--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Monday, October 16th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, the latest in the Israel-Hamas war, why some states are paying off student debt for graduates, and how a teenager became an unlikely symphony composer.
--:-- Shamita Basu: An Israeli ground invasion of Gaza could be imminent. A major ground assault did not come over the weekend, as some expected, but small numbers of Israeli troops did enter to conduct raids and reconnaissance.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israel has warned civilians in Gaza City to leave, but they have few places to run, with borders sealed shut. Israel is keeping food, water, and power from getting into Gaza.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The situation in hospitals is especially dire, with doctors low on supplies and saying they can't evacuate sick and wounded patients. Authorities in Gaza say close to 3,000 people have been killed so far by the Israeli strikes, a quarter of them children and around 10,000 wounded.
--:-- Shamita Basu: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday there's a deal coming together with the U.N., Israel and Egypt to open the crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But Israel said today that there's no current ceasefire deal for that part of Gaza. This would allow foreigners inside Gaza to escape and humanitarian aid to come in.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are hundreds of tons of supplies in Egypt ready to go in. President Biden told 60 Minutes that he fully backs Israel's right to defend itself, including eliminating Hamas.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I think that it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza again. But to going in and taking out the extremists, the Hezbollah is up north, but Hamas down south is a necessary requirement.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Biden also said that the U still supports a path to an independent Palestinian state. There are concerns that the fighting in Gaza could trigger a much wider conflict.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Last week a far government minister said his office would distribute thousands of firearms to Israeli citizens, particularly in the occupied West Bank.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Palestinian authorities say dozens of Palestinian people have been killed there since Hamas' attack on Israel. And there's been new conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the militant group based in Lebanon.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Around the world, police are watching for bias attacks targeting Jewish and Muslim citizens. In Illinois, a boy who recently turned six was stabbed to death and his mother seriously injured.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A man is charged with a hate crime. Police say he targeted the family because they were Muslim. Ahmed Rahab from the Council on American-Islamic Relations talked about the dangerous climate in the U.S. right now.
--:-- Ahmed Rahab: We're not only completely heartbroken and devastated by what happened, but we are afraid of what may happen more in the future.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now let's take a quick look at some other stories in the news.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There could be a Speaker of the House vote tomorrow, but it doesn't look like Jim Jordan has enough support from fellow Republicans to win.
--:-- Shamita Basu: With the GOP edge in the House razor thin, Jordan can only afford to lose four Republican votes. Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, says there have been informal bipartisan talks about some kind of coalition which would allow House business to proceed.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Abroad, two major elections happened over the weekend. In Poland, the Nationalist Party appears to be on track to lose power, but the opposition didn't win enough seats to get an outright majority, so it'll have to cut a deal with smaller parties to take over.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And in Ecuador, a center-right candidate won a solid majority over his leftist opponent. The country has recently had a spike in violent crime tied to drug trafficking.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And in business news, Taylor Swift smashed box office records for a concert movie opening.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Arras tour film which was shot during a stop on her current tour took in nearly million in domestic box office sales far ahead of everything else in theaters.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Moving on to a story that stood out to us about higher ed.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Lots of young people choose a college thinking that's where they'll spend a few years of their lives before moving on to some bigger, brighter future.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Well, now several states with aging populations are trying to figure out how to get more young people to stick around.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They're making creative offers to students at local colleges. Stay in the state after graduation and we'll give you money to pay off some of your student debt, sometimes as much as $100,000.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The education news outlet The Hechinger Report looked into this and found dozens of states now offer some kind of student loan repayment program.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Often they're for specific professions where states need workers. Illinois will help pay student loans for school social workers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Utah offers assistance to doctors and dentists who work in underserved areas. South Carolina focuses on teachers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But some states will help graduates in any field. Maine and Vermont have the oldest and third oldest populations in the country, respectively.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And as more and more people retire, there are concerns about the future workforce. Mimi Duong talked to Vermont Public Radio about taking the state's offer to stay in return for help with her student loans.
--:-- Mimi Duong: All the adults in Vermont tell me, hey, you should get out, like, at least, like, in your life, at least leave Vermont for a couple years and then come back if you want to.
--:-- Mimi Duong: I might take that advice, but we'll also see how deep my roots are in two years from now.
--:-- Mimi Duong: Because I might end up just loving it here.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Vermont program is new, so it's too soon to fully assess impact. But an economics professor is happy with the early numbers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And he says other states may launch similar programs if solid results unfold.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Finally a little music to end our show today. A symphony with an incredible backstory.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It was created by a 19-year-old with non-verbal autism. For most of his life Jacob Rock could only communicate through gestures.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But in the last few years, text-to-voice software allowed him to talk. And his parents learned he was very passionate about music.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That passion led him to compose this symphony called Unforgettable Sunrise, which was recently performed by an orchestra in a University of Southern California concert hall.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Los Angeles Times tells the story of how this music came to be.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Rock had the melodies and arrangements in his head for years, but he didn't have the ability to write musical notation or play an instrument or even tell anyone about his love of music.
--:-- Shamita Basu: With the text-to-voice software, he could describe it in words. Vivid ones, with phrases like, The violins are demanding sleep and the horns are demanding pain.
--:-- Shamita Basu: To capture his vision, he worked with an experienced musician, a longtime family friend.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Rock would describe in detail what he wanted, and the musician would play options on the piano until Rock heard what matched his imagination.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He says the symphony represents 70 minutes in his mind.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's also a rare window into the experience of living with autism.
--:-- Shamita Basu: After the show, and a long-standing ovation from the crowd, Rock told his dad it was the best night of his life.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now he's already working on his next project, an opera.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app, including WNBA finals coverage.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next from New York Magazine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's about the NBA and a new kind of digital reporter who's transforming sports journalism.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Enjoy listening to that, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
