--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Tuesday, July 27th. 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: Today, a House select committee begins investigating the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Four police officers are set to testify about how they spent hours fighting back rioters, as well as the aftermath of the attack.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Many officers were seriously injured, physically and mentally. Some only realized how bad their injuries were weeks or even months after the attack, when doctors diagnosed concussions and PTSD.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Washington Post spoke with several officers who were injured on that day. Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gunnell, he's expected to testify today. He was diagnosed with PTSD after serving in Iraq.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On January 6th, he says rioters threw a speaker at him, hit him in the face with a pole. He tells the Post he started suffering bouts of anxiety. He's gone back to see the same therapist now that he used to see after the Iraq war.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: D.C. police officer Michael Fanone is also going to testify today. Rioters used a stun gun on his neck. Body camera footage shows he was knocked unconscious for four minutes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: After the riot, he says he had severe headaches. He was sensitive to sound and light. He was diagnosed with a concussion and traumatic brain injury.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Authorities estimate about 140 officers were hurt during the attack. The Capitol Police Labor Union told The Post, some officers, they were hurt so badly they may never return to duty.
--:-- Shamita Basu: For a lot of people, the idea of the FBI using undercover agents is sort of romantic, but in real life, it's all a little messy. End results are mixed.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Yes, some FBI informants have boarded plots and prevented suffering, but there is a fine line between catching someone committing a crime and coercing them into doing it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This reporting from BuzzFeed News is about a real-life kidnapping plot that was stopped by insiders who were working with law enforcement.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: We reached out to investigative reporter Ken Bensinger for the story.
--:-- Ken Bensinger: Starting in spring 2020 groups of men in Michigan some of whom were extremely frustrated with the COVID lockdown orders in the state began meeting in secret training in the woods, attending protests, and ultimately going on surveillance missions that over time became increasingly focused on the state's governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and what federal prosecutors say was a conspiracy to go to the governor's vacation home in upstate Michigan, kidnap her, and potentially take her out of the state for what they called trial.
--:-- Shamita Basu: These men, many of whom were adherents of the 3% movement or the Boogaloo movement or other anti-government movements, believed that the government was in many ways illegitimate and was conspiring against them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In October of last year, a group of men were charged with taking part in a criminal conspiracy. New reporting for BuzzFeed News finds informants played more than a passive information-sharing role.
--:-- Ken Bensinger: According to this report, government informants were involved in almost every step of the alleged plot. To hear federal prosecutors tell it, this is a cut-and-dry case of angry anti-government extremists who had plotted to kidnap a governor and were taking overt and distinct steps to make that happen.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But a very different story emerges when you talk to the defendants in the case and their legal representation. They point out the fact that so many of the steps that led men who maybe had angry thoughts but weren't doing anything to actually going on reconnaissance missions, etc., were in fact pushed rather hard by confidential informants working for the FBI.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And that in fact it was the government who essentially created not only the conditions for the plot, but potentially even the plot itself to the extent there was a plot.
--:-- Ken Bensinger: Some of the people facing charges claim their conversations are protected by the First Amendment and that they're being targeted for their ideology.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The government pushes hard back on that and says these are dangerous people. And certainly they have some evidence to suggest that. These were people who were blowing up homemade bombs. These are people who were having secret meetings on encrypted chats and making it very clear they didn't want anyone to hear what they were doing.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: They were using code language. And they were also having specific, discrete conversations about violence against police, violence against political officials that normal people, perhaps a regular run-of-the-mill people, just don't have.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In domestic terrorism cases, it's common for defendants to claim government entrapment. That defense often fails.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: A lot of people are closely watching this case because it seen as a test for how the Biden administration will address the threat of homegrown anti groups.
--:-- Shamita Basu: America's low-wage workers are fighting for more money and better benefits. They haven't seen the same percentage gains in recent decades as the highest paid people.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Time magazine examines the big picture economic data behind this uneven growth and also introduces us to some people who earn low wages, but have actually won fights for more money.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One of the personal stories comes from Sarah Stark. She worked at Chipotle for three years and says her pay barely budged.
--:-- Sarah Stark: During the pandemic, I became fed up with being expected to work harder and harder. So I left, but I quickly found a job at Starbucks. My pay went up around 25 percent.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And she says she's going to use the company's education benefits to go back to school and study design.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Not to be outdone, Chipotle tells Time it's paying $15 an hour on average and offering tuition reimbursement.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Sarah's story is one data point in a series of numbers that together form a bigger picture of the estimated 53 million low-wage workers in the U.S.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before the pandemic, they earned on average $10.22 an hour. Right now, those workers are in high demand and they know it. So they're using that leverage to get a better deal from employers.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Millions of Sarahs have been trading up and the impact is showing up in the numbers. In the leisure and hospitality sector, wages are a full 10% higher than two years ago.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Time also gets the perspective of managers. One HR chief said her company felt it needed to do something different and radical to get employees and retain them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: So it rolled out an offer of free college tuition and more money for child care. They ended up getting more than a thousand applicants during a recent recruiting drive, and over half mentioned the tuition.
--:-- Shamita Basu: More companies seem to be getting a message. If you want to draw in the people you need, be ready to make them a strong offer.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: We're going to close with some Olympics news. So we're giving you a little spoiler alert just in case you're planning to wait to watch later.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Okay, so let's get to what happened today. The biggest news is that Simone Biles pulled out of the women gymnastics team final competition.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: She had a medical issue. A statement from USA Gymnastics says Biles is going to be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The U.S. had been hoping to bring home gold in a category which it typically dominates. Instead, athletes competing with the Russian Olympic Committee got the gold medal in the women's gymnastics team competition.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The United States came in a few points behind to claim silver. Japan's Naomi Osaka lost to the Czech Republic's Marketa Vondrusova.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The loss by the No. 2 ranked player in the world is the latest surprise on the Olympic tennis court. The No. 1 player in the world, Australia's Ashley Barty, was also knocked out.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Lydia Jacoby is the upset winner of the gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She's just 17 years old, and she edged out her heavily favored U.S. teammate Lily King. King took the bronze.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Jacoby is the first Olympic swimmer from Alaska.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I asked her about the win after she had a chance to dry off and take it all in.
--:-- Lydia Jacoby: Yeah, it's been go, go, go ever since. So I haven't really had a chance to process, but we're getting there.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: I was watching while you were in the water. And when they made that announcement, you did this move where you covered your mouth.
--:-- Shamita Basu: What were you thinking when you realized that you won the gold medal?
--:-- Lydia Jacoby: It was a really incredible moment. I knew that I had potential to win a medal. I thought I could, but I wasn't fully prepared to win the gold medal.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: So it was a pretty incredible moment to do it beside my teammate and someone who I've looked up to my whole life.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I love seeing you holding up that medal. Congratulations once again.
--:-- Lydia Jacoby: Thank you.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In other Olympics news, American Carissa Moore is the gold medal winner in surfing, which made its debut in the games this year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The U.S. women's soccer team fought Australia to a scoreless draw, which was good enough to advance to the quarterfinals.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And the Philippines captured its first Olympic gold. Weightlifter Heidelin Diaz took the medal, setting an Olympic record as she did it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We're partnering with NBC Olympics throughout the games. You can find stories, results, and videos, along with lots of other great journalism, all on the Apple News app.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And while you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
