--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, September 28th. I'm Shamita Basu. 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.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Hurricane Ian is getting closer to Florida's West Coast. The storm already passed over Cuba, knocking out power across the island and bringing damaging winds and floods. And when the storm hits Florida, potentially tonight near the Tampa area, it could be even worse. Ian strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane early this morning. Heavy winds have already been lashing Florida. Millions of people there have been told to evacuate. Emergency officials are trying to persuade holdouts to leave, not to hunker down.
--:-- Governor Ron DeSantis: [audio clip] warns that this hurricane will be powerful and dangerous. In some areas, there will be catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surge.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is a trial that Florida governors typically face, a giant hurricane in the national media spotlight. But the state has been lucky lately, and this is the first big storm there since DeSantis took office in 2019. It's a major test for him, right in the middle of his re-election campaign. And for someone seen as a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2024, his response to this storm could affect his political future.
--:-- Politico: Politico explains how this played out for former Florida governors Jeb Bush and Rick Scott, both Republicans, in office during a lot of hurricanes. The public response to their handling of storms was largely positive, which boosted their profiles. But mishandling a hurricane can hurt a governor. As Bush's former emergency management director puts it, if you fail in the response, you won't get reelected. But if you do well, it can set you up for higher office.
--:-- Shamita Basu: DeSantis seems to be following the hurricane playbook so far Daily press conferences mobilizing the National Guard but openly playing politics during a storm is a no DeSantis is one of the sharpest critics of President Biden but he made a point to praise the president for declaring a state of emergency which gives access to federal emergency resources for Florida
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--:-- Shamita Basu: You can follow the path of the hurricane and get on-the-ground reporting and updates day and night in the Apple News app. So we were planning to give you a preview of the next January 6th hearing this morning, but the committee postponed it because of Hurricane Ian. We'll talk more about the hearing when it's been rescheduled.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In the meantime, let's talk about a big development related to safeguarding future elections. A bill that would change the way electoral college votes are counted got support from a key player yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Congress's process for counting the presidential electors' votes was written 135 years ago. The chaos that came to a head on January 6th of last year certainly underscored the need for an update. The Electoral Count Reform Act would recognize a single slate of electors in each state. That's to combat a plan like the Trump effort to submit fake electors from states that Biden won. It would also clarify that the vice president's role in verifying the election is purely ceremonial. And the bill also makes it much harder to object to a state's electoral college results.
--:-- Shamita Basu: McConnell's thumbs up here gives the bill an important boost. It's now expected to have enough Republican votes to pass the Senate this year and get signed into law after it's synced up with a similar bill that passed the House last week.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Nutrition labels on the front of your packaged foods. Food as medicine, with medically tailored meals covered by insurance. Free school lunches for all students These are just some of the ideas being promoted by the White House today as part of a conference on food nutrition and hunger We bring together anti and nutrition advocates food companies local and state governments, tribal and territory communities to lay out our plan to combat hunger and improve nutrition for every American.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The conference on hunger is the first of its kind since 1969, when this guy was in the White House. It will be possible by the year 1976 to abolish hunger in the United States of America. Now, 1976 came and went without President Nixon's goal becoming reality. But that conference is credited with shaping national policy to help Americans have access to a better diet. Food aid for low-income families. Nutrition labels to steer people toward healthier choices.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Today at the White House, there will be a lot of talk about the role that food can play in medical care. NPR spoke to Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, dean at the School of Nutrition at Tufts University. He'll speak at today's conference.
--:-- Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian: Food is a direct and very rapid treatment for very complex diseases. And with a good diet and weight loss, diabetes can be put into remission and many, many patients can go off their medications.
--:-- Shamita Basu: NPR interviewed a patient who did exactly that. Bruce Caldwell was taking all kinds of medication for type 2 diabetes. His doctors told him it was a combination of his genes, his weight, and his eating habits. So he changed his diet. He lost 55 pounds, reversed his diabetes, and no longer needed the meds. It feels so good. The way I like to put it is I didn't know how bad I felt until I felt better.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A surgical procedure that sounds like something out of a horror movie is getting more popular among men. GQ has the story on this type of cosmetic surgery, which involves breaking your legs and putting adjustable titanium nails into the bones. And after about 90 days They like a taller newer and presumably hotter version of themselves A version that three to six inches taller to be specific
--:-- Chris Giamale: Chris Giamale wrote about this leg lengthening procedure for GQ. He spoke to several men who got it done. It costs around $75,000 on the low end. Now, there are a few reasons why it's becoming more popular. Less stigma around male cosmetic surgery. Plus, the pandemic made it easier for people to work from home through the long, painful recovery.
--:-- Chris Giamale: Post-op, as the leg gets longer, everything surrounding the bone does as well. Muscle, skin, nerves, everything. It's kind of like the tightening of a skin on a drum. So they have to be very diligent about daily physical therapy, stretching exercises, mobility, all that kind of stuff. So one patient compared the pain, like it's like, imagine like a very excruciating migraine that you have, but it's on your leg and it's 24-7.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At this point, you may be wondering who wants to go through all of that for a few extra inches. So it's a lot of people who are obviously a little bit more well off, mostly men. The doctor performs this procedure a lot on trans men as well who want to feel more like themselves. It's a lot of people who work in tech, CEOs who, you know, want that little bit of extra stature to feel more important, I guess.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Guy Amali, who is 5'6 himself, said that he learned about this procedure while doing some Googling a couple years ago, how to grow taller as an adult. So he understands why men are drawn to it, despite the price tag and the pain. Height is just something that psychologically, it might not seem like much. But if you're 5'5", and then you're suddenly 5'8", which is closer to like the American male average, that does so much for the way you see the world, like literally in some cases.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can check out Guy Amali's surprisingly empathetic story. And yes, it's got lots of pictures in the Apple News app, along with all the stories that we talked about today. And while you're there, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners. I'll talk with you again tomorrow.
