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--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning. It's Thursday, May 20th. I'm Duarte Giraldino.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I'm Shamita Basu.
--:-- 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Last night, the House voted to form a commission to independently investigate the January 6th Capitol insurrection. All Democrats and 35 Republicans voted for the measure.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: 35. That's more Republican votes than some expected. Politico points out they were breaking ranks with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's another sign of cracks within the party as it wrestles with the influence of former President Trump. This bill has an uncertain future in the Senate.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: You see, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says the insurrection is already being investigated enough. It's not at all clear what new facts or additional investigation yet another commission could actually lay on top of existing efforts by law enforcement and Congress.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says he's going to bring this bill to a vote. And a story in The Hill explains this could put some GOP senators in a politically uncomfortable position.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: If they managed to block the creation of an independent January 6th commission, it would be the first time Republicans have successfully filibustered this Congress.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A century ago a white mob attacked a black business district in Tulsa Oklahoma Firing guns dropping bombs from planes they killed families They burned down stores and homes Hundreds of people died
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And yet amazingly a few Tulsa race massacre survivors are still alive to tell their story. NPR is covering this push for reparations and congressional testimony.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Loyola Fletcher was on Capitol Hill yesterday. She's 107 years old.
--:-- Loyola Fletcher: I still smell smoke and sea fire. I still see black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams. I have lived through the massacre every day.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A country may forget this history, but I cannot.
--:-- Lessie Benningfield Randall: [speaking in a softer tone] I'm 106. She described what it was like to see the massacre through a child's eyes.
--:-- Lessie Benningfield Randall: It was like a war. White men with guns came and destroyed my community. We couldn't understand why.
--:-- Hughes Van Ellis: [speaking in a calm tone] We were shown that in the United States, not all men were equal under law. We were shown that when Black voices called out for justice, no one cared.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Viola Fletcher and the other survivors are suing for reparations, and they're arguing the state of Oklahoma and the city of Tulsa should be held responsible.
--:-- Loyola Fletcher: I am 107 years old and have never been seen justice I pray that one day I will I have been blessed with a long life and have seen the best and the worst of this country I think about the terror horror inflicted upon Black people in this country every day
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you spent this last year in lockdown dreaming of Europe, here's some good news. The EU is preparing to open up to vaccinated tourists.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Now, there are plenty of not-so-flattering stereotypes of American tourists. Loud talking, complaining about food and air conditioning.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yasmin Serhan acknowledges that. She's an American journalist based in London. And she writes in The Atlantic that many in Europe want Americans at the front of the line when borders reopen.
--:-- Yasmin Serhan: This is true for a few reasons. First off, the United States has one of the best vaccination rates in the world. Plus, before the pandemic, Americans were a huge part of Europe's tourism industry.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: According to the European Travel Commission, in 2019, the EU had more American visitors than from China, Canada and Australia combined.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, the return of American tourists, even if not at pre-pandemic levels, could be crucial to Europe's economic recovery.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Now, one thing to keep in mind, the EU's vaccination campaign isn't moving as quickly as the United States. So as a vaccinated American arriving in a European country, you'll probably have to deal with rules and restrictions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But if you've been waiting for more than a year for the streets of Paris, the gelato of Italy or the beaches of Greece, this might be your chance.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: After the CDC changed guidance so that fully vaccinated people could mostly skip masks indoors a weird little problem popped up for a lot of us.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are people in our lives who we haven't seen without masks in months. And for some people, especially anyone who works in health, retail, or education, They might have co-workers whose whole faces they've never, ever seen.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And all this adds up to all of us having a hard time recognizing people without their masks on.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's really messing with our brains. And we really mean that.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Wall Street Journal spoke to a cognitive scientist to find out what's going on.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The problem is, our brains are wired to fill in the blanks. If half of someone's face is covered, you just imagine what their nose and mouth look like.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But when they unmask and it doesn't match what you've envisioned, it can really throw you off.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yeah, and sometimes that difference is huge.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The journal spoke to one woman. She's a professor. And she said she was blown away when she learned that one of her students had a goatee.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Like the whole time, it was just under the mask. She had no idea.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Another person had a good quote about the wild ride that our brains take when we all take off our masks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They said, it's like knowing what a pineapple looks like. and suddenly you see it and it's a strawberry.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: I've made two friends because I assumed that I knew them because they were wearing masks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And while you're there, check out some of our audio stories.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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