--:-- Shumita Basu: Hey there. Before we get into today's episode, I have a question for you. Are you on non-speaking terms with someone in your family? Or are you in a challenging family relationship that's made you or your loved one consider cutting off ties? We're working on an episode for our interview show, Apple News in Conversation, about estrangement within families. And we want to hear your stories. Use your iPhone's voice memo app to record yourself, tell us your name, where you're from, and your experience. And please try to keep it to about a minute or so. You can send it to us at inconversation at apple.com. Again, that's inconversation at apple.com. And we might include your voice on the show. Thanks.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, November 13th. I'm Shemitah Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, what Latino voters see in Trump's promises, how a U.S. ultimatum against Israel came and went with no consequences, plus a new agency to make the government more efficient, we'll have two leaders. But first, a woman in Michigan was recently awarded $12 million in a court case over workplace COVID vaccine mandates.
--:-- Lisa Domsky: I'm Catholic and said I believed the vaccines used fetal cells obtained from abortions, which goes against my religious beliefs.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The major vaccine companies have all confirmed their vaccines do not contain any fetal cells made from aborted fetal DNA. So she asked for a religious exemption, which Blue Cross denied. Domsky was fired after working at the company for 32 years.
--:-- Doug Hamill: Health care workers, like frontline nurses, they sometimes are mandated to have vaccines as a requirement for their job. But this was different because my client as most employees of Blue Cross are not health care workers.
--:-- Shumita Basu: There are at least 180 other people bringing similar cases against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan alone, and many more cases throughout the country. Reuters reports many of these plaintiffs are winning.
--:-- Shumita Basu: One of the very first came in June, when a federal jury in Chattanooga awarded a woman close to $700,000 against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee.
--:-- Doug Hamill: These lawsuits are coming at a time when vaccination rates nationwide have been declining. As of late October, just under 15 percent of adults said they received the latest COVID booster, according to the CDC.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Public attitudes about vaccines more broadly are shifting as well. According to Gallup, just 40 percent of Americans say it's extremely important to have their children vaccinated, down from nearly 60 percent just five years ago.
--:-- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: One big skeptic of vaccines is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is in President-elect Donald Trump's inner circle and who Trump has suggested he might put in charge of health policy moving forward.
--:-- Shumita Basu: It's been a month since the Biden White House gave Israel an ultimatum. boost aid access to Gaza within 30 days or face losing some U.S. military support. And while Israeli officials say they opened an additional crossing into Gaza, the U.N. says not nearly enough has been done.
--:-- Shumita Basu: 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the past month alone, and many people are on the brink of starvation. Yesterday, the Biden administration suggested Israel has taken a number of steps and announced it would take no action to reduce the aid our government sends.
--:-- Journalist: If we don't see steps being taken, we, of course, will appropriately enforce U.S. law. But correct me if I'm wrong, isn't that what you guys said a month ago?
--:-- Shumita Basu: That is what we said a month ago, and that is why we laid out. And they have not yet met them because you say that they have taken some steps, but more needs to be made.
--:-- Journalist: In other words, they have not met the criteria by the deadline, and you are giving them a pass. There's no other way to look at it.
--:-- Shumita Basu: A major concern for humanitarian workers is people's access to food and water. Experts say North Gaza is on the brink of famine.
--:-- BBC Reporter: If it were not for the soup kitchen, we would have starved to death. Every day it's the same struggle. I go back and forth to the soup kitchen.
--:-- Shumita Basu: When the BBC asked an official with the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees about the state of the crisis, they were explicit in saying Israel has failed to meet America's ultimatum.
--:-- UN Official: There is not enough aid here. There is not enough supplies. People are starving in areas People are very hungry They are fighting over bags of flour There is just not enough supplies
--:-- Shumita Basu: Now the region is in wait and see mode as President Donald Trump prepares to take office On the campaign trail Trump said he wants Israel to end the war quickly and he vowed to be Israel's protector.
--:-- Mike Huckabee: And yesterday, he nominated former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to become the next U.S. ambassador to Israel.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Huckabee has been a longtime supporter of Israel. In 2017, he visited the West Bank and was asked about Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.
--:-- Mike Huckabee: My feeling personally, and I'm speaking only as a person, I think Israel would only be acting on the property it already owns. I think Israel has a title deed to Judea and Samaria.
--:-- Shumita Basu: According to Peace Now, a nonprofit organization, Israel has seized more land in the West Bank this year than any time over the past three decades.
--:-- Jack Herrera: You're talking to people who are like, hey, the price of eggs went up. The price of milk went up. Last time I went to the gas pump, I couldn't fill my truck all the way up. I didn't have the money. Inflation was really keenly felt in these communities, which are overwhelmingly working class, overwhelmingly underserved.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Immigration was the other motivating issue. Unauthorized crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border surged during the first three years of Biden's presidency. Since December, asylum restrictions implemented by the administration have slashed the number of illegal crossings by 78 percent, bringing them lower than the rates from the end of Trump's first term.
--:-- Jack Herrera: But for communities along the border, the strain on their resources was too great. There weren't enough seats at the bus station, there weren't enough flights to get them out at the airport, local shelters were overwhelmed, border patrols overwhelmed.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And so you really see sort of a chaotic situation. And that definitely rubbed people the wrong way, just those scenes of chaos.
--:-- Jack Herrera: While many of these voters believe President-elect Trump when he says he will be able to get the border under control, Herrera says there are mixed feelings about Trump's promises to launch the largest deportation program in history.
--:-- Shumita Basu: There are plenty of Latinos who want that to happen are happy with it but there are others who really didn't take that threat seriously when they voted for Trump For that latter group Herrera says they think that Trump talk of deporting immigrants is just grandstanding, and it won't target their families.
--:-- Tom Homan: If they don't do it themselves, Homan says, under the Trump administration, they'll be deported and never allowed back in.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories being featured in the Apple News app. Today, President-elect Trump visits the White House for a meeting with President Joe Biden. Trump will also meet with congressional GOP leaders.
--:-- Shumita Basu: It comes after Trump announced more appointments yesterday, including Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to head up a new Department of Government efficiency tasked with cutting government spending.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Trump has also tapped Pete Hegseth, a combat veteran and Fox News host, to be his defense secretary, and John Ratcliffe, a former House lawmaker, to lead the CIA.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Meanwhile, as news outlets continue to crunch the data from the election, The Washington Post found one interesting trend. Come January, just three states will have split party representation in the Senate, sending senators from two different political parties, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The Post says this is the lowest number of states with split Senate delegations since Americans began directly electing senators more than a century ago.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And finally, a federal jury found a U.S. defense contractor liable for its role in the torture of prisoners held at the Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraq war.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The contractor, Kaki International, was ordered to pay $14 million in damages to each of the three plaintiffs. Reuters notes it's the first time a civilian contractor was held legally responsible for torture at the prison, largely considered one of the greatest stains on America's military operations in the so-called War on Terror.
--:-- Shumita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next. The New Yorker looks at what the anti-abortion movement looks like within a Republican party that's acknowledged abortion bans are not popular. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow. Thank you.
