--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Tuesday, July 8th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, how far can a president go to defy the budget set by Congress? After Texas banned abortion, miscarriages are becoming more life-threatening. And an injury and dramatic exit at Wimbledon. But first, to Texas Hill Country, where emergency teams and volunteers continue to sift through the wreckage of the floods and are gradually bringing to light the full scale of destruction.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The death toll has now tipped over 100 and is expected to keep climbing. 27 campers and counselors who were staying at the all-girls Camp Mystic have been declared dead. Asked for an estimate of the number of people still missing, Kerrville manager Dalton Rice would only say, quote, it is a lot.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Rescue efforts have become missions of recovery, and stories of heroics, tragedy, and sheer survival are emerging as we learn just how little time people had to react. Four months' worth of rainfall fell in about four hours.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Local resident Doug Fuller told NBC about the terrifying moment water entered his house. Eventually the doors burst open and we jammed ourselves in the doorway as long as we could until eventually a large swell of water sucked us out. And a neighbor who was outside as well were clinging on to a support post in front of our door. And we were able to grab hands and I was able to grab my wife. And we held on for about the next two hours until the waters resided and just rode it out.
--:-- Shamita Basu: For people from out of town who were visiting the area for the July 4th holidays, the floods were particularly shocking and difficult to escape. Lorena Guillen is an RV park owner. She told NBC how flood water simply swept away dozens of trailers in the night.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can see the lights of vehicles getting washed off from upriver, and you can hear hunking. You can see anything, but you can hear hunking and you can hear the screaming. I mean, you couldn't see much, but the screaming was unbearable.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer named Scott Ruskin is being credited with coordinating the rescue of 165 people at Camp Mystic, carrying kids onto helicopters. It's his first year on the job, and he told CNN this was his first rescue mission.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It was pretty traumatic. I mean, yeah, you have a lot of kids. They're having probably the worst day of their life. They're missing friends. They're missing loved ones. They don't know where they are. So I was really just trying to comfort them and let them know, like, hey, like, I don't know where your friends may be right now, but my only objective is to get you guys out of here and get you guys to safety.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Carrie Heath, a reporter with the Austin American Statesman, told us how people are processing all that's happened in the past few days.
--:-- Carrie Heath: Most of the residents I'm talking to have lived here for 20 years, 30 years, 50 years. And this was a shock to them. Many people had lived through other historic floods, and this flood was a shock.
--:-- Carrie Heath: Heats said that it was the speed of the devastation that took the county by surprise. Some of the residents I talked to said that the damage we saw happened in less than half an hour.
--:-- Carrie Heath: This area is known as Flash Flood Alley in central Texas We get flash floods This is something that this area prepares for and expects at times but this was a devastating event
--:-- Carrie Heath: She described the scenes as heartbreaking, having grown up nearby, but said the town had, in her words, put their heads down to focus on recovery and clearing the areas.
--:-- Carrie Heath: But she noted that efforts were hampered by the practicalities of getting into hazardous areas. The bridges are either covered in debris or the bridges are out because of damage caused by the flooding.
--:-- Carrie Heath: So it is either not safe or unadvised to bring heavy equipment across the bridge right now. And so that's impeding recovery efforts in some ways.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One small respite for the response teams is the weather. Rainfall has continued to complicate efforts, but forecasts say that today storms are finally giving way to drier conditions and clouds are starting to clear.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's turn now to Washington, where the Trump administration is exploring its authority to test federal law by refusing to spend money approved by Congress, which could reshape the balance of power between the legislative branch and the White House.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The federal budget is over $6 trillion annually. And so what does or doesn't get spent confers a huge amount of power. That's Jeff Stein, chief economics correspondent for The Washington Post.
--:-- Jeff Stein: And Congress, as you likely know, controls the purse strings of the federal government. The president is in charge of executing the budget. They're legally obligated to spend the money appropriated by the legislative branch. And if the president doesn't do that, that's called impoundment.
--:-- Jeff Stein: Since Trump took office, his administration has withheld billions of dollars of appropriated funds without notifying Congress, which The Post reports has impacted thousands of programs across at least half a dozen agencies, like the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Institutes of Health, and the CDC.
--:-- Jeff Stein: Delays to CDC funding, for example, have forced cuts to HIV testing in places like Ohio and Texas. There's tons of money held up for Alzheimer's research and for a Holocaust survivors program. Schools are being affected, too.
--:-- Jeff Stein: Just last week, the administration told states that it's withholding nearly $7 billion of previously approved federal education grants, which puts before and after school programs, summer programs, teacher training and services that help students learn English in jeopardy.
--:-- Jeff Stein: Officials have justified withholding these funds by pointing to the current debt total, though Stein pointed out the money that's been targeted represents a small fraction of the overall budget.
--:-- Jeff Stein: Legally, the administration is required to spend congressionally appropriated funds before the end of the fiscal year, which is coming up on September 30th. But Stein told us even if the administration meets the deadline, it's not clear that funding will reach where it needs to.
--:-- Jeff Stein: A lot of the people in the government that we're speaking to are saying, we are not sure that even if tomorrow the White House was like, go spend this money, that they could literally manage to get the money out the door in time.
--:-- Jeff Stein: And Stein said his sources are telling him Russell Vogt, Trump's budget director, and the Doge team are planning to stall billions of dollars more in the coming weeks.
--:-- Jeff Stein: Vogt has long questioned the constitutionality of federal budget law that says a president must spend congressionally appropriated funds. Vogt is really going for an all-out assault on what has governed the balance of powers between Congress and the White House for 50 years.
--:-- Jeff Stein: And if he wins it could really redefine the American presidency in a very profound way If the money is not spent by the end of the fiscal year it automatically expires something known as a pocket rescission Democrats could challenge the rescission in the courts.
--:-- Jeff Stein: But if the Supreme Court were to side with the president, it could expand the authority of the executive branch to override congressional funding allocations in ways rarely before seen.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's turn now to some of the ongoing effects of the Texas abortion ban and how it may be shaping treatment for those going through pregnancy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Reporting from ProPublica has picked up on a trend that since the ban, the number of women in Texas bleeding to death during miscarriages has gone up.
--:-- Shamita Basu: To treat excessive bleeding due to a miscarriage, healthcare providers sometimes offer what's called a dilation and curatage procedure, or DNC, to quickly empty the uterus and allow it to close, which prevents life-threatening hemorrhages.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's a procedure that's also used to end pregnancies. And stories have been emerging of doctors in places like Texas hesitating or failing to treat their patients with non-viable pregnancies who are bleeding, only for them to return to emergency rooms later in critical condition.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Having access to these options earlier means that patients are less likely to end up with a severe outcome. That's reporter Kavita Serrana, who reviewed hospital discharge data from Texas from 2017 to 2023, the most recent year available, and she noticed a worrying trend.
--:-- Kavita Serrana: We found that blood transfusions during emergency room visits for first trimester pregnancy loss went up more than 50 percent. And we also found that sepsis, which is the body's reaction to a severe life-threatening infection, rose more than 50 percent for second trimester pregnancy loss hospitalizations.
--:-- Kavita Serrana: and doctors tell us that these are both signs of serious delays in care.
--:-- Kavita Serrana: Miscarriages are common. ProPublica reports that they occur in up to 30 percent of pregnancies. And the Texas abortion law is one of the strictest in the country, the only exception being in cases where the doctor deems it necessary to save the life of the patient.
--:-- Kavita Serrana: And it carries serious consequences. The Texas abortion law is particularly punitive. It threatens up to 99 years in prison, $100,000 fine, and loss of license.
--:-- Kavita Serrana: As Serana told us, that's meant that patients are discharged without adequate care, putting them at greater risk. And a lot of doctors are saying they've seen colleagues who just don't want to be associated with that kind of care.
--:-- Kavita Serrana: That's exactly what happened to Sara DePables-Velez, a pregnant woman in Austin who was miscarrying and bleeding profusely. She was sent home from the ER two times until she ended up returning an ambulance and needing two blood transfusions to survive.
--:-- Kavita Serrana: Medical experts who reviewed her history said that all this could have been avoided if she was offered a DNC earlier. They said doctors had five opportunities to offer one. They had enough information at that point to see that the pregnancy wasn't progressing.
--:-- Kavita Serrana: Surana told us about one woman who died as a result of delayed care. Portia Gumezi was a 35-year-old mother of two living near Houston. She was experiencing a miscarriage at 11 weeks pregnant.
--:-- Kavita Serrana: Maternal health care experts told ProPublica that Gumezi, who was bleeding heavily, should have been offered a DNC. But she received this care for 10 hours that she was at the hospital and essentially bled to death
--:-- Kavita Serrana: Hemorrhage experts say that no woman should die of bleeding in an American hospital but these are some of the cases that happen when people don get quick access to reproductive health care.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following. First, there is no so-called Epstein client list. That's according to the Department of Justice and the FBI, which have concluded that they had no evidence such a document existed and that no one else would be charged in connection with his crimes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The administration also released a video that it says shows no one entered the area of the prison Jeffrey Epstein was being held the night he died, supporting the medical report that he died by suicide.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's the first time the administration has officially contradicted conspiracy theories about Epstein's death, theories that were at times promoted by people who have since joined the Trump administration, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Attorney General Pam Bondi had previously said they were pouring over a, quote, truckload of evidence, and when asked about the client list, had said it was sitting on her desk.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In a press conference yesterday, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said she was referring to the paperwork more generally.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In international news, a Russian minister was found dead hours after being fired by President Vladimir Putin. Roman Stara Voit was found with a gunshot wound in his parked car, and law enforcement agencies said they believed suicide was the most likely cause.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Kremlin gave no reason for firing Stadovoit, who served as transport minister, though the Associated Press reports speculation in the Russian media that he may have been embroiled in recent alleged corruption investigations in the Kursk region.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The corruption has been cited as a reason for the weaknesses that allowed Ukraine to attack that area.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And it was an emotional fourth round at Wimbledon as what was shaping up to be a surprise upset turned into a painful exit. Grigor Dimitrov was leading by two sets against world number one, Yannick Sinner, after Sinner appeared to injure his elbow.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But as he neared victory, Dimitrov hit an ace and collapsed onto the ground, grabbing his chest. He walked off the court before returning to tell the umpire he was retiring from the tournament.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This makes it his fifth straight Grand Slam from which he's retired. After the game, Sinner paid tribute to his friend and opponent.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We're very, very unlucky from his side. I don't take this as a win at all. You know, this is just a very unfortunate moment to witness for all of us.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In other Wimbledon news, the tournament has announced changes to its electronic line calling system after it was accidentally deactivated. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova said the game was stolen from her after there was no out call when a ball from her opponent, Sunec Cartel, went long.
--:-- Shamita 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. Bloomberg Businessweek uncovers the story of America's hot garbage problem and reveals the dangerous health implications of living near a landfill in scorching temperatures.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
