these threats. They're concerned that this will lead to people deciding that they don't want to work in elections anymore. And so, they're worried that they will lose a lot of valuable people to help run the election.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's hard to overstate how big a deal the $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan is for America's aging transportation systems. For Amtrak, it's going to be especially transformative.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Some of this money will go towards the biggest expansion in Amtrak's history. The bill sets aside $66 billion in new funding for repairs, station improvements, trains, and the modernization of the Northeast Corridor, which is the nation's busiest route.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This plan could shorten travel time between D.C. and New York by 30 minutes, which is a lot for a trip that might usually take around three and a half hours.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Washington Post explains updates to the Northeast Corridor's crumbling infrastructure are long overdue. These funds are going to chip away at a backlog in repairs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Well, that's great news for the Northeast. The plan is ruffling some feathers on the West Coast. California's massive bullet train has been in the works for a long time now, but construction costs are soaring, so the project is stalled.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Los Angeles Times explains some of the reasons why the West lost out on federal funding. For one, states in the Northeast came together with a unified proposal for multiple state delegations. California's project, on the other hand, doesn't have bipartisan support.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Plus, as The Times points out, maybe it doesn't hurt that the president is a big fan of Amtrak. California officials are hoping that Build Back Better, which is the Democrats' second spending package, will contribute more funds if it passes.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But the LA Times says, even if the money currently earmarked winds up in the eventual package, it's still not likely to be enough.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's really hard to find a public bathroom these days. Before the pandemic, restrooms and restaurants and bars, they filled this void. But when these types of places closed during the lockdown, it became clear just how few truly public toilets there really are in American cities.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Which means public urination rates have spiked in some cities. There have been reports about desperate Uber and Amazon drivers relieving themselves in bottles and people who are homeless turning to adult diapers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Bloomberg News is out with a story that looks at the history of public bathrooms in this country and why there are so few of them.
--:-- Linda So: One of the earliest campaigns for more public bathrooms came about a century ago. Some progressive thinkers at the time were pointing out it's a public health issue. Funny enough, they found themselves joining forces with an unlikely group, people who were against alcohol consumption.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The argument was, if there are more public bathrooms, men wouldn't find themselves walking into bars to use the facilities and be tempted to stay a while to have a beer.
--:-- Shamita Basu: For a while, that argument worked. There was a surge in building public restrooms in the early 1900s. And these bathrooms were usually designed with high ceilings, shiny white tile everywhere to make them seem extra sparkly and clean.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But within a decade or two, that movement lost steam. Those ornate public bathrooms turned out to be expensive to maintain. And the types of people who were once advocating for bathrooms had enough money to spend at theaters, hotels, and department stores.
--:-- Shamita Basu: These were all places with nice public restrooms. And this set the foundation for how America thought about public restrooms. They became part of the consumer model. You go into a store or a restaurant, you buy something, you can use the facilities.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Which, of course, creates this gap between people who can pay and those who can't.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This Bloomberg story goes deep into the history of public bathrooms in America and the social and civil rights struggles over who's allowed to use them. It really is a fascinating read.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: You can check it out in the Apple News app or tap on the notification we send you midway through the show.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Okay, so close to a million children between the ages of 5 and 11 got their first COVID shot. There have been a lot of news stories about parents who are feeling relieved and hopeful, but what stood out for us are the stories that highlight what this is like for the kids.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Yeah, shout out to my old public radio station, WNYC. The Brian Lehrer Show had a live call-in segment just for kids.
--:-- [Sound of a live call-in segment]
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now here's Kai in Brooklyn, who is nine years old.
--:-- Kai: And at the end, a little tiny pinch, and I was done. I felt really good that I did the right thing, and I'm really happy I got my first vaccination.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: That is really cool. Because I have nationals. I have track me. I have a truck me and it's Nationals. It's in Kentucky. So if I get my vaccinations, I can fly there on a plane because I really like flying on planes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Lots of the kids who called in said they were scared of needles, but in the end, they were happy that they did it.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Oh, and a lot of them said the thing that they're looking forward to the most is going to the movies.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The New Yorker also spoke with kids at a vaccination site. Seven-year-old Danaise Flores said the COVID-19 vaccine was like getting a long nail poked into your body. But she also called it great and fun.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Sam Rohr, on the other hand, he's 10 years old and in the fifth grade, told The New Yorker, when I got the vaccine shot, I felt absolutely nothing.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This New Yorker story is a nice one to skim. It's got these great portraits of the kids and just a few quotes from each of them. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And check out our weekend interview show and conversation. This week, I speak with journalist Kat McCowan. She recently wrote for Popular Science about new research that suggests there is something in your blood that may be the key to undoing the effects of aging.
--:-- Shamita Basu: What was so cool about this line of research is that it's not just about stopping the process of aging and the onset of all these serious chronic diseases. It's about reversing them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Enjoy that weekend listen. We'll be back with the news on Monday.
