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--:-- Shumita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, December 4th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, why homebuilders are worried about Trump's next term, Gaza prepares for a brutal winter, and how to keep your packages safe from porch pirates. But first, when Tennessee banned gender-affirming care for transgender kids last year, Sarah took time off from work to drive her son hundreds of miles from Nashville to a clinic in North Carolina that would treat him.
--:-- Sarah: I did the math and I panicked. The closest state without a ban was now Ohio, more than 400 miles away. This is a scenario more and more parents of transgender kids are facing, as states ban the type of care that they say they need.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And today, the Supreme Court will weigh in on the issue of health care for trans minors for the first time. The court will decide whether Tennessee can keep a ban in place on things like puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery for transgender minors. But as reporter Orion Rummler with The 19th tells us, this goes beyond Tennessee.
--:-- Orion Rummler: 26 states ban this care very similarly to how Tennessee does. So whatever the court says here in this case will set precedent in these other states. Last year, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against Tennessee arguing that banning this type of health care for trans kids violates the 14th Amendment. That is, discrimination based on sex.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Tennessee's attorney general has said the law is not discriminatory because it applies to all genders and that it sets age and use-based limits on these treatments. Rumler said this idea that health care procedures can be banned for certain purposes or certain groups has some experts concerned about what this case could mean for all people.
--:-- Orion Rummler: If a state can do this, if a state can step in and say, we want to ban or restrict this form of medical care for a specific demographic group of people, they see that as dangerous and that it could potentially enable the government to control people's health decisions or enact what many legal experts would consider other blatantly discriminatory policies.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Similar bans have ended up in court before, though with mixed results. A judge in Arkansas temporarily blocked that state's ban from going into effect, though state lawmakers ended up passing a law that makes it difficult for physicians to get malpractice insurance coverage for gender-affirming care, effectively what some call a backdoor ban.
--:-- Sarah: My son was withdrawn, frustrated with puberty, and had attempted suicide. But since getting treated, he sees him feeling more confident and more at peace. I'll do whatever it takes to keep us safe and him happy, even if that means moving to another state.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Although oral arguments begin today, the Supreme Court's decision won't be known until sometime next year. There are two policies President-elect Trump has repeatedly promised to enact when he takes office in a few weeks. One, deporting massive numbers of migrants who are in this country illegally, and two, imposing tariffs on non-American goods.
--:-- Elizabeth Findell: Most people said they don't really know that they can prepare. One home building company, its president, said that they had started an internal assessment of how much the tariffs could increase their home prices. Another head of a large home building company, when I asked him what he was thinking of doing, he said retire.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Undocumented workers make up an estimated 13 percent of the construction industry. That's more than twice the number for the entire American workforce. And in places like Texas, California, and New Jersey, that number is even higher.
--:-- Elizabeth Findell: Trump's promise of mass deportations could make hiring for these jobs much more difficult. Builders really told me that even when unemployment is really high, they still don't find many native-born Americans who are willing to take their most physically difficult jobs, especially in hot areas where you could be out in temperatures of 110, 120 degrees trying to frame a house or lay pipe or something like that.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And it tends to be immigrants who want to take those jobs. Trump has also proposed tariffs of up to 25 percent on goods coming in from Canada and Mexico. That could hit some of the essentials for home building, like imported lumber, steel, and cement.
--:-- Elizabeth Findell: And the effects won't be limited to just construction. It'll impact the whole housing market. Builders are telling me that these policies are going to increase home prices and potentially slow down building, which is significant because we're seeing all over the country now increased home prices and shortages of housing in a lot of places.
--:-- Shumita Basu: At the same time, the construction industry largely supports Trump, in part because Trump has said he would ease regulations to allow for more building to take place even on federal land. Industry leaders told Findell that although there's a lot of anxious energy right now, a lot of them are hopeful they have Trump's ear.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Let's turn now to the war in Gaza. On Monday, President-elect Donald Trump said there would be, quote, hell to pay if hostages being held by Hamas aren't released before he takes office in January. Israel estimates there are at least 60 hostages presumed to still be alive and held in Gaza, including three Americans.
--:-- Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump for his strong statement.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Hamas has said the war needs to end and Israel needs to withdraw from Gaza as part of any deal to release the remaining hostages. Netanyahu won't agree to those terms and says the war will continue until Hamas is eradicated.
--:-- Shumita Basu: In the 14 months since the war began, 44,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's military offensive. The U.N. says that almost all of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people has been displaced.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Earlier this week, Israel's former defense minister called Israel's operation in Gaza an ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza are bracing for a long and cold winter. Aid groups say that malnutrition, hypothermia, and the flu will become some of the less visible consequences of war.
--:-- Shumita Basu: CNN spoke to displaced families living on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, who were hit by the first really heavy rainstorm of the season earlier this week. CNN captured video of children walking around barefoot as their parents shoveled sand in an attempt to protect their nylon and plastic tents from the tides.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Um Fadi told CNN that they are trapped from all directions, by the sea, by Israel, displacement, and hunger. And here's another displaced Palestinian, Mohammad Yunus. He says the sea engulfed us. Where do we go? We can't live. We can't eat.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And he asks how he'll keep his kids warm tonight and through the winter. Aid workers told NPR that it's been hard to prepare for winter because not enough aid is getting into the country.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Last week, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees said it was pausing aid deliveries along a key route because armed gangs have been threatening aid workers and looting convoys. The UN blames Israel for restricting the flow of aid. Israel blames Hamas and says it is allowing aid in.
--:-- Shumita Basu: But the head of a humanitarian group on the ground says, at the rate aid is moving in, it would take at least two years to get the supplies needed to cover people in Gaza just for this winter.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories being featured in the Apple News app. President Biden is in Angola this week on what is possibly his final overseas trip before he leaves office. He's the first sitting president to visit the country.
--:-- Shumita Basu: He's there to promote American investment in sub-Saharan Africa at a time when the U.S. and China are vying for influence over the region. He also visited a slavery museum yesterday, where he called slavery America's, quote, original sin.
--:-- Shumita Basu: While history can be hidden, it cannot and should not be erased. It should be faced. It's our duty to face our history, the good, the bad, and the ugly, The whole truth. That's what great nations do.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Reporters traveling with the president also asked about his decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden. The White House press secretary told reporters that Biden wrestled with the decision but stands by it.
--:-- Shumita Basu: In other news, yesterday, the Department of Labor announced a new rule that could impact the wages of roughly 40,000 Americans with disabilities. Bloomberg News explains that since the FDR era reforms in the New Deal, there had been a law on the books that allows employers to pay some workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The justification for the law at the time was that disabilities hinder productivity. But we have, of course, come a long way since then. The new rule announced yesterday would phase out this practice.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And finally, as all your Black Friday and Cyber Monday online shopping is starting to make its way to your doorstep, beware of porch pirates. Tis the season for grinchy behavior.
--:-- Shumita Basu: According to one safety and security group that tracks package theft, more than 120 million packages were stolen across the U.S. in 2023. NPR says there are a lot of new services out there that can help to keep your packages safe, including porch pirate bags, which lock to your front door.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Amazon can also deliver directly into your garage in certain locations if you're a Prime subscriber. Experts say smart doorbells are a good deterrence, too, and can help police catch thieves.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And the Wall Street Journal has an article about a new insurance service called Porch Pals to cover the cost of stolen packages. But as the article points out, no option is really foolproof.
--:-- Shumita 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. Rolling Stone has the story of a body found in a New York nightclub and why it took more than 20 years to figure out the victim's identity and what happened.
--:-- Shumita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story. And we'll be back with the news tomorrow. Thank you.
