--:-- Gideon Resnick: Good morning. It's Thursday, March 28th. I'm Gideon Resnick, in for Shumita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Coming up on today's show, the stories of the workers killed in the Baltimore Bridge collapse, why Israel may draft ultra-Orthodox men into the military, and the return of Major League Baseball.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: We are still learning some key details about the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The bodies of two men were recovered yesterday. They were among six workers who were all presumed dead.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Emergency responders said the window to have found the people alive was very small due to the tides and frigid temperatures of the river. The six known victims were part of a construction crew working overnight to repair potholes and masonry on the bridge.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Many were working to support both their families in America and relatives in their home countries, according to a local pastor who spoke to The Washington Post. They came from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Maryland's governor, Wes Moore, told ABC about meeting with relatives of the victims. They talked about who they were as family people. I mean, these were sons and fathers, and they were brothers.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Minor Soaso, a father of two, is among those believed to be dead. His family says he came to the United States from Honduras nearly 20 years ago in search of a better life. His sister Norma remembered him on Telemundo.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: She told Telemundo that he gave the whole family strength and fought to help them get ahead. His brother-in-law said that Soaso leaves a great legacy, setting a strong example of hard work and devotion to family.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Another worker was Miguel Luna, a father of six originally from El Salvador. He's being remembered for what one advocate for migrants called his quiet leadership, working hard in a time where some people are disrespectful toward immigrants.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Now let's turn to Israel where the government is up against the clock to make a decision about who serves in the military and any potential change could upend a system that's been in place for decades ever since Israel was founded.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Historically, ultra-Orthodox Jewish men have been exempt from mandatory military service to allow them to study religion full-time. The exemption was put in place after the Holocaust when it was seen as vital to protect what was left of religious scholars.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Recently, though, Israel's Supreme Court has ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to present a plan for a military draft by the end of this month. He could either extend the exemption or listen to growing calls to end it.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The ultra-Orthodox community is a critical part of Netanyahu's political coalition, and many want to maintain the status quo. Policy scholar Nehemi Yaffa of Tel Aviv University spoke with NPR about the ramifications of potential changes.
--:-- Nehemi Yaffa: I think the Israeli society should ask itself, actually, do you want to see them in the army? You know, they want to see blood. They want to see them on uniform shooting. I don't think it's a great idea.
--:-- Nehemi Yaffa: Many Israelis don't understand how challenging this change would be for the young men who've dedicated their lives to studying the Torah in isolation from the modern secular world.
--:-- Nehemi Yaffa: And ultra-Orthodox leaders have warned that exposing young men to the military could end this way of life. Though some members of the community did sign up for military service, and others worked as first responders, helping victims of the Hamas attacks.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Netanyahu faces political risks whether he ends or keeps the exemption. At least one member of the emergency government formed after the attacks by Hamas has threatened to quit if the policy isn't changed, Netanyahu's chief political rival, Benny Gantz.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Polls show that Gantz has more popular support than Netanyahu, and that an overwhelming number of citizens agree with ending the military service exemption for ultra-Orthodox men.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The co-founder of a group organizing for change, Ron Sheriff, told NPR that he doesn't think it's fair that his kid has to serve while ultra-Orthodox men are given a choice.
--:-- Ron Sheriff: A minister in the government who is willing to send my son to his death and his son doing nothing. Who can understand that?
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Israel's military wants to see the exemption lifted as well. It is warned of a manpower shortage as the war in Gaza continues and as Israel continues to trade fire with Hezbollah over the northern border with Lebanon.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So this will be a decision with significant political consequences for Netanyahu in the days ahead.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Now let's take a quick look at some other stories that are in the news.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The political world is remembering Joe Lieberman, who died yesterday at 82. He was the first Jewish candidate to appear on a major party presidential ticket as Al Gore's running mate in 2000.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: They lost a highly disputed election to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in a race that was fought all the way to the Supreme Court. Lieberman then returned to the Senate and built a reputation as a centrist.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: He eventually left the Democratic Party to become an independent. And in his 2012 farewell speech, he warned of the dangers of a divided America.
--:-- Joe Lieberman: Today, I regret to say as I leave the Senate that the greatest obstacle that I see standing between us and the brighter American future we all want is right here in Washington.
--:-- Joe Lieberman: It's the partisan polarization of our politics, which prevents us from making the principled compromises on which progress in a democracy depends.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In Florida, there is a settlement in the complicated legal feud between Disney and allies of Governor Ron DeSantis. Disney agreed to cancel a development plan that it put in place as a way to get around an oversight board packed with DeSantis appointees.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: This fight goes back to early 2022, when Disney opposed a Florida bill that limits instruction on gender and sexuality in schools, and DeSantis retaliated.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Now both sides are claiming victory, saying the settlement is good for Florida and good for Disney.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And police in Idaho are looking into allegations of racist harassment against the Utah women's basketball team when they were staying there during the NCAA tournament.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Coach Lynn Roberts talked about what happened.
--:-- Lynn Roberts: We had several instances of some kind of racial hate crimes towards our program. Players say people in a truck with a Confederate flag on it repeatedly confronted them, yelling and using racial slurs.
--:-- Lynn Roberts: The team had to change hotels for safety. Local police say they're working with the FBI and officials in Idaho apologized to the team for the incidents.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Finally, today is opening day for Major League Baseball. And we spoke to Russell Dorsey, an analyst for Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV+, about what he's going to be following throughout the season.
--:-- Russell Dorsey: I think the biggest storyline for me going into 2024 is the Los Angeles Dodgers. Right, like we don't really see super teams that much in major league baseball like you see them in the NBA sporadically in the NFL, but what the Dodgers were able to do this offseason and putting together a lineup that has three MVPs at the top, like that's a team that's built to win, win often and win right now.
--:-- Russell Dorsey: One of those MVPs is Shohei Otani, who we've talked about on the show before. He's dominated headlines heading into the season for his skill as a player, but more recently he's been in the news because of his longtime friend and interpreter who was just fired.
--:-- Russell Dorsey: He was accused of stealing money from Otani to pay off gambling debts. That could be a distraction for him. And so I'm interested to see how he goes out and performs with all this going on in the background.
--:-- Russell Dorsey: Now, he's a really damn good player. So I imagine he'll be fine. And despite the Dodgers' powerhouse roster, Dorsey says there are still some teams that could give them a run for their money.
--:-- Russell Dorsey: I look at a team like the Atlanta Braves, who won the World Series a couple of years ago and has really kept the majority of that roster together. That would be the team that if I'm the Dodgers, I don't want to see them because they match up really well with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
--:-- Russell Dorsey: And even with all the Dodgers have done, they're still a team that has some weaknesses. You can follow all of the action on opening day in the Apple News app, and you can find Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV+.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: If you're listening in the News app right now, stick around for a narrated article from Time. The magazine examines the ongoing efforts to release wrongfully detained journalist Evan Gershkovich.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The Wall Street Journal reporter has spent the last year in prison in Russia. If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow. Thank you.
