--:-- Gideon Resnick: Good morning. It's Wednesday, March 20th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shemitah Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Coming up on today's show, child stars say they were abused on Nickelodeon sets. The psychology behind why people are still complaining about inflation, even though data shows it slowed down. And how the pandemic fueled a toilet revolution. But first, let's take a brief look at some major stories that are in the news.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In Texas, a legal battle over a controversial immigration law is heating up, with important rulings just hours apart. First, yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the law to go into effect. After that ruling late last night, a federal appeals court put the law on hold. This law would have allowed state officials to arrest and detain people suspected of crossing the border illegally. Immigration enforcement is a federal government function, and there are concerns among advocates for migrants about the implications here. The case is back in court today.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In politics, there are more results in from primary elections in a number of states, where President Biden and former President Trump continued to rack up wins. But there were also races further down the ballot that could have national impact. In Ohio, Trump's pick for the Senate, Bernie Marino, won the primary. That race was seen as a key test of Trump's influence.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In his victory speech, Marino made clear how important this endorsement was. I want to thank President Trump for all he did for me, for this campaign, for his unwavering support, for his love of this country.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In November, Marino will face Democratic incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown. That race is likely to be one of the closest in the country and could ultimately determine whether Democrats keep control of the Senate. You can find more 2024 election coverage on the Apple News app.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And overseas, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is back in the Middle East today. This is the sixth time that he's been there since war began between Hamas and Israel. Weeks of talks for a temporary ceasefire still have not led to a deal. And the food situation is getting more dire for Palestinian civilians. Israel, meanwhile, has rejected U.S. advice to call off a planned ground assault on Rafah, where more than a million Palestinian civilians are taking shelter.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Just a quick warning here to listeners that this next segment references sexual abuse. A new documentary series from Investigation Discovery is out this week with some unsettling allegations about staffers at Nickelodeon.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In the 90s and early 2000s, the channel rocketed to popularity with a special formula. Children were the audience and the stars of the shows. In this docuseries called Quiet on Set, several former child stars along with their parents and former employees say they experienced sexual abuse, racism, and gender discrimination behind the scenes of a number of hit shows.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And they say young performers were often put in scenes with uncomfortable sexual innuendo. Actor Drake Bell publicly revealed for the first time that when he was 15 years old, he was sexually abused for months by one of his adult colleagues, an actor and dialogue coach named Brian Peck.
--:-- Drake Bell: I really don't know how to elaborate on that on camera, really. Why don't you think of the worst stuff that someone can do to somebody as a sexual assault? And that'll answer your question. I don't know how else to put it.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Peck pleaded no contest to two charges of child sexual abuse and was sentenced to 16 months in jail in 2004. Bell says the abuse he experienced led to self-destructive behavior as he got older. In 2021, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempting to endanger children and a misdemeanor charge of disseminating material harmful to juveniles.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The documentary series also focuses on Dan Schneider, the creator, showrunner, and executive producer behind a number of hit shows on Nickelodeon at the time, like All That, Zoe 101, iCarly, and many more.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Schneider was seen as responsible for launching the careers of stars like Ariana Grande, Kenan Thompson, and Amanda Bynes. And there are a number of allegations leveled against him in the docuseries.
--:-- Jenny Kilgan: Jenny Kilgan worked for Schneider on The Amanda Show. She was one of two women in the writer's room at the time, and they were forced to split a salary.
--:-- Jenny Kilgan: In the documentary, she accuses Schneider of wage theft, sexual misconduct, and more. Dan was showing pornography on his computer screen. He asked me several times to massage him in the writer room and in the studio. And he would say things sometimes like, "Can please give me a massage?" I put one of your sketches in the show.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: She wasn't the only staff member who said Schneider asked for massages. He said yesterday in an interview about the documentary that he regrets doing that today and knows it was inappropriate.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Schneider has not worked for Nickelodeon since 2018. The network cut ties after an internal investigation found there was evidence that Schneider was verbally abusive. But it found no evidence of sexual misconduct.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In the past, Schneider has denied all allegations and also denied the company's account of how his employment ended. But yesterday, he said he now believes he definitely owes some people a pretty strong apology.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In response to the documentary, Nickelodeon said it has adopted numerous safeguards over the years. But the child stars, the parents, and the former employees interviewed in it say there is still a long way to go to protect children on Hollywood sets.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Today, the Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates steady. And investors are going to listen closely for clues on when the Fed may actually start to cut rates.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: There have been some hints about possible rate cuts because of cooling inflation, but that is not what some people feel when they are shopping for groceries. The Wall Street Journal explains the numbers and also the psychology behind why some Americans have this gloomy view of the economy.
--:-- Rachel Wolf: For some household staples like bleach, eggs, and dog food, prices are up more than 50% since just before the pandemic. And Consumer Trends reporter Rachel Wolf told us, a lot of people just can't make sense of the new totals they're seeing at the checkout.
--:-- Rachel Wolf: They're shopping in 2024 with expectations set in 2020. We basically knew what we were going to be paying whenever we went to the store, which locked that price into our minds. All of our reference prices, however, have become unmoored because prices shot up so much in such a short period of time.
--:-- Rachel Wolf: A recent poll by the journal found almost 75% of people said higher prices at the store outpaced the income gains that they've made. And many shoppers are noticing that in some cases, product packaging is changing too. So they're paying the same or more for less stuff in what's known as shrinkflation.
--:-- Rachel Wolf: Basically people no longer feel that they're getting the value they once did for what they're buying. And so that's souring the national mood because people feel ripped off.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: All of this is something to keep in mind when Fed Chair Jerome Powell talks about the economy later today. The economic data can tell a clear and positive story. But no matter what the numbers show, it can be hard to change people's perceptions.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: We're going to end on another thing that happened during the pandemic. People buying all kinds of new things to deal with lockdowns and shortages. You, for example, might have some home gym equipment or a video game console that's gathering dust in a corner somewhere.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But the Washington Post reports there is a certain bathroom purchase that a lot of people are still quite happy they made. So remember when toilet paper was practically impossible to find? Well, as some people sought out alternatives, they landed on bidets.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Suddenly, American bathrooms started to look European. Bidet sales boomed in America during the pandemic. And the sellers of these bidets tell The Post they expect more growth.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: People have personal reasons for wanting a bidet, but they're also catching on for environmental reasons since they can cut paper use. After all, the U.S. is the number one user of toilet paper per capita. And in other countries, bidets have been quite common for a while now.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But the U.S. is far behind by comparison, with just 6% of households having bidets. But it does have its superfans who are trying to convince friends and family to get on board. Like one woman from Virginia who told The Post, her bidet literally changed her life.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So much so that she even bought a travel version so she's never without one. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And if you're already listening to the news app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next. Men's Health looks at the current hydration craze and how drinking too much water can do more harm than good for your health.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
