--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Monday, February 8th. I'm Shamita Basu. And I'm Duarte Giraldino. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The impeachment trial of former President Trump is set to begin in the Senate tomorrow. He'll be the first American president to face impeachment twice. CNN breaks down what you can expect this week.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Trump is being charged with incitement of insurrection. The Democratic impeachment managers have three arguments. They say Trump repeatedly lied about the election results. Second, that he encouraged his supporters to riot. And third, that he tried to overturn the election results.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, according to CNN, Trump's team wants to stay as far away from the Capitol insurrection and Trump's role in it as possible. Instead, they plan to mostly focus on two arguments. First, they'll say that an impeachment trial for a former president is fundamentally unconstitutional. He's no longer in the White House, so they'll argue how can they have a trial to remove him from office?
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And second, they'll argue anything he said in the lead up to January 6th is protected by his First Amendment rights. Free speech.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Last month, we got a preview of where Republicans stand. This was when senators voted on the constitutionality of trying Trump now that he's out of office. 45 GOP members agreed with Trump's legal defense team. Democrats need 17 Republican votes to convict the former president.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: So the numbers just aren't there. And that's why Harvard professor Jeanne Sook Gerson warns this trial could be the, quote, worst of all worlds for Democrats.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She writes in The New Yorker, the trial won't just further divide the country. It'll also inevitably end in acquittal. And she says that means Trump will feel vindicated cleared of any and all wrongdoing.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Gerson argues for Democrats an acquittal could be way worse than having no trial at all.
--:-- Shamita Basu: President Biden is calling pandemic school closures a national emergency. Last night on CBS, he laid out some conditions.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: I think it's time for schools to reopen safely, safely. You have to have fewer people in the classroom. You have to have ventilation systems that have been reworked. Our CDC commissioner is going to be coming out with science-based judgment within, I think, as early as Wednesday as the layout, what the minimum requirements are.
--:-- Shamita Basu: For many parents, the day schools reopen can't come soon enough. So far during the pandemic, school-age children fell behind on average by as much as five to nine months. That data comes from the consulting firm McKinsey.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Yeah, and there is a bad option behind every door? And do you hold back students? Do you advance everyone through and just acknowledge that they'll be further behind than they should be?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Schools across the country are trying to figure this out in different ways. The Houston Chronicle looks at schools in Texas. Now, a lot of the state's largest districts are entirely restructuring the upcoming school year. Some are considering offering an optional 10 weeks of extra in-person instruction. Now, this is an offer, not a mandate. Families can opt out.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In Dallas alone, though, the extra weeks could cost up to $90 million. California Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed next year's school budget, including $4.6 billion for summer school and extra class time to address academic setbacks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And in New York City, the biggest school district in the country, Mayor Bill de Blasio is proposing a full school reopening in September of 2021. He's promised to close the, quote, COVID achievement gap, but it's not clear how he plans to do that.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But that achievement gap looks different depending on the student population There are the most disadvantaged kids students who either lack access to the Internet or have disabilities Some of their parents want these students to repeat their current grade As the HuffPost explains, parents worry by progressing to the next grade, their children could fall further behind or never acquire important skills and knowledge.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The OECD says the U.S. has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the developed world. It spends less on child benefits than almost any other developed nation.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Today, Democrats are proposing expanding child tax credits to help lift millions of children out of poverty. The Washington Post has details on the plan.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Here's what Democrats are proposing. Families would get $3,600 for every child under six years old and $3,000 for every child between the ages of six and 17. The payments would be smaller for higher income Americans.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: NPR spoke with Chuck Marr at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He was an economic advisor to President Clinton.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Marr explains why this proposal is such a big deal. Even though a childhood tax credit already exists, 27 million children do not qualify for the current maximum amount. And that's because of the way that the program is structured.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: For lower income people, it's more complicated because there's a formula that phases in with their income. So they essentially, once a low-income person passes a threshold of income of $2,500, the child tax credit phases in at 15 cents on the dollar.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And this is particularly bad for black families. According to Marr, half of black children in the U.S. do not get the maximum child tax credit because their parents don't make enough money.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Democratic proposal would change that. It would extend the childhood tax credit for low families and lower the amount for higher earners
--:-- Shamita Basu: Early signs suggest there might be Republican support for this plan Senator Mitt Romney surprised lawmakers last week when he proposed giving families with kids even more money.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Marr's NPR, he thinks other Republicans who see this as a way to strengthen families may also come on board.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So the pandemic made this year's Super Bowl pretty bizarre. There were 30,000 cardboard cutouts in the stands. Iconic products like Budweiser, Coke, and Pepsi skipped running ads this year.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But there was one part of the game that was very, very familiar on CBS last night. The biggest tandem for touchdowns. Yep, Tom Brady did it again.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski was just the beginning as Tampa Bay beat the Kansas City Chiefs 31 to 9.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And that gives Brady his seventh championship in 10 Super Bowl appearances. And this is pretty impressive. He did all this at the ripe old age of 43 years old.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Sorry, no offense to 43-year-olds. That's pretty old for the NFL, though.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Now, I'm not hating on him, but his career makes him the kind of player people love to hate, except when he's playing on your team.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Super Bowl MVP didn't do all this alone, of course. Brady also convinced Gronkowski to come out of retirement, and he scored two touchdowns. Other players Brady recruited also had big nights.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And I'm talking about running back Leonard Fournette and wide receiver Antonio Brown. And of course, Brady got that dreaded question after the game. When are you planning to retire?
--:-- Shamita Basu: And Brady said he'll be back for a 22nd season in the NFL.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And while you're there, check out some of our audio stories. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
