--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Tuesday, March 7th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, how a group of sexual assault survivors got lawmakers to take action. The challenge of switching to green energy when America doesn't have enough electricians. And the reason why some foods just taste better the next day. But first, new developments following the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, where residents are worried about their health.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are also growing concerns about rail safety after another Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio last weekend. No one was injured and there weren't hazardous materials on board, but it has people who live near train tracks on edge.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw will testify before Congress on Thursday. Ahead of that, the company is announcing a new safety plan. It mostly focuses on upgrades to equipment that alerts crews when train wheels are overheating to dangerous levels.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Federal investigators say a video appears to show an overheated wheel bearing on the train that derailed in East Palestine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Norfolk Southern also wants the industry to standardize monitoring equipment. Right now, individual rail companies make their own decisions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Politico reports that the plan is unlikely to satisfy the Biden administration or congressional Democrats who want to do more. That includes getting railroads to stop cutting back on human-run safety inspections.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They also want upgraded braking systems and better communication with communities about hazardous materials that are traveling through their areas.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some politicians in both parties have seized on the accident to push longstanding political agendas. But there is a bipartisan bill moving through Congress.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Vox explains how it would require well-trained two-person crews on every train. And it would introduce regulations around train length, weight, route selection, speed restrictions, maintenance, and monitoring.
--:-- Sherrod Brown: I'm backing this bipartisan bill because it would make railways safer. In too many cases, hazardous materials end up in the water or in the air, the way they have in East Palestine. This bill will begin to fix this and hold, especially hold Norfolk Southern accountable.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As Vox points out, it's hard to say whether the bill's measures would have prevented the East Palestine derailment, but they might help workers catch malfunctions sooner or keep them from happening in the first place.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Norfolk Southern hasn't discussed the bill in detail, but says the industry needs to learn from what happened in East Palestine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A warning that this next story is about sexual assault. Legislators in Utah have passed a bill to change the law about sexual assault in medical settings.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It follows a recent investigation from ProPublica and the Salt Lake Tribune, which told the story of dozens of women whose lawsuit against an OBGYN was thrown out of court.
--:-- Stephanie Mateer: I'm one of the women in the suit against David Broadbent. He assaulted me during an examination when I was 19.
--:-- Stephanie Mateer: It's not right that the court rejected the lawsuit, that physicians are held to a different standard when they assault patients.
--:-- Stephanie Mateer: It's just pretty crazy that, like, a doctor can, like, assault, sexually assault women and be, like, protected by the white coat.
--:-- Reporter Jessica Miller: I think that these women were really surprised that their lawsuit would be thrown out. I mean, to them, it seems pretty basic that sexual assault is not health care.
--:-- Reporter Jessica Miller: Lawmakers heard their story and agreed. They quickly passed a bill last week to change Utah's medical malpractice law to exclude sexual assault.
--:-- Reporter Jessica Miller: There's a lot of harm that comes when your case is considered medical malpractice because there's a really short filing window. You only have two years to bring your lawsuit after you were harmed.
--:-- Reporter Jessica Miller: And then there a cap on damages for your pain and suffering where if you assaulted by a doctor you can only receive up to [damages amount] for pain and suffering.
--:-- Reporter Jessica Miller: That would change if the governor signs this new bill into law. Victims of sexual assault in medical settings would have the same legal standing as victims in other settings.
--:-- Reporter Jessica Miller: But it won't help those in the past, including the women featured in this reporting. So the interesting thing about this bill is that it's not retroactive.
--:-- Reporter Jessica Miller: This new law does not offer them a new avenue to refile their case. And so their hope is really with the Utah Supreme Court that our high court will look at this case and reverse the judge's decision so that they can move forward with their own lawsuit.
--:-- Reporter Jessica Miller: One of the women involved says it still feels like a victory if the law changes how future victims will be treated when they seek justice.
--:-- Shamita Basu: When it comes to transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy, electricians are essential workers. Without them, we can't install electric car chargers, induction stoves, solar panels, heat pumps, and so many other things.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But there's a huge snag. The U.S. doesn't have enough electricians. Consumers are having to wait many months to get things like electric car chargers or heat pumps put in.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And electricians say they can't keep up with demand. Some are even referring potential customers to their competitor businesses in the same area.
--:-- Amrith Ramkumar: It's not just that there's more demand, but the jobs are bigger and more complicated as people switch to more energy-intensive technology.
--:-- Amrith Ramkumar: I spoke to an electrician in Ithaca, New York, where local policies have nudged residents away from fossil fuels. His six-person company is often booked six months out these days.
--:-- Amrith Ramkumar: One of his customers had a long wait for a heat pump. He put in that order last April and the device just got installed.
--:-- Amrith Ramkumar: So the delays in parts of the country are crazy, and it's supposed to get worse as the new climate law called the Inflation Reduction Act really kicks in here.
--:-- Amrith Ramkumar: The Inflation Reduction Act is expected to speed up the energy transition and incentivize people to adopt new electricity upgrades. It's also designed to boost the number of electricians and apprentices nationwide.
--:-- Amrith Ramkumar: But even then, industry analysts say it be tough to meet demand. One challenge for electricians specifically is that many have retired during the last few years during the coronavirus pandemic, and many tend to be older.
--:-- Amrith Ramkumar: So more electricians are retiring than are replaced. So it's a huge challenge to get more young people interested in this type of work.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The industry doesn't want to miss out on future opportunities.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Ramkumar says a lot of companies he spoke to are partnering with local schools and working to train the next generation of electricians.
--:-- Shamita Basu: For me, one of the best feelings in the world is opening the fridge and seeing a bunch of neatly stacked homemade leftovers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Not just because I'm lazy and it's quick to reheat, but because some foods, I would argue a lot of foods, just taste better the next day.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you feel the same way, you'll appreciate this Washington Post write-up explaining why certain dishes actually do get better with time.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Anything that is in liquid or in a sauce tends to transfer the flavors throughout, sort of like marinating.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The proteins in meat break down and become a little softer. Foods with spices can change a lot in the fridge.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The flavor molecules of many spices seek out the fats in our food over time, and fats coat our tongues. The result is that those flavors end up being more accessible to our taste buds.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In my house growing up, almost everything qualified as a better tomorrow meal. Indian curries, Iranian stews.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Just yesterday, I made a double batch of keema matar, which is a curry with ground beef, peas, and spices.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We ate half of it as last night's dinner. The other half, I just know, is going to taste even better today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, don't go anywhere. We've got a narrated article coming up next from Esquire.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It sticks with the food theme, but it goes a long way from home cooking. It's about the infamous Danish fine dining restaurant Noma and what its closing means for the culinary world.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So sit back, enjoy listening to that, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
