--:-- Gideon Resnick: Good morning. It's Wednesday, July 3rd. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shemitah Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: On today's show, how the Supreme Court reshaped power this term, the case for considering a permanent breakup with fireworks, and the nation turns its eyes to a hot dog eating contest missing its champ. But first, let's take a quick look at some big stories that are in the news.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Former President Donald Trump's sentencing in New York is now delayed until September, as the judge in the case weighs the possible impact of a recent Supreme Court ruling. Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to an adult film actress.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Now, Trump's attorneys have a new challenge to the verdict. They're using the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling giving him immunity for official actions while president. The payments were before he was in office, but his lawyers argue that some evidence introduced in the trial relates to official acts while Trump was president.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Also in New York, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is now disbarred. The court cited repeated false statements to federal courts that he made while challenging the results of the 2020 election that Trump lost. Giuliani calls the disbarment politically motivated.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: To campaign news, we're the first sitting Democrat in Congress is calling for President Biden to withdraw from the presidential race. Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett talked to CNN about why he thinks it's time.
--:-- Lloyd Doggett: We're looking at not people like me who believe Joe Biden has accomplished a great deal for our country, but a very small portion of the country who are undecided, who may be what are called the double haters that don't like either candidate. And I think we would be better off if we had a new candidate who could present a new vision for our country.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And we can do that if we have an open and fair democratic process over the next few weeks. His comments were among increasingly public concerns from Democrats about whether Biden can win the election and serve another four years.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Biden and his campaign have continued to say he's not leaving the race. In India more than 120 people were killed in a crowd crush at a Hindu religious event in the north of the country. Nearly all of the victims were women.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Police say the crowd was more than triple the permitted capacity. And the FDA has approved a new drug for Alzheimer's. It'll be sold under the brand name Kissenla. Clinical trials show it modestly slows down declines in memory and thinking ability.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: It's only the second Alzheimer's treatment available in the U.S. Let's go back to the Supreme Court, which ruled on much more than Trump's immunity this term.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: For a long time, conservatives have wanted to weaken federal agencies. And in a set of three rulings, the court did just that. These rulings effectively strip away the power of agencies to decide how to implement laws, transferring power instead to courts.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Nicholas Bagley recently wrote about the cases for The Atlantic. He's a law professor at the University of Michigan and former chief legal counsel for Governor Gretchen Whitmer. He spoke with us about the impact the decisions will have on American life.
--:-- Nicholas Bagley: One case involving the Securities and Exchange Commission, the court said that agencies can't just try to penalize people by going through agency courts. They've got to actually go to federal court, which is a much more elaborate and time-consuming process.
--:-- Nicholas Bagley: Another decision overturned one of the most widely cited precedents in Supreme Court history, the Chevron Doctrine. It called for courts to defer to experts at agencies when interpreting the law. But in the 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court decided that judges will now make those calls.
--:-- Nicholas Bagley: The court is asserting more authority over the instrumentalities of governance than it has before. And that's going to make it much harder for government to do its work, and it's going to amplify the power of unelected judges relative to experts within agencies who are trying to protect the American public.
--:-- Nicholas Bagley: The third decision involved the EPA, a 5-4 ruling. The court temporarily blocked the agency's plan to reduce air pollution that moves across state lines. The justices who supported these rulings argued that they'll prevent federal agencies from overstepping.
--:-- Nicholas Bagley: But I say they'll give corporations and anyone with money and power a leg up over the average American in the court system. The people who really take most advantage of it are the powerful repeat players just to say usually business and corporate interests that can afford to hire the lawyers that can afford to bring the lawsuits.
--:-- Nicholas Bagley: And so we used to thinking of courts as standing up for the little guy when in actual practice the picture looks an awful lot more like they're often standing up for the big guy.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Tomorrow is July 4th, which means big organized fireworks displays and maybe the kinds of my youth launching bottle rockets in the street.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But a broad spectrum of people, from environmental scientists to military veterans, have been wondering if these brief bursts of light and noise are really worth it for the broader harm they can cause.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Outside Magazine gathers some data to make the case for why fireworks aren't really worth the risk to our health and planet. First, they can be extremely upsetting to veterans.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: For people who've been in combat zones, fireworks can trigger a lot of stress and trauma. I love Fourth of July. I love New Year's, but it's the noises, The sounds, the explosions and stuff that bother me.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Army veteran Robert Terstegi talked to the ABC station in Tucson about how he copes. It does trigger memories. I'll put music on and turn it up so that I don't have to hear it.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And veterans aren't alone. Fireworks can also be frightening to victims of mass shootings. People with sensory issues, babies, the list goes on. And they frighten pets and disrupt wildlife, too.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Fireworks are also pretty dangerous. They routinely send thousands of people a year to the ER. They're also responsible for starting tens of thousands of fires and causing millions of dollars in property damage.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Rick Graves of Portland, Oregon Fire and Rescue recently explained why consumer fireworks are banned there. They're just not safe. They're just not sane.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The ban followed hundreds of blazes sparked by fireworks, including one that killed three people. And officials say the ban has led to a big drop in fires.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: We're busy as it is with fire. We don't need any help with fireworks. If all that wasn't enough, fireworks are bad for the environment. They release plastic, gunpowder, and heavy metals.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Research shows a distinct spike in pollution around this time every year. That includes particles that can damage the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Taking all this into account a lot of communities are ditching fireworks for light shows that use drones. Tahoe City California made the switch a couple of years back and last year's show was a 15-minute display synced to music that thousands watched from the lakefront or from their boats.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: A local official told Outside Magazine that the community was thrilled to be able to celebrate together without the fire risk and noise concerns.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Finally, to a different American event happening tomorrow, and one unlike any other, the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: It's an event where one man reigns supreme, as you'll hear in his introduction last year. The Nathan's famous 4th of July champion of the world.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But tomorrow, for better or worse, viewers won't see him unhinge his jaw to vacuum up water-soaked dogs. Chestnut's world record is 76 in 10 minutes, by the way.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And that's because organizers banned him from competing a few weeks ago. They cited Chestnut's deal with Impossible Foods, a rival company that sells plant-based hot dogs.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So instead, the reigning world champ of Coney Island will head to Fort Bliss in Texas to compete in a separate event against soldiers.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And his absence of the Nathan's competition means a new hot dog champ will emerge. Chestnut, for his part, blamed the organizers of the event for changing the terms around endorsing products.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: New York Magazine looked into these organizers and tried to separate the real controversy here from what might just be a WWE type of promotion around a beloved niche sporting event.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: It's a fun quick read for the holiday weekend that's worth checking out. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And if you're already listening to the News app right now, we have a narrated article coming up next. Vox looks at the life of the only child.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And the piece takes aim at debunking some of the stereotypes around that experience. If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: A quick programming note before we let you go. Apple News Today will be off for the rest of this week.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So enjoy the holiday and maybe a hot dog or two or, you know, 76 if you want. And we'll be back with the news on Monday.
