--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Monday, October 6th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, the new tense Supreme Court term begins. Why doctors are canceling telehealth appointments for seniors and the modern mysteries being solved by Leonardo da Vinci's sketches. But first, to the Trump administration's escalation of federal force as it seeks to send national troops into Democratic-led cities.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Over the weekend, President Trump made two major announcements aimed at Portland and Chicago. After a federal judge blocked an earlier attempt to send Oregon's National Guard into Portland, Trump attempted to deploy the California National Guard there instead, sparking outrage from California Governor Gavin Newsom.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But late last night, a court temporarily blocked that move, too, citing a lack of evidence that recent protests in Portland justified a heightened federal response. Oregon's Attorney General Dan Rayfield had spoken out against the president's attempts at a press conference earlier on Sunday.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We need leadership in this country that understands the power of bringing people together to solve our greatest challenges. But the president right now is persistent on acting like a door-to-door salesman and doesn't understand that when the court says no, the court means no.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And Trump finally carried out on his threat to authorize the National Guard to Chicago, again citing ongoing violent riots and lawlessness. Illinois' governor, J.B. Pritzker, described Trump's move as outrageous and un-American.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This move comes as the administration continues to ramp up its immigration crackdown in Chicago. More than 1,000 immigrants have been arrested in the area since increased enforcement began last month. And news reports from the last week have included the use of unmarked trucks, helicopters, and chemical agents.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As arrests have risen, so have demonstrations. One ICE facility in the western suburb of Broadview has become an epicenter of protest as people chant at officials and attempt to prevent vehicles getting in and out, while demonstrators have accused officers of unprovoked violence.
--:-- Violet Miller: I'm Violet Miller, a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. We've seen increased use of chemical irritants, tear gas, pepper spray, pepper balls, even rubber bullets against both protesters and journalists. Those tensions have been kind of flaring up.
--:-- Violet Miller: So that's been kind of a mainstay. ICE agents continuously fire on protesters, often without provocation. I've personally witnessed agents firing pepper balls at protesters who were dancing on public sidewalks.
--:-- Violet Miller: On Saturday morning, federal prosecutors charged two Chicago residents with deliberately ramming into a vehicle being driven by ICE officials. One was shot and wounded by federal agents. This caps off a week of what residents have described as increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement actions.
--:-- Violet Miller: Last week, a Black Hawk helicopter was seen hovering near an apartment building in the South Shore neighborhood as ICE agents conducted a raid on a building where DHS claims members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua frequented.
--:-- Violet Miller: Miller told us how people who lived there described the raid: What residents inside said it was agents going door to door bringing everybody out zip-tying everybody, including children who were not clothed. They were not given time to change.
--:-- Violet Miller: Many of the residents inside were not only U.S. citizens, but were awoken by flashbang grenades going off. Some folks said that they kind of popped their heads into the hallway and saw it coming down.
--:-- Violet Miller: Images of the aftermath show hallways strewn with tenants' possessions, broken windows, and doors knocked off of hinges. 37 people were arrested in that raid, and Governor Pritzker directed state agencies to investigate claims that children were zip-tied and detained separately from their parents.
--:-- Violet Miller: A DHS spokesperson said four children who are U.S. citizens with parents who are undocumented were taken into custody until they could be, quote, put in the care of a safe guardian or the state. And they confirmed that at least one U.S. citizen with an active narcotics warrant was arrested during that operation.
--:-- Violet Miller: Pritzker told CNN on Sunday that federal agents are antagonizing communities. They're raiding neighborhoods where instead of going after the bad guys, they're just picking up people who are brown and black and then checking their credentials.
--:-- Violet Miller: They need to get out of Chicago if they're not going to focus on the worst of the worst, which is what the president said they were going to do. They need to get the heck out.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now to the Supreme Court, which begins a new term today. Justices are set to decide on a number of cases with massive implications for President Trump's authority over government.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Maureen Grappi is a Supreme Court correspondent for USA Today. We're coming off their summer break, but it hasn't been that much of a break because there have been so many Trump administration emergency requests.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: In those emergency requests, the president has enjoyed a streak of wins at the highest court, as the justices have allowed some of his controversial policies to move ahead while those cases are being litigated in lower courts.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: Now we're going to start seeing the court deciding whether those policies can stand or fall altogether. Grappi told us the first case where justices will decide on the limits of presidential powers involves Trump's tariffs.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: These are the sweeping worldwide tariffs that he imposed. There have been multiple challenges and we've gotten some rulings from lower courts and they have said that the president overstepped. He didn't have the authority to impose tariffs this way.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: Trump imposed those tariffs under powers given to the president by a law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which Grappi reports has historically been used to impose sanctions and other penalties on foreign enemies during a declared national emergency.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: Grappi says the court has in the past been skeptical when presidents claim some form of sweeping authority. The justices, for example, ruled against President Biden's student loan forgiveness program, which he implemented under emergency powers.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: So a lot of people think that's going to be a stumbling block for the court. But on the other hand, the court gives presidents more leeway when it comes to foreign policy issues. So the tariffs they are definitely an economic issue but the president has used these tariffs as a foreign policy tool And that probably going to have some sway with the justices
--:-- Maureen Grappi: Another case the justices will hear is about whether Trump can fire members of independent agencies This one involves the FTC and a 90-year-old Supreme Court precedent that established presidents cannot fire heads of agencies without cause.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: The decision, known as Humphrey's executor, laid a key piece of the foundation for how the executive branch should interact with powerful federal agencies that regulate labor, discrimination, the airwaves, and many other important issues.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: Trump and conservative legal theorists argue the agencies that are part of the executive branch should answer to him. Grappi told us that justices have been chipping away at the Humphrey's decision for years.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: That's all to say, Grappi described it as an unpredictable term ahead. We're going to be getting this showdown between the administration and the Supreme Court, where the president has been pretty pleased with the rulings that he's gotten from the court so far.
--:-- Maureen Grappi: And we have to see whether he's going to continue to be pleased. And if he's not, if he gets a decision that he doesn't like, how is he going to react to that?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Along with tariffs and the future of the Fed, immigration will also take center stage. The justices might be asked to make a call on the future of birthright citizenship and Trump's use of a wartime law to swiftly deport a group of Venezuelans earlier this year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's turn now to one of the byproducts of the government shutdown, impacting millions of seniors across the country. Broadly speaking, Medicare and Medicaid will keep functioning as usual during the shutdown.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But last week, Congress let funding expire for two COVID-era Medicare programs that had bipartisan support. As Congress has staggered into the shutdown, popular telehealth and hospital-at-home programs for seniors got kind of caught in the crossfire.
--:-- Lauren Weber: I'm Lauren Weber, a reporter with The Washington Post. Video health care visits gained popularity with seniors during the pandemic. More than 6.7 million seniors got care via telehealth last year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
--:-- Lauren Weber: That's close to a quarter of Medicare beneficiaries. For elderly people with limited mobility or transportation issues, telehealth has become a lifeline. In the absence of this funding, Medicare enrollees can only access telehealth services in rural areas, and they must be in a designated hospital or clinic.
--:-- Lauren Weber: Kyle Zebley, the senior vice president of public policy at the American Telemedicine Association, told PBS NewsHour how this will affect patients. It means that for patients receiving cancer care, mental health areas of treatment, primary care treatments and visits, they no longer have access to this care that's clinically appropriate care that meets them where they are, that is far more flexible than, of course, going into in-person settings.
--:-- Lauren Weber: It drags us backwards, not only to the beginning of the decade, really, again, in effect, to 1997 when these provisions were previously put into place in law.
--:-- Lauren Weber: At the moment, it's left many providers with the challenging decision to either suspend their services or, in some cases, continue with their patients and hope to get reimbursed later.
--:-- Lauren Weber: I spoke to the owner of a specialized language and swallowing therapy clinic in rural Texas, who said she's worried that the lack of funding will have severe consequences for her elderly patients.
--:-- Lauren Weber: These are patients that have advanced conditions including Parkinson dementia multiple sclerosis and they choose to see her Vietel because they don't want to do long drives They maybe can handle it because of their health or afford the gas or dependent on family members or caregivers to transport them
--:-- Lauren Weber: So this, for her, she's really worried that this could mean the difference between them getting treatment or not.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The other impacted program is one that provides in-home hospital care for Medicare beneficiaries. It allows them to be monitored virtually and receive daily in-person care from a provider.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Around 31,000 seniors utilized the program as of October of 2024. With that funding gone, seniors that were benefiting from it need to either be discharged or sent back into a hospital setting.
--:-- Lauren Weber: Weber explained how some people really value getting care in a comfortable, familiar home environment. One of the seniors I spoke to put it this way, you know, would you rather be in the hospital where there are loud beeping noises all the time or would you rather recover in the comfort of your home?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following. Middle East mediators are gathering in Egypt today to discuss President Trump's proposed peace agreement between Israel and Hamas.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It comes after Hamas agreed in principle to some parts of the deal, namely releasing the hostages and handing Gazan governance to Palestinian technocrats. But it was silent on the key demands for disarmament and is seeking negotiations.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Meanwhile, Israel continued to strike at Gaza over the weekend, killing dozens of people, despite Trump's call for the bombing to end, quote, immediately.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In a country dominated by male politicians, Japan is set to have its first female leader. Sanai Takeuchi was selected to lead the country's governing party, paving the way for her succession.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Takeuchi is a hardline conservative and a staunch nationalist known for controversial visits to World War II-era memorials. In her short victory speech, she promised work, work, and work, and said she was, quote, determined to confront various issues rather than feel happy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the masterpieces of Leonardo da Vinci may date back to the 15th century, but they can still make news. Popular Mechanics reports on new research, revealing a long-rumored underground tunnel network in Milan, recently uncovered thanks to some of da Vinci's sketches.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Experts used ground-penetrating radar and laser scanning under a castle to discover that the tunnels that he drew really had existed, most likely for military purposes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They're not fully accessible, but professors are hoping to create a digital augmented model that anyone can explore.
--:-- 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 right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next.
--:-- Shamita Basu: New York Magazine has the story of how a Montana rancher with no formal education successfully cloned a sheep from smuggled genetic material, and how these types of animals might change ecosystems for generations to come.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
