--:-- Gideon Resnick: Good morning. It's Wednesday, June 19th. I'm Gideon Resnick, in for Shamit Abassu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Coming up on today's show, the impact of a new Biden immigration policy. What happens now after Israel's war cabinet dissolved? And the importance of Juneteenth to one resident in Texas. But first, let's take a look at some other major stories that are in the news.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The Los Angeles Unified School District is banning students from using cell phones during the school day. The policy in America's second largest school district will take effect by spring of next year. Board members say that excessive cell phone use can endanger young people's mental health and hinder their learning. More schools could follow. California Governor Gavin Newsom supports a bill for statewide limits on phone use while students are at school.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Moving to Saudi Arabia, where hundreds of people are reported dead while on the Hajj pilgrimage. Nearly all of the deaths were because of extreme heat. Climate change is having a growing effect on the Hajj, as Saudi research shows that temperatures have steadily risen. It was 125 degrees, for example, in Mecca earlier this week.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In Washington, Boeing CEO David Calhoun faced heavy criticism from lawmakers in testimony before Congress yesterday. It was his first time being questioned in this setting since a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines flight in January. The focus was safety and whether whistleblowers raising concerns about the company had faced retaliation. Families of the hundreds of people killed in the 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 were seated right behind Calhoun. Many held pictures of those who died.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And at one point, he stepped away from the microphone and turned to speak to them. I apologize for the grief that we have caused. And I want you to know we are totally committed in their memory to work and focus on safety for as long, as long as we're employed by Boeing. He told lawmakers that whistleblowers have sometimes faced blowback from their bosses. And he said the company has made changes to improve things.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Calhoun has said that he will step down by the end of the year. There are still a lot of questions about Boeing's future. The Wall Street Journal reports that several high-profile candidates for the CEO job have said no. And the Justice Department is deciding whether it will prosecute Boeing over those deadly 737 MAX crashes.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And the sports world is remembering Willie Mays The baseball great died at 93 yesterday The MLB put together a highlight reel of some of his greatest moments including when Mays crossed a hitting milestone in 1970 0-2, Wagoner deliver. Mays hits it under left field. Willie Mays at the 2,000.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Even fans that are too young to have seen him play know the impact of the center fielder. At the San Francisco Giants stadium, there's a nine-foot-tall bronze statue of him out front, located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza. The Giants chairman paid tribute to Mays, calling him an inspiration and a hero.
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--:-- Gideon Resnick: In a major immigration announcement, President Biden says he will offer a pathway to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of people potentially facing deportation. They're immigrants without legal status who are married to U.S. citizens. These couples have been raising families, sending their kids to church and school, paying taxes, contributing to our country for 10 years or more.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Matter of fact, the average time they've spent here is 23 years, people who are affected today. But living in the United States all this time, there's fear and uncertainty. We can fix that. And that's what I'm going to do today. Thanks a lot. help people like Alejandro Paz Medrona. He's originally from Mexico. He's married to an American citizen, and he's lived in the U.S. for nearly 20 years.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: He told NPR about the fear he has every day without legal protections. He says that each day he kisses his wife before work, and he never knows if it will be their last. He also told NPR that his status was why the couple chose not to have kids. Biden's announcement comes as he's facing a lot of criticism from the right and the left over his immigration policies.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Republicans say that he is not tough enough. Democrats are critical of Biden's decision to severely restrict the asylum program, an announcement he made just weeks ago. The latest move to prevent deportations could win back some Democratic voters White House correspondent Laura Barone reported on PBS about the potential political impact
--:-- Laura Barone: There is some polling from Latino pollsters like Eki research that shows that Latino voters in battleground states like Arizona and Nevada, that when they were told about this potential action for undocumented spouses that Biden could take, they moved towards Biden by nine points.
--:-- Laura Barone: And so ultimately, this is something that Democrats across the board seem to think that could be a political boon for President Biden come November. According to the American Business Immigration Coalition, which backs Biden's new policy, there are hundreds of thousands of voters in key states who could benefit from the new move.
--:-- Laura Barone: That includes those battleground states that I mentioned, as well as Georgia.
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--:-- Gideon Resnick: Turning now to the latest in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fighting political battles on multiple fronts. Yesterday, he delivered one of his harshest public criticisms yet of President Biden and his administration in a video message.
--:-- Dov Lieber: It's inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel. Israel, America's closest ally, fighting for its life, fighting against Iran and our other common enemies.
--:-- Dov Lieber: Secretary Blinken assured me that the administration is working day and night to remove these bottlenecks. I certainly hope that's the case. It should be the case. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said military aid to Israel has been moving as it normally would, apart from a single shipment of bombs.
--:-- Dov Lieber: And Axios reported that the White House canceled a previously planned U.S.-Israel meeting in response to the video. This escalating tension between the U.S. and Israel comes as Netanyahu's political rivalries at home are also heating up.
--:-- Dov Lieber: Earlier this week, Netanyahu dissolved the emergency war cabinet that had been created to oversee the conflict in Gaza. It comes just days after his main political rival, Benny Gantz, and another member of the cabinet resigned. Gantz said he wanted a plan for the future of Gaza and felt that Netanyahu was putting himself over the country.
--:-- Dov Lieber: If the listeners want to understand what the meaning of the war cabinet dissolving is, all they have to know is ask themselves why would Benny Gantz give up important power if he had it in the first place. He's telling you he didn't really have an influence and that's why he left.
--:-- Dov Lieber: That's what makes things a little more complicated for Netanyahu, because now he has less people he can necessarily blame for decisions. People like Gantz. And in a sense this split is a return to the political dynamics of Israel before the war When Gantz joined the government from the opposition
--:-- Dov Lieber: That was a sign of the desire of the country to unify in the face of war But all the pre divisions have resurfaced and the two sides of the political spectrum are once again at each other's throats. And the breakup of the War Cabinet is the manifestation of those divisions coming to his service again.
--:-- Dov Lieber: Now Netanyahu might be even more dependent on his far-right allies, which the AP reports could further complicate efforts at a ceasefire and further isolate Israel on the global stage.
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--:-- Gideon Resnick: Finally, today is Juneteenth. Most people know it as the day that in 1865, Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslave Black people in Texas, two years after Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: For Dr. Opal Lee, a 97-year-old living in North Texas, the day holds some extra meaning. On Juneteenth, when she was just 12 years old, a racist white mob drove her family out of their home in Fort Worth.
--:-- Dr. Opal Lee: They towed asunder. They set stuff on fire. They did despicable things. In recent years, Lee started to think about how to get her family home back. She learned that Habitat for Humanity owned the lot where it once stood.
--:-- Dr. Opal Lee: The group agreed to sell it to her for $10, and a new home was built at no cost to her. The community celebrated Lee and her new home on Friday. Neighbors and other supporters honored her impressive legacy.
--:-- Dr. Opal Lee: Lee has been referred to as the Grandmother of Juneteenth for her successful effort to push the federal government to make it a national holiday. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
--:-- Dr. Opal Lee: Lee talked to CBS News Texas about her work. It's not going to happen in a day. I have to work at it. But if people have been taught to hate, they can be taught to love. And I want people to know that.
--:-- Dr. Opal Lee: Her efforts to honor the history of Juneteenth are far from over. Lee's next project is a museum that's set to open in 2026.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: 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 have a narrated article that's coming up next. It's from our archives.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Last year, a professor and researcher wrote an account for Texas Monthly about his journey understanding the history of Juneteenth and how the story has been told. If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find more great articles to listen to.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
