--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Tuesday, October 1st. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, what to expect from tonight's vice presidential debate, remembering the glory and the scandal of the late Pete Rose, and the treatment that helped Jimmy Carter reach 100 years old today. But first, to North Carolina, where hundreds of thousands of people still have no power after Hurricane Helene.
--:-- Duke Energy spokesperson: Duke Energy says the majority of its customers will have power back no later than Friday evening. But the company also pointed out many parts of North Carolina are still inaccessible. So it'll take workers longer to get those places up and running.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As we explained in yesterday's show, the landslides and flooding triggered by Helene closed roads across the state, which means most of western North Carolina is totally isolated. No power, no Internet. Cell service has been unreliable, too.
--:-- Quentin Miller: We're having challenges recovering, folks. You know, when you're normally used to picking up a phone, you can't do it. Power. We have people here that don't have power. They don't have the ability to flush a toilet. And it's very, very challenging.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some communities are setting up mobile cell towers and Starlink satellite internet to restore communication. FEMA is sending Starlink systems plus generators. Wireless providers have also enabled disaster roaming in the state, so people can connect their phones to any available network, regardless of their mobile plan.
--:-- Sam Perkins: I had done the math in my head and, you know, figuring how long someone can go without water, you know, nonetheless, if they need more immediate medical attention. And so at 48 hours, I decided I needed to try to get there. And I can't tell you how many landslides and collapsed roads and trees I had to cross to get to them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Nearby communities like Chimney Rock in neighboring Rutherford County were effectively washed away by the floods. In USA Today, one local said, what was once a town is now a river.
--:-- Lizzie Brewer: It was just unrecognizable when we were going around just looking to see if anybody was okay. I drive those roads all the time and I just couldn't even picture where we were anymore. And just knowing that nobody is ever going to be able to live there probably.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Election officials across the region are making emergency plans so that people displaced by flooding can vote. North Carolina is, of course, a battleground state, and there are worries about mail-in voting there.
--:-- State election official: The post office in the county is open, and 200 ballots were dropped in the mail yesterday.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Tonight is the vice presidential debate, pitting Minnesota Governor Tim Walz against Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Hey, Shamita. So set the scene for us here. The candidates are meeting tonight in New York City. We know that the mics will not be muted tonight. What else should we expect?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Well, look, given the fact that we don't know that there is going to be another presidential debate, this really might be the last chance for these campaigns to make their pitch to voters in front of a live national audience.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And I think we're going to hear both of these candidates really fighting tonight to bring some of those undecided voters in critical battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to their sides. Also, of course, juice turnout for the voters that are already thinking about backing either of these two tickets.
--:-- Shamita Basu: To state the obvious here, Vance and Walls are both white. They're both from the Midwest. And I think they are both going to be talking about how their visions for the country should appeal to those critical voters in these states where any small amount here or there is going to make quite a big difference.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So let's stick with Vance for a second here. He joined the ticket at a time when the Trump campaign was feeling very confident about President Biden. Trump is said to like Vance's combative style. How might that translate to the debate stage tonight?
--:-- Shamita Basu: I think it's likely that Vance will be quite combative. You know, as we've talked about before, he has had this evolution from harshly attacking Trump, calling him at one time, quote, cultural heroine, to now being in this position where he really staunchly defends him and often in some ways takes pages from the Trump playbook.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: For example, the false narrative he promoted around Haitian migrants eating people's pets, these flat-out lies. When we look at how Vance has been preparing for the debate tonight, he's been working with a Republican representative from Minnesota, a guy named Tom Emmer.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, Emmer and Walls have known each other for quite some time, and there's some reporting out there that Emmer is trying to kind of subtly match the folksy approach of Walls in the prep and get Vance ready in that way.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In terms of subject matter, we can expect Vance to kind of as Trump did in his debate with Harris attempt to portray Walls as too liberal. We could also hear Vance going after Walls' military record.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You know, as you know, both Vance and Walls are veterans. Walls served in the Army National Guard for 24 years until he retired in 2005. Walls then ran for Congress. And a few months later, his battalion received an order about deploying to Iraq.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So Vance and some other Republicans have accused Walls of ditching his unit to avoid the deployment. We should say that PolitiFact notes that Walls submitted retirement paperwork months in advance. And Walls has responded to this accusation by defending his service and anyone who did serve, Vance included.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But this has all reminded Democrats of the swift boat accusations against John Kerry in 2004, which had a similar tenor to it, and the claims ended up being false against him. But one of the people that was involved in it was Chris LaCivita, who is actually currently serving as Donald Trump's presidential campaign manager.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Okay, talk to me about what Walls has been doing to prepare to debate Vance tonight. So Walls has his own stand-in for Vance in the form of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and the two of them in interviews have tried to argue that they are more authentically Midwest in terms of the values and the backgrounds they represent than Vance does.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And beyond what we just mentioned on his military record, Walls is also preparing to be attacked by Vance on his response to protests following George Floyd's murder in Minnesota while Walls was governor.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Trump and Vance have tried to paint him as a Democrat to sort of oversaw lawlessness in that aftermath. And on the flip side, Walls will almost certainly convey Vance as sort of a faux populace, you know, citing his Ivy League education and Silicon Valley ties.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And as we've reported on the show, Walls is sort of an atypical politician in the sense that he owns no stock and has a net worth similar to ordinary Americans, much more so than, you know, Trump, Vance, or even his own running mate, Kamala Harris.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So we're certain to hear him talk about his middle class upbringing, value, circumstances, experience as a teacher, etc., and so forth.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And, you know, one other thing that will be interesting to see here head to head is that Walls has done this kind of media blitz around labeling Vance and Republicans as, quote unquote, weird.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And I think, you know, specifically one of the things that's likely to emerge might be Walls targeting Vance for previous comments that he perceives as extreme, including Vance's prior hardline opposition to abortion, a position which he has apparently moderated since he's joined the Trump ticket.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Ultimately, these candidates are there to defend their tickets message. And we know a lot of voters make their choices based on the president and not the vice presidential candidates. But what do we know about how voters feel about Walls and how they feel about Vance?
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Walls is viewed more favorably in polling than Vance. But tonight's debate may well be an introduction for a lot of people to both of them or, you know, to both of them more in depth than they had previously learned about before.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the slight interesting new spin here when we talk about this debate versus the last one is that people are in fact voting right now. So perhaps if someone on the fence they see something tonight that interests them one way or the other maybe that the thing that makes their final decision.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Well we will check back in when the debate is over.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Thank you, Gideon.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Yeah, of course. Thank you.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories being featured in the Apple News app. Israel has sent troops into Lebanon to target Hezbollah. Its forces haven't entered the country like that in nearly 20 years, since fighting a month-long war in 2006.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon in recent weeks have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced about 1 million, according to Lebanese officials.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In the U.S., tens of thousands of dock workers are now on strike. We talked about this on yesterday's show. Union members walked off their jobs at dozens of ports from Maine, down the East Coast, and all the way around to Texas.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The strike began just after midnight. The union argues that the port operators have low-balled workers on wages. And in turn, the operators accuse the union of refusing to negotiate.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Like any negotiation, the cost of not reaching a deal could be extremely high for both sides, and the strike could impact the whole U.S. economy if it goes on for a long time.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Baseball's Pete Rose has died at the age of 83. His stats on the field would have made him a lock for the Hall of Fame, but the all-time leader in hits was banned from the sport for betting on the game.
--:-- Shamita Basu: USA Today's MLB columnist Bob Nightingale wrote a piece, reflecting on many conversations he had with Rose over the years, where Rose wondered if he would ever be forgiven by the league and mused that even players who'd been arrested or suspended for drug use had been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Nightingale writes, No one played the game harder, no one cared more about the game, and it was all taken away.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, today, for the first time in U.S. history, a former president is celebrating a 100th birthday, Jimmy Carter. Nearly 10 years ago, his life was at serious risk due to skin cancer that spread to his liver and brain.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Medical experts say the reason the former president is still alive today is because of groundbreaking immune therapy treatment he received.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Back then, it was a newer, more experimental cancer treatment. But now, immunotherapies are a major part of the fight against cancer, along with surgery, chemo and radiation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Carter's doctor says the former president got the same treatment as any patient. That the best thing to do for a famous patient is forget that they're famous.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next. A men's health writer spent 10 days in silence at a retreat that blocks reading, writing, even eye contact.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You'll hear what he learned about overstimulation and anxiety. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
