--:-- Shumita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, October 23rd. I'm Chamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Chamita Basu: On today's show, new revelations about Trump's relationship with Putin, Republicans chip away at Democrats' early voting lead, and mass shooting survivors turn to an unusual legal strategy for justice. But first, to an issue that a lot of Americans care about and could play a big role in this year's election, the cost of housing.
--:-- Abha Bhattarai: People are all of a sudden being hit with this affordability crisis where their rents are going up 20, 30 percent. Home prices are going up and with that, property taxes and insurance costs. And it's really putting a strain on a lot of people's budgets.
--:-- Chamita Basu: Abha Bhattarai is an economics correspondent at The Washington Post. She told us rising prices and low housing supply have put the dream of home ownership out of reach for many Americans.
--:-- Abha Bhattarai: A post analysis found some of the people feeling the impact the most are in swing states, like North Carolina, where Botter Eye spoke to dozens of voters from Wilmington, a coastal city in a pretty swingy county.
--:-- Botter Eye: It was really fascinating. Every single person, I talked to about 40 to 50 people, just of all walks of life, and every single person said housing costs were top three priorities. It was cost of living, but when you sort of drill down, housing costs made up a huge chunk of their monthly budgets, and that was a big concern.
--:-- Abha Bhattarai: In Wilmington, home prices have climbed 65 percent since 2019, close to 20 percent higher than the national average, according to data compiled by Zillow. Counties in other battleground states like Georgia and Arizona have seen similar trends.
--:-- Botter Eye: The pandemic brought building to basically a standstill, contributing to a housing shortage that's only gotten worse since the 2008 financial crisis. And in many of these swing states, the demand for homes also went up. Whether people retired or maybe working remotely, they said, OK, you know what? I don't need to live in New York anymore. I can move down to North Carolina. I can move to Georgia and make my dollar go further. And in turn, that has lifted demand for housing in those places and lifted prices along with it.
--:-- Abha Bhattarai: Both Harris and Trump have put some policy proposals forward with these voters in mind. We've heard housing come up a lot on the campaign trail, which is a bit of an anomaly.
--:-- Chamita Basu: Harris has said that she would champion the building of three million new homes, specifically affordable starter homes to help young families get started. She's also proposed $25,000 in down payment support for first-time homebuyers and put forth a number of tax credits, incentives, local funding to promote affordable housing, whether that's rentals or new homes. It's become a real cornerstone of her campaign.
--:-- Abha Bhattarai: Trump has been a little bit less specific, but he's proposed a lot of the same things. Trump has talked about easing permitting and regulatory requirements, And he's also claimed that his plan to deport millions of undocumented migrants would help the housing shortage. CBS News estimates his plan would cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. And the CEO of the National Association of Home Builders told NBC News he believes Trump plan would make housing supply and affordability worse
--:-- Chamita Basu: As for Harris some economists have raised questions about whether that down payment support would end up creating a rush of competition for homes and push prices up ultimately helping sellers more than buyers
--:-- Chamita Basu: Veteran journalist Bob Woodward, who famously broke open the Watergate scandal in the 70s, has been making the media rounds to promote his latest book called War. The Guardian calls it a sobering but alarming must-read. It's about the threat of wars during the Biden administration, but the most headline-grabbing revelations in the book are about President Trump, the relationships he had in office and continued to maintain after he left.
--:-- Bob Woodward: And Putin says, you know, don't tell anyone. And Trump, oh, I don't care. Putin says, no, don't tell anyone because he's looking out. This is an alliance. And of course, what do they do? Cover it up.
--:-- Chamita Basu: The Kremlin has since confirmed that Trump sent Putin tests. Trump was asked about his contact with Putin last week by Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwaite.
--:-- John Micklethwaite: Can you say yes or no whether you have talked to Vladimir Putin since you stopped being president?
--:-- Trump: Well, I don't comment on that, but I will tell you that if I did, it's a smart thing. If I'm friendly with people, if I have a relationship with people, that's a good thing, not a bad thing. In terms of a country.
--:-- Bob Woodward: According to Woodward's reporting, since leaving office, Trump has called Putin seven times. Woodward told PBS NewsHour that Trump's relationship with Putin is an insight into his character.
--:-- Bob Woodward: When Trump says something is smart, that means he's either done it or he's planning on doing it. So the relationship between Putin and Trump is central to understanding Trump. because what the characteristics of Trump are, he really has no plan. It's just what comes into his mind. And he has no team. And he operates alone.
--:-- Chamita Basu: Woodward's reporting contrasts Trump's way of approaching Putin with Biden's more typical diplomatic channels. At one point, Woodward writes he was surprised to learn just how seriously Russia was considering using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
--:-- Bob Woodward: The deputy head of the National Security Council told him it was a coin flip whether Putin would or wouldn't. And Woodward credits diplomacy for pulling Putin back from the brink.
--:-- Chamita Basu: The Trump campaign says none of these made-up stories by Bob Woodward are true. His vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance, called Woodward a hack. But some of the people who were once closest to Trump are corroborating the stories and the warnings.
--:-- John Bolton: He will do an incredible amount of damage if we're not prepared for it and don't see it coming. As I say people can vote for Trump if that I not going to obviously but they need to do it understanding it will be serious problematic here at home and internationally once he gets his hands back on the wheels of power
--:-- Chamita Basu: Let's turn now to a new and unusual legal strategy that some victims of mass shootings are using to seek a small form of justice, copying the name of the shooter and any written manifestos so that they have control over how it's mentioned in the media going forward.
--:-- Robin Buller: They are coming from a place of really extreme trauma and anger. And they want to do whatever they can to protect themselves from having to see the name of the shooter repeated over and over again in the media. or to see the writings or videos produced by perpetrators circulated online over and over again. So there's an element of personal protection here.
--:-- Chamita Basu: This summer, citing copyright law, judges handed victories to survivors of two mass shootings in two separate cases. The survivor of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, was granted copyright over the shooter's name. And a judge in Nashville ruled that journals belonging to the gunman suspected of killing three students and three workers at the Covenant School in 2023 cannot be released to the public because they legally belong to the victims' families.
--:-- Robin Buller: The families and survivors believe this approach will not only give them more control over the narrative after mass shootings, but also possibly prevent the next one. The reason being that materials or the names of shooters being circulated have actually been shown to inspire people who might be considering committing an atrocity like this.
--:-- Chamita Basu: Buller pointed to reporting from Mother Jones that found the media's focus on the Columbine gunmen in the aftermath of that mass shooting has inspired over a hundred other plots and attacks in the years since.
--:-- Robin Buller: She says the goal of many of these families pursuing this legal strategy is really to inspire a culture shift. And one in which people think about using the name of an individual who is seeking notoriety or, you know, share or reproduce a traumatizing, violent piece of video footage. Having people sort of realize what the repercussions of that are for victims and their families is a win in and of itself.
--:-- Chamita Basu: But the strategy is so new that it's unclear how it will be enforced. And there are questions about which victims should get these rights. In mass shootings with multiple victims, for example, one person holding the copyright could mean the material gets used in ways other victims don't agree with.
--:-- Chamita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories being featured in the Apple News app. Aid workers are warning about dire conditions in northern Gaza where more than 350 patients including pregnant women are trapped inside the last three operational hospitals in the region.
--:-- ABC News: The area has been under siege for weeks. A chief nurse at one of the hospitals told ABC News that the water supply has been cut off that they need permission from the Israeli Defense Forces to run their electric generator, and that there is no food.
--:-- Chamita Basu: The IDF say they're targeting Hamas militants and have ordered evacuations of the area. They're estimated to be somewhere between 200,000 and 400,000 people who live there.
--:-- Chamita Basu: Here in the U.S., we are less than two weeks from Election Day, and more than 20 million people have already cast their ballots, either in person or by mail.
--:-- University of Florida's Election Lab: That's according to the University of Florida's Election Lab, which tracks this data. Typically, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to vote early, by pretty wide margins. But the Wall Street Journal says this year Republicans are challenging that trend.
--:-- Chamita Basu: So far, about 45 percent of the early votes have been cast by Democrats, while 33 percent have been cast by Republicans. Around this time four years ago, more than half of early ballots cast were done so by Democrats.
--:-- Chamita Basu: In other election-related news, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday that former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani must turn over his Manhattan penthouse, as well as some valuables, to two Georgia election workers who he defamed four years ago.
--:-- CNN: The election workers Ruby Freeman and Shea Moss are mother and daughter. Giuliani specifically and repeatedly called them out in the aftermath of the 2020 election, falsely claiming they had tampered with the election results.
--:-- Shea Moss: I no longer give out my business card. I don't transfer calls. I don't want anyone knowing my name. I don't want to go anywhere with my mom because she might yell my name out over the grocery aisle or something. I don't go to the grocery store at all. I haven't been anywhere at all.
--:-- Chamita Basu: In addition to Giuliani's valuables and penthouse, Freeman and Moss are also entitled to about $2 million in legal fees. Giuliani has said the Trump campaign still owes him.
--:-- Chamita Basu: And finally, last night was the start of the NBA season and the 22nd season opener for LeBron James. This season is special for James for a big reason. His son Bronny is on the Lakers, too, marking the first time in history a father and son are playing together in the NBA.
--:-- The Ringer: The Ringer is out with 22 early predictions. At the very top is a prediction that maybe isn't super bold, but must be said, that the Boston Celtics will be the NBA champs again this year. They also predicted Luka Doncic will lead the league in points and assists. As for who might fail spectacularly, the ringer has some pretty harsh words for the Brooklyn Nets, writing that their upcoming season will give dumpster fires an aromatic charm.
--:-- Chamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next. The Atlantic looks at the rise of gentle parenting and whether it works. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Chamita Basu: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
