--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, July 19th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, the latest movement on investigations into Donald Trump, why U.S. workers have so few protections from deadly heat, and the upside of shark-infested waters. But first, let's catch up on some major stories out there in the news.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The U.S. military says that they believe an American soldier is in North Korean custody. U.S. officials are saying it's still not clear why this soldier allegedly crossed the border while on a civilian tour of the border area between North and South Korea.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As of early Wednesday morning, North Korean officials have not commented on the incident. This comes at a time of heightened tensions. South Korea and the U.S. have been in talks this week about coordination in the event of a nuclear war with North Korea. North Korea launched two ballistic missiles early this morning after the U.S. sent a nuclear-armed submarine to a South Korean port.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Checking back in on a story that we spoke about yesterday, the first pre-trial hearing for the case regarding former President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents ended without a trial date. Judge Eileen Cannon was reportedly skeptical of the timelines proposed by both Trump's legal team and the Justice Department. DOJ wants the trial to start in December, while Trump's team wants it postponed indefinitely, citing the 2024 presidential election.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In more Trump-related news, Michigan's Attorney General Dana Nessel charged 16 people in the state with efforts to overturn the 2020 election. These people were electors selected by Trump allies who tried to claim that he had won when he in fact lost. These appear to be the first charges against so-called fake electors. Nessel called their plan fraudulent and undermining.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They weren't the duly elected and qualified electors, and each of the defendants knew it. They carried out these actions with the hope and belief that the electoral votes of Michigan's 2020 election would be awarded to the candidate of their choosing instead of the candidate that Michigan voters actually chose.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One of the defendants told NBC News this was an example of political persecution. The group of fake electors includes current and former state GOP officials, a member of the Republican National Committee, and a sitting mayor.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's stay with Trump legal news and talk about movement in an investigation happening at the federal level. The one into Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. Trump says he was notified by federal prosecutors over the weekend that he is the target of special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into his actions leading up to January 6th.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's a signal that he's potentially facing another federal indictment and soon. There's a lot that we don't know right now, partly because so far reporters have only seen Trump's description of the letter he received.
--:-- Sadie Gurman: I reviewed it, and I walked us through what might happen next. This investigation has definitely escalated, has advanced, and is nearing its end. And this is an investigation that's been going on for months and involved testimony of an array of different people before the grand jury, including people like former Vice President Mike Pence and Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
--:-- Sadie Gurman: So they've covered a lot of ground. And while we don't know exactly what charges Trump could be facing as part of this, we know that this is some pretty serious legal peril that he's facing.
--:-- Sadie Gurman: Trump says he's been given four days to respond to the grand jury. The Journal reported that the grand jury is still hearing testimony from other witnesses with more appearances scheduled this week.
--:-- Sadie Gurman: One thing is for sure, this is uncharted territory. Trump is leading Republican primary polls for the 2024 presidential race. Earlier this year, Trump saw spikes in his campaign fundraising around the news of his two prior indictments. If he's indicted in this investigation, it would be his third time.
--:-- Sadie Gurman: He's also facing another possible indictment from a local prosecutor in Georgia, all before Election Day in 2024. I say these charges come with the possibility of some pretty significant prison time.
--:-- Sadie Gurman: It's unclear at this point whether any trials will wrap up before the election itself, but it raises very novel questions about whether somebody who's convicted of these type of crimes, federal felonies, can potentially still run for president and can potentially serve as president from prison.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's still dangerously hot in many parts of the country and the world. Yesterday, Phoenix, Arizona hit 110 degrees for the 19th consecutive day, the longest streak in the city's history. When temperatures are this high, health experts say there are three things people need regular access to to stay safe. Water, shade, and rest.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But it might surprise you to hear, in the United States, there are very few federal protections for people who must be outside for their jobs, like your local mail carrier, landscapers, construction workers, or farmers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There is a broad swath of the economy and workers who make our economy go that are at risk every day. The temperatures climb, and it's only going to get worse.
--:-- Jacob Bogage: That's right. There really is a patchwork of heat-related protections in the U.S., and let's start at the federal level. OSHA, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, has what's called a general duty clause, which basically means employers have a general duty to provide a hazard-free workplace.
--:-- Jacob Bogage: But that's not really super effective because anything and everything can be a hazard, and that's really hard to enforce. In 2021, President Biden ordered OSHA to draft a national heat standard. That process takes a long time.
--:-- Jacob Bogage: I mean, it can take multiple presidential administrations because those are subject to a lot of political headwinds. But it's clear there has been progress. It's just slow progress. And that has real consequences for workers.
--:-- Jacob Bogage: Sometimes deadly consequences. Between 2017 and 2022, OSHA officially counted 121 people who died while working because of heat. And I say that number is almost certainly an undercount, because heat-related deaths are sometimes written off as workplace accidents.
--:-- Jacob Bogage: Heat debilitates you. It messes with your cognitive function. And so you maybe mishandle a piece of machinery that harms you as a worker because you are so debilitated by the heat.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Only six states have some form of heat protections for workers. In Texas last month, the Republican-controlled legislature got rid of certain workplace regulations that included heat safety rules. Their reasoning? Maintaining those rules is too much of a burden on employers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The folks who are making decisions about the kind of protections workers have don't do the same work that these workers do. Don't face the same kind of risk these workers do. And we have to decide if we're okay treating people like that.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's a decision for all of us to make, but it's also a decision for policymakers. Let's end with an unexpected headline from Vox about what's lurking in the waters around some of New York's most popular beaches. They are teeming with sharks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Sightings are up. And that's a good thing. Vox explains more shark sightings means the marine ecosystem is healing. Over the last half century, shark populations dropped by 70 percent due to pollution and industrial fishing, with major consequences down the food chain.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Fewer sharks meant that their prey, smaller fish and crustaceans, were overgrazing coral and seagrass. Experts say that the comeback of sharks is the direct result of successful conservation efforts.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In the 90s, federal regulators put restrictions on what species of sharks could be harvested. There have also been efforts to regulate commercial fishing, because in areas where we overfish, sharks are left with less food.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If hearing all of this makes you a little bit nervous, Vox has a few tips. When you're out swimming, avoid areas where you see fish. That might be where sharks are drawn to hunt.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But really, keep this in mind. There are so many more dangerous things that we do in everyday life than going swimming in the ocean. Your chances of meeting a shark are relatively very low.
--:-- 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, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up from The New Yorker. It looks at how a new approach for treating multiple sclerosis could transform the way that we think about treating other health issues. That's up next, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
