--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Thursday, September 30th. I'm Shamita Basu. And I'm 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.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: All eyes are still on Washington today. Congress has until midnight tonight to keep the government from shutting down. At the same time, another big question is, will the House go forward with a scheduled vote today on a bipartisan infrastructure bill?
--:-- [Background noise of a baseball game]
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: With so much uncertainty, so much on the line, lawmakers from both parties still made time last night for their annual charity baseball game. ABC News describes this scene, and it was a surreal backdrop to all the intense negotiations still taking place.
--:-- [Audio clip of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi]
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: President Biden showed up after the first inning. He was shaking hands with both teams and giving out ice cream bars. There's this video clip of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi behind the dugout. Her eyes are on the game, but she's got her cell phone to her ear. She looks like she's trying to keep her party's legislative agenda from collapsing.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Wall Street Journal lays out the most immediate challenge, avoiding a government shutdown. Last night, the Senate agreed on a stopgap spending measure. It'll keep the lights on until December, when we'll either have to do this again or figure out a longer-term solution. The Senate is expected to pass that today and then send it to the House. They're also supposed to vote on that bipartisan infrastructure bill that already passed the Senate.
--:-- [Audio clip of Senator Joe Manchin]
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Progressive Democrats say they'll vote against the bill if it's not linked to a bigger spending plan. Yesterday, Senator Joe Manchin said he's still not on board and doesn't think he'll reach an agreement with the White House anytime soon.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: With lots of loose ends still left to tie up, Democrats are looking for a win to keep advancing their agenda. And that's especially the case after last night's baseball game. Republicans led for most of the night. GOP representative Greg Stubbe even managed to score an honest over home run.
--:-- [Audio clip of a baseball announcer]
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Wow, this is a long call. Greg Stubbe with the first pitch and the first swing. It's going to be a home run. Stubbe out of the ballpark into the left field bleachers. The announcer said it's the first one in decades at a congressional baseball game. Final score, 13-12 Republicans.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Britney Spears is free from her father's legal oversight. A judge yesterday removed Spears' dad as her conservator. This puts an end to the wide-ranging control he had over her life, money, assets, and person for more than 13 years. This is a major breakthrough. It effectively ends what she describes as a, quote, abusive legal arrangement with her father.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But legally, she is not in complete control of her life yet. The LA Times has the details of this case. And reporter Christy Karras captured the scene outside the courthouse, where a group of fans from the Free Britney movement cheered the news. Many were holding signs, calling for investigations into the singer's management and security team, who've come under new scrutiny for their role in enabling the conservatorship.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: One person said this is bigger than just freeing Britney. She represents people who are locked up against their will with no due process. Removing Spears' dad is only one step. See, the conservatorship is still in place. There's a hearing set for mid-November. That's when a judge will consider whether it's right to end Spears' conservatorship altogether.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I really love salmon. I love to make it at home. But whenever I'm at the store and I'm standing in line at the fish counter, I'm silently panicking about what type of salmon to choose. You know, wild-caught, farmed, Alaskan, the one that's on sale this week.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: That's why I was so interested in this new investigation from National Geographic that shows when it comes to buying salmon you really can trust what on the label. This investigation examines how deceptive salmon labels can be.
--:-- [Audio clip of Renee Ebersole]
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Recently a federal judge approved a million settlement against one of the largest global salmon suppliers, a company called Maui. It's accused of misleading consumers by marketing its duck trap, river-smoked Atlantic salmon as all-natural, sustainably sourced, and from Maine.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Court documents state that the company acquires its salmon from industrial farms outside of the United States, where fish in crowded marine pens are often treated with medicines and chemicals. And some of those even include formaldehyde-based formalin and bleach, and those are used to prevent disease and sea lice infestations.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Part of this settlement will require the company to remove questionable marketing from its packaging. But this problem goes beyond one company, and it doesn't just impact your health. It also impacts your wallet. So you're not always getting what you think you're paying for.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Nat Geo cites a 2015 study where 70% of salmon from a sample of 82 were labeled as wild-caught Pacific fish, which is on the pricier end when it comes to salmon. In reality, they were farmed Atlantic salmon, which is much cheaper.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And there's a reason for the difference in price. It's because there's a huge difference in quality. I mean, just look at their color. Wild salmon have that deep red, orangey hue, and that's natural. They get that from the food they eat. But farmed salmon have that artificial blush color, and that's because those fish are fed processed foods with an additive that give them that color. Without it, they would be gray.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Scientists and ocean conservationists, they're lobbying governments to step in here and change how salmon is labeled. But it's not so simple. Salmon go on a huge journey before they end up on your plate. It can be caught in Alaska, sent to China for processing, and then end up at a restaurant in New York.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And through all that travel, it can be hard to track vital information about where it was caught, how it was raised, and what it was fed along the way. The chances of getting the fish you actually want is higher if you buy it in season.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Scientific studies of seafood fraud indicate that buying wild salmon in the summer fishing season can greatly improve a shopper's chances of getting what they paid for. According to that study, salmon fraud took place just 7% of the time in the summer when wild salmon is easily available. That fraud shot up to 40% in the winter.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: This week, Netflix did something it doesn't often do. It released data about the top performing movies and series on a streaming service. Shows like Stranger Things and Bridgerton were predictably up there in the rankings. But what generated the most buzz was a series that hasn't even been around long enough for it to register in the charts.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: A South Korean drama called Squid Game. Netflix says it's likely to be their most popular show of all time. Squid Game came out in the U.S. in mid-September, and it's got a violent dystopian plot. I just started watching the first episode, and honestly, I don't know if I'm going to make it through. It's very intense.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But here's the premise. Hundreds of cash-strapped contestants compete in children's games for a chance to win millions. And if they lose, well, I did say it's a violent show, so use your imagination.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Variety says that on its fourth day on Netflix, it was the top watched show in the U.S. Korean shows have dominated Asian TV for a while now, but Squid Game is the first series that has become a number one hit in the U.S.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Variety says Netflix is looking to Korea for more shows. So far this year, they've invested nearly a half billion dollars there, and they're banking South Korea's recent success in music, film, and on TV will pay off big with American audiences.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And while you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
