--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Thursday, October 27th. I'm Shamita Basu. 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.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: It's that time in the midterm election cycle when reporters fan out across the country to ask voters how they're feeling. The Washington Post did this in an interesting way. They sent reporters to NFL stadiums in swing states and asked tailgaters what they're thinking about.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: So let's start in Georgia, where the Senate race could determine which party controls Congress. Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock is up against Trump-endorsed Republican Herschel Walker.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Georgia voters told the Post that the economy, the preservation of democracy, and abortion are the key issues driving their decisions. And remember, they're at a tailgate, so what you're about to hear is pretty noisy.
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--:-- Guest 1: Abortion is extremely important because it's really more so not about abortion itself, but about women having the same equal protections and freedoms as every other citizen in this country.
--:-- Guest 1: I think the allegations against Herschel Walker just further validate the fact that he is not an appropriate candidate for Senate. Walker has campaigned against abortion rights. Recently, the mother of one of his children said he paid for her to get an abortion in 2009. Yesterday, a second woman made a similar accusation. Walker has said both allegations are not true.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In Ohio, where voters favored Trump in both 2016 and 2020, the Senate race between Republican J.D. Vance and Democrat Tim Ryan is tight.
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--:-- Guest 2: One person told The Post, even though they voted for Biden in 2020 they planning to vote Republican this time. Due to Congress being right now at 50 basically I would vote for J Vance just because I do not want to see a Democratic agenda move forward because I think they done everything wrong this term within the last two years.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In the Pennsylvania Senate race voters will decide between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz, best known as a TV doctor.
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--:-- Guest 3: The Post found that opinions there generally fell along geographical lines. Suburban and rural voters mostly favored Republicans. Definitely going to vote for Oz. The crime's getting bad in every Democrat-run city.
--:-- Guest 3: And voters from urban areas largely said they support Democrats. I plan on voting for whoever's going to be running in the Democratic Party. It believes that the 2020 election was fair. I'm concerned about our democracy. That's the biggest issue for me.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can get much more midterms coverage in the Apple News app.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: There's heavy fighting happening in eastern Ukraine today. And in the south, Russia is reinforcing Kherson, where a coming battle could determine whether Putin's forces can hold out there.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: One way to think about recent fighting is as Ukraine's attempts to take more Ukrainian land back from Russia before winter sets in. It's typically harder to capture territory in war than to defend it, and the brutal weather on the way will make advances even tougher.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: The Wall Street Journal looks at all the ways that winter will change the battlefield. Some are obvious. The weather hurts troops' health and morale and calls for extra boots and socks.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: But some are more complicated. For example, for Ukrainian forces, it'll be harder to hide. They often fire artillery and then move the weapons before Russia can counterattack. But in winter, Russian drones could see their tracks in the snow, and fewer leaves makes it harder to shelter in forests.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Unlike Russians, Ukrainian troops may be able to rely on local support sympathetic residents who can give them fuel or a place to stay.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: As the Journal points out winter battles have sometimes been decisive. In the Revolutionary War, George Washington rolled the dice on a risky crossing of the Delaware River during a Christmas snowstorm. It made a surprise attack possible, turning the tide of the fight against the British.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Now in Ukraine, both sides will face new struggles in the cold weather. As a Ukrainian analyst tells the journal, land warfare is generally very difficult. Winter warfare is doubly challenging.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Leaders across the globe say that they're racing to cut greenhouse gas emissions and slow down climate change. But a new report from the U.N. says they're not moving quickly enough.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: According to the report, which was released on Wednesday, the world is nowhere near hitting targets to reduce emissions. And the planet is on track to warm by an average of 2.5 degrees Celsius by the year 2100.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: That's one full degree higher than world leaders committed to in the 2015 Paris Agreement. If the world falls short of these goals, scientists predict more extreme weather events and possible species extinction.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has been vocal about the action he wants to see. We cannot wait until after 2030 to move away from fossil fuels, particularly coal, or to peak global emissions.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: This report landed as world leaders prepare to meet in Egypt next month for the annual UN Climate Change Conference.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: At last year's summit, countries vowed to step up efforts to reduce emissions. But the UN says only a handful submitted updated climate plans. The head of the climate office calls that disappointing.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: It can be frustrating to hear reports about global setbacks in dealing with climate change. But there are stories of progress on reducing carbon emissions, like this one, about a daily routine for many American families, riding the school bus.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Districts across the country are trying to make bus rides sound less like this. And more like this. That is the sound of an electric bus.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: More schools are trying to phase out their diesel buses. Yesterday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced close to $1 billion in grants for school districts to buy thousands of electric buses.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: A while back, popular science looked into how switching from diesel to electric buses could improve kids' health. Bus pollution can be linked to asthma and cardiovascular disease, and the risks are higher for low-income communities, where children don't have as many options to get to school.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Asthma rates for Black children are close to twice the rate of white children, and studies show that exposure to pollution can hurt students' performance in the classroom.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Federal money can help offset the higher upfront cost of electric buses. But savings on gas and maintenance could make them cheaper in the long run.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Green transport advocates say it could be possible to switch all American school buses to electric by 2030.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app now, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next from Wired. It's about a pill that could make your dog live longer. And maybe you too, eventually.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: So enjoy that listen, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
