--:-- [Theme music fades out, and the host, Duarte Giraldino, speaks]
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning. It's Tuesday, September 14th. I'm Duarte Giraldino. And I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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 is the last day for California voters to decide if Gavin Newsom gets to stay in the governor's mansion. More than 40 people want to take his spot. An average of the latest polls from 538 shows, Newsom will likely stay in office.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But you got to take polls with a grain of salt because at the last minute, anything can happen. Republicans know the odds of victory at the ballot are slim, but some are fighting hard for another kind of win.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: This race is showing us once again a familiar tactic from Republicans. If you don't like the election results, just say it's been rigged. Vox explains that some Republicans, including former President Trump, are falsely claiming this recall election is tainted by fraud, even before the polls have closed and votes are tallied.
--:-- Shamita Basu: To be clear, there's no evidence to support this claim. And California's vote-by-mail system has all kinds of security measures baked in. Still, that hasn't stopped some Republicans from making baseless claims.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And as Vox reports, right-wing media is helping Republicans propagate false claims. Republican frontrunner Larry Elder and prominent Republican commentator Tommy Lauren have both been on Fox News, suggesting Democrats are engaging in shenanigans to steal the election.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump has done the same on Newsmax. Now, we're not suggesting all Republicans have turned to playing the rigged elections card. The majority hasn't.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In 2020 races across the country, hundreds of Republicans who lost conceded. And it's not even like the messaging is unified on Fox News Host Chris Wallace recently said he's avoiding having Republican politicians on his show who made false claims about election fraud.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But this campaign to convince people to not trust election results you don't like, we know it comes with consequences. Just look at what happened at the Capitol on January 6th.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And some Republican strategists worry this playbook could backfire when it comes to future elections. Tell people enough times elections aren't fair and your voters, they might just not cast a ballot.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Imagine a hurricane tearing through your community and more than 80 percent just getting destroyed. Uninhabitable, no power, no running water. That's what it's like for people living in Poinachin, Louisiana.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Hurricane Ida devastated the area two weeks ago. There are still down power lines everywhere. You can see right into people's living rooms from the streets because the walls have just totally collapsed.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The roofs were picked up and like landed in the backyards. That's Rachel Wolfe from The Wall Street Journal. She's based in New Orleans.
--:-- Rachel Wolfe: The trees are not only toppled but snapped in half. It's a really bleak picture.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Residents were saying, it looks like a bomb went off. It's worse than just a few feet of stormwater. It's really the houses are no longer standing.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Hurricane Ida was the most severe storm to hit Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina more than a decade ago.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Poitishin tribe has called this area home for more than 900 years, which is why it's not so easy for them to just get up and move.
--:-- Rachel Wolfe: People who have been on this land for so long, it's not just a matter of like the houses, it's the connection to the land itself.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And in order to rebuild, you know, money has to come from somewhere. So that's sort of the big question right now.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In most cases, that somewhere would be FEMA. And typically, in cases like this, FEMA might give money to people to move somewhere else, not necessarily to rebuild.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But that option is a non-starter for people in this area. They don't want buyouts. They want money to repair their houses to build them back to build them back stronger so they can withstand future storms.
--:-- Rachel Wolfe: I spoke to one man named Freddie who told me, without outside help, we just don't have the money to rebuild. And he has been living in his house with half the roof caved in for the past week because he just doesn't have anywhere else to go.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And so while he's waiting to hear from FEMA, he's worried that he'll be offered a buyout or money to leave instead of assistance with rebuilding.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: It's the question every politico wants to ask, but don't hold your breath for the answer. When will Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer retire?
--:-- Shamita Basu: The 83-year-old justice is making the media rounds to promote a new book. And boy, is he trying hard to dodge this question, but it just keeps popping back up.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: When will he hang up his robe? Here's what he told NPR's Nina Totenberg.
--:-- Nina Totenberg: I'm only going to say that I'm not going to go beyond what I've previously said on the subject. And that is that I do not believe I should stay on the Supreme Court or want to stay on the Supreme Court until I die.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That answer, it's not making Democrats too happy. Many worry about the court's solid conservative majority that formed right after Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: A lot of Democrats would like to see Justice Breyer step down while Joe Biden is president.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Here's Senator Amy Klobuchar talking with CNN.
--:-- Amy Klobuchar: If he's going to retire, it should be sooner rather than later if you are concerned about the court.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Justice Breyer said he understands the concerns coming from people on the left. But he said there are a lot of factors that'll play into when he decides to retire.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He also said he doesn't think expanding the court is the right answer or any other political intervention.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The White House and most congressional Democrats are fairly quiet on this issue but that hasn't stopped activists from pushing for his retirement.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A few months ago the liberal group Demand Justice launched a campaign asking the justice to step aside. They even sent out a billboard truck to circle the Supreme Court that read, Briar, retire.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: I'll take awkward Jeopardy moments for 500? I really don't know what to say. It's been a bumpy couple of months for Jeopardy, and now fans are in for a pretty bizarre week of watching.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Bizarre is one way of putting it. Last night, the game show kicked off its 38th season, and all this week, the host is Mike Richards.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: He's the show's former executive producer who was tapped to become the next host. That was until offensive comments from his past surface, and he lost both jobs as EP and host.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But, you know, the show tapes episodes in advance. Typically, they tape five in a day. So even though Richards was fired after his first day on the job, the first five games of the season were already recorded.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And you can't exactly tape them again when the champion of one game goes on to play the next. So, yeah, you're going to be seeing Richards at the hosting podium all week long.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But listen, don't let all this drama distract you from the big Jeopardy! news of the week. Matt Amodio won his 19th consecutive game last night.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: He's now the third highest prize winner in history behind Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Amodio told the Washington Post he's hoping to never go up against the two kings of Jeopardy! But I'm putting my money on seeing him in the next greatest of all time tournament.
--:-- 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
