--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, December 1st. I'm Shamita Basu. And I'm Duarte Giraldino. 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.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Today, the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in one of the biggest abortion cases in decades. The case is Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Even though we don't expect a ruling for several months, activists on both sides are already preparing for a world where Roe v. Wade is gutted or completely overturned. They're expecting big change from the court's most conservative lineup in decades.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We spoke to Alice Miranda Olsteen, a health care reporter at Politico.
--:-- Alice Miranda Olsteen: A decision overturning Roe v. Wade wouldn't automatically ban abortion, but it would return the choice of where and how to restrict abortion back to the states. And so it'll set off this big flurry of action and political fight at the state level about what each state's policy will be going forward.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Abortion rights groups are creating contingency plans for women who live in states where abortions might no longer be an option. They are soliciting donations. They're recruiting volunteers to drive people across state lines. They are trying to figure out ways to mail abortion pills to people in those states.
--:-- Alice Miranda Olsteen: For anti-abortion groups, overturning Roe would be the culmination of years of work. And for them, it would be just the beginning. You're seeing a lot of lobbying of state governments and the federal government to pass new bans and restrictions on abortion if the Supreme Court gives the green light for them to do so. You also seeing a lot of drafting of model bills to enact those bans and restrictions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A dozen states already have so-called trigger laws. These laws automatically ban abortion if Roe is overturned. To get a glimpse of what a post-Roe future may look like, Olsteen points us to Texas. It banned most abortions earlier this year. Texans seeking abortions have to leave the state, break the law, or carry an unwanted pregnancy to term.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: New York City is launching a first-in-the-nation program to fight a wave of opioid deaths. It's opening government-run sites where people can use heroin and other illegal drugs under medical supervision. The hope is they'll help reduce overdoses, cut the spread of diseases, and get more people into addiction treatment.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At these sites, users can have their drugs tested to make sure they don't contain fentanyl. That's the synthetic opioid that helped push the number of deaths to record levels. Recent CDC data shows more than 100,000 people died from overdoses in a year.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Some say these climbing numbers are a sign that the existing approach to the opioid crisis isn't working. Supervised drug injection sites are part of a philosophy called harm reduction. That's a public health strategy that focuses on minimizing the harmful effects of drug use to keep people safe.
--:-- Shamita Basu: New York's mayor said the city went this route after extensive study. This idea of giving people a safe and clean space to use drugs, it's not new. NPR points to sites in Australia and Canada, which have gotten pretty positive results.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Cities including Denver, San Francisco, and Seattle proposed similar programs, but strict drug laws and legal challenges stood in their way. New York says it's not aware of any legal challenges to its program. The mayor's office says it's working with the NYPD and district attorneys to make sure these sites can operate. It's not clear whether federal law enforcement will get involved.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Last year New York City alone counted more than 2,000 overdose deaths. A city health department study says these sites could help save up to 130 lives a year.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Books that you read growing up may be banned in some schools today. The list of America's most debated books has Nobel Prize winners Tony Morrison and John Steinbeck, even classics like Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The reasons cited vary. Morrison's The Bluest Eye draws complaints for explicit sexual content. To Kill a Mockingbird angered some parents for its racial slurs and white savior character.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Guardian caught up with the director of the American Library Association. She's alarmed by what she sees as more and more attempts to ban books in schools. And she says some of this is being driven by organized campaigns by conservative groups.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She's concerned more elected leaders are going after books to motivate their political base. A woman who attacked Morrison's novel Beloved even made it into a Republican ad in Virginia's governor's race.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: So when my son showed me his reading assignment, my heart sunk. It was some of the most explicit material you can imagine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The director of the American Library Association says the kinds of books that are most frequently targeted are ones with LGBTQ themes or those that deal with racism.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In The New Yorker, Harvard historian Jill Lepore argues, reading battles won't go away anytime soon. She winds the clock back to 1989. And a surprising fight over Dr. Seuss's The Lorax. Remember the plot? The orange creature with the bushy mustache, bravely trying to protect a forest?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Sounds innocent, but a few parents in Northern California took offense. They worked in logging, and they wanted the book taken off the required reading list for second graders.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Lepore connects the history of book banning fights to the present including campaigns by those on the left and the right. And she says the book banners will win if conservative and progressives agree that banning books is OK even if they disagree on which ones to axe.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And as for the Lorax, it survived that fight all those years ago. The school board ultimately kept it on the list.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: There are a lot of stories right now about places that are struggling to find workers during the pandemic. The Washington Post has one with a holiday twist. Santas are in seriously short supply this year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: To understand why, just think of the classic image of Santa Claus. Older guy, big belly. That means high COVID-19 risk. And a lot of men who've played the role decided they don't want to risk dealing with big crowds and potentially unvaccinated children.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Many are sitting out this year or retiring. The Post points out the shortage might actually diversify the Santa scene, drawing some fresh talent beyond the older white guys who typically dominate.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Companies that book Santas say they've had to turn down a lot of requests, and they've also had to get creative. One company founder said she managed to find one new person to hire this season. He's a little too young for the gig, but she said she'll make it work with some stage makeup.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Post speaks to a Santa in Virginia who is a clean-shaven 21-year-old. You can see him with and without his costume and see if you buy the transformation. I personally think he looks really good.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, if you're listening to the Apple News app, just tap that notification we send you midway through the show, and you can see the full article, including this Gen Z Santa, for yourself.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And while you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners. We'll talk to you again tomorrow.
