--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Friday, September 6th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, the surprising states where Democrats are fighting to win House seats, why weed today is so much stronger than it used to be, and how Brazil became obsessed with the NFL. But first, to a horrific story about the types of violence women athletes face in one of the running capitals of the world, Kenya.
--:-- [Discussion of Rebecca Cheptegei's death]
--:-- Celestine Carone: Doctors treating Rebecca Cheptegei have told local media that the 33-year-old died after she suffered organ failure as a result of the extensive burns she suffered in that attack on Sunday. Doctors had said that her burn percentage was at 80 percent and she had been in critical condition since arriving in hospital.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Kenya has long produced some of the world's most successful competitors in distance running. It's won more elite marathons than any other country in the past two decades. The small town of Iten is training ground for elite runners. That's what brought Cheptegei, who's originally from Uganda, there. She chose to come and live and train in Kenya, in Iten specifically.
--:-- Celestine Carone: And this is an area in this country which is known to produce so many top distance runners. So really, really tragic for also Kenyan athletes who really knew her. I've been speaking to Sam this morning and they all talk about an athlete. They really found to be very affable. She was very nice, very easy to deal with as well.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Cheptege's father told reporters he had previously gone to the police and reported concerns about the man who attacked his daughter. Police say an investigation is underway. Cheptege is the third female athlete killed in Kenya since 2021.
--:-- Larry Mado: These three cases happening so soon next to each other really bring the issue of femicide for female athletes in Kenya to the fore and waiting for any kind of action from legislators, from authorities in Kenya to make sure that athletes who bring so much glory to their country don't suffer this kind of violence.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Across Kenya and Uganda today, so much pain and loss because she was an Olympic athlete. She was probably going to go on to do some great things in her career. And sadly, her life cut short. Cheptege leaves behind her two daughters who authorities say witnessed the assault. Police say they plan to charge the man who attacked her after he recovers from his burn injuries.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's turn now to November's elections, and specifically the races for the House of Representatives. Last week, we looked at the 10 races that could determine which party controls the Senate. Today, let's focus on the House races to watch and the surprising places to pay attention to.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Hey, Shamita. So as we know right now, Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House. In recent weeks, though, Democrats have expressed some more confidence with a Harris-Walls ticket than they did when Biden was in the race. Where do Democrats see their path?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yeah, I mean, I think it's important to level set here and basically just talk about what Democrats need to win. They only need to net four seats to regain a majority. So on paper, that would suggest they feel relatively good about the possibilities here, right?
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Conversely, there are 16 Republicans who sit in districts that President Biden won in 2020, meaning that defending those seats for Republicans is going to be a bit of a tougher road. So these are districts where voters selected a Republican representative and the Democrat for president.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, Democrats only have five seats, five congressional seats that are up for grabs this November that are in districts that voted for Trump. Overall, when you look at the national picture, the Cook Political Report rates nearly two dozen races as toss ups.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Yeah, this is the interesting part that you alluded to. When we talk about the presidential election, it's often within the confines of six or seven key swing states, Midwest, Sunbelt, things like that. But Democrats here for the House are really going to be fighting hard in solidly blue states, states like California and New York.
--:-- Shamita Basu: These are two that are all but certain to vote for Harris. But down the ballot, things might get a little bit interesting. Take, for example, California's 27th district. It stretches across northern Los Angeles County, and it's a place that Biden won easily in 2020. But a Republican representative holds the seat there and soundly defended it in the 2022 midterms.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Cook has rated that race as a toss up. And there are about half a dozen like that race across California that are drawing the attention and financial resources of both parties. The same thing really goes for New York.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Democrats are looking at places like the district represented by Republican Mike Lawler. He's a freshman who barely won in 2022. He represents a district north of the city. That is also another toss up.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And when we think about what these districts look like, what the voters look like, what the representatives look like, the New York Times reported that in the last midterm election, some voters in California and New York might have been inclined to vote against the parties leading their states, due in part to higher costs, public safety issues.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And then so now in this race, some of these Republican incumbents are trying to hold on to that voter that might want to pick Harris for president by differentiating themselves from the more far right tilt of the elements of the Republican Party.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And tell me a little bit more about Republicans. Like, where are their pickup opportunities? So these are a little bit more geographically diverse some districts where Democratic reps held onto their seats in 2022 even as Trump won those districts in 2020 include Marcy Kaptur in Ohio ninth That's, you know, north in the state.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It includes the city of Toledo and Jared Golden, a Democrat in Maine. There are others in Washington state and Alaska as well.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So, Shamita, we've been hearing a lot about redistricting. I know that in some places there are new district lines. How is redistricting playing a role in these races?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yeah, it's a really, really important question. So earlier this year, the New York state legislature approved new maps that didn't dramatically change their congressional odds very much, at least not as much as it could have for Democrats.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But the new lines did make at least two congressional districts decidedly more blue. For example, one is represented by a first-term Republican in central New York. That race appears to be quite vulnerable.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Then there have been some ongoing legal battles of racial gerrymanders. So earlier this year, the Supreme Court allowed a map to be used in Louisiana that includes a second-majority Black congressional district. Black residents make up about a third of the population statewide.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: There was also a similar legal battle that took place in Alabama. All of these new maps could also have an impact on the overall makeup of the House.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Okay. Gideon Resnick, thanks for keeping an eye on this.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Yeah, thank you.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're old enough to have ever smoked weed in a year that didn't start with a two, let's just say what the kids are smoking today is way different and way stronger than the marijuana you know.
--:-- Malcolm Ferguson: Reporter Malcolm Ferguson looked into this for The Atlantic. He says the federal government recently ran some tests and found today's weed has more than tripled the THC levels compared to the stuff from 25 years ago.
--:-- Shamita Basu: THC is the psychoactive component in weed that makes you feel high. And he told us that's kind of by design. Casual smokers aren't the industry's top customers. They're looking for people who are going to be buying a lot of weed and smoking it a lot.
--:-- Malcolm Ferguson: And those people tend to have a preference to higher THC products, or at least products that are labeled as higher THC. So the industry is meeting what their demand is, essentially.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Ferguson went to a national cannabis summit in Washington, D.C. He said investors would use the terms high quality and potent almost interchangeably. And while that might be good for regular smokers who've developed a high tolerance, it can be a frustrating experience for people who want low doses of THC to just relax.
--:-- Malcolm Ferguson: A lot of people who I started college with and who were smoking weed don't smoke today or smoke a lot less today. You know, they talk about they can't smoke weed without like really shaking or freaking out.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In the response to this article, I got a lot of people being like, I have a story exactly like this where I freaked out. People were coming up to me in the office talking about, you know, when they've had, you know, negative psychoactive, quote unquote, experiences with marijuana.
--:-- Malcolm Ferguson: Recreational marijuana is legal in 24 states, but it's still illegal at the federal level, which has led to a patchwork of state by state policies. That's meant that marijuana products aren't regulated or dosed the way pharmaceuticals or other highly regulated products are.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Ferguson says it's a good thing we've moved so far away from our once draconian and racist policies on the drug. But maybe the pendulum has swung too far, too fast.
--:-- Malcolm Ferguson: This is not meant to be some kind of like, you know, reefer madness scare kind of thing. You know, I just think that THC and the strength of weed has outpaced our policy on it. I just think we need common sense thoughtful approaches to how we should regulate this especially when it getting more and more popular with people who are getting younger and younger.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Ferguson says if we are OK legalizing the drug, even at the state level, we need to be prepared to regulate it properly. And that's going to take change at the federal level. He says unless the federal government changes the way it classifies marijuana, we won't see a national safety standard for recreational use.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go, here are some other stories being featured in the Apple News app. In Georgia, the father of the 14-year-old suspected to have killed four people in a shooting at Apalachee High School has been arrested and charged with multiple counts of second-degree murder.
--:-- Malcolm Ferguson: It's the most severe charge filed against a parent of an alleged school shooter. Investigators say 54-year-old Colin Gray allowed his 14-year-old to possess the AR-15-style rifle used in the assault.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This comes just a few months after the Michigan parents of a 15-year-old who killed four classmates in 2021 became the first parents of a school shooter ever convicted for involuntary manslaughter.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Hunter Biden pleaded guilty yesterday to federal tax charges just before jury selection was set to begin in his trial. It was an unexpected move, as he had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges that he didn't pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019.
--:-- Malcolm Ferguson: The back taxes have since been paid. The plea comes a few months after a Delaware jury convicted Biden on gun charges.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In a statement, Hunter Biden said the anguish caused by the previous trial was not something he was willing to put his family through again. Sentencing is scheduled for December.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, today, Brazil will become the first country in South America to host a regular season NFL game. The Philadelphia Eagles are going up against the Green Bay Packers tonight in Sao Paulo.
--:-- Malcolm Ferguson: The Washington Post goes deep into how the NFL built such a serious following in Brazil. Over the last decade, Brazilian fans of the American League quadrupled from 10 million to more than 41 million.
--:-- Shamita Basu: For many years, the fact that Tom Brady was married to Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen drew many Brazilian eyes to the game. And no American football team is more popular in Brazil than the Green Bay Packers.
--:-- Malcolm Ferguson: One Brazilian fan told the Post it's his dream to visit Wisconsin one day. where it's cold, rural, far from the ocean, essentially the opposite of everything he grew up with.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And check out our weekly interview show, In Conversation. This week, we talk with labor leader Ai-jen Poo about aging in America and how we can handle the care crisis that's coming.
--:-- Malcolm Ferguson: Every single day, we have 10,000 people turning 65 in America. And the question is, how will we adapt our culture, our systems and our policies to support it?
--:-- Shamita Basu: You'll also hear stories from our listeners about their struggle caring for aging loved ones. I fly to San Francisco on a regular basis to arrange my mom's care. I saw firsthand how demanding it is to care for someone.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the Apple News app right now, that episode is queued up to play for you next. Enjoy your weekend and I'll be back with the news on Monday.
