--:-- Yasmin Khan: Good morning. It's Tuesday, February 6th. I'm Yasmin Khan, in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Coming up, what's up with high grocery costs, the surprising role of radio in the Gaza War, and the spicy breakup story behind the Sriracha shortage. But first, let's take a quick look at some major stories in the news.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: At least three people are dead in California, and there's more dangerous rain and wind in store for the state. Power's been knocked out to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses. And the severe weather is threatening to spread to other states as it moves east toward Arizona and Nevada.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Tens of millions of people have been under flood warnings. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told people to stay off the roads and to brace for more dangerous conditions. I know that this is hard, but Angelenos, we will get through this.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: We anticipate the rains for a couple of more days, but know that we are not standing alone in our city. While she was briefing the public, President Biden called in to offer more federal assistance.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Bass put him on speaker so people could hear it. We'll get any help on the way as soon as you guys request it. So just let me know.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Downtown L.A. saw historic levels of rain, breaking a record that stood for more than a century. The excess water is too much to handle for soil in the region, leading to dozens of mudslides.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: In politics, the Democratic and Republican primaries are in Nevada today. Confusingly, there's also a Republican caucus in Nevada on Thursday, and the top GOP candidates won't face off in the contests.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Nikki Haley's competing in today's primary. Former President Trump is running in Thursday's caucus. The GOP double-take is because of a dispute between the state legislature and the Republican Party.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Delegates will go to the caucus winner, so Trump will win the contest that counts most in Nevada. The next head-to-head race for the GOP is the South Carolina primary on February 24th.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Abroad, King Charles III is stepping away from public duties for cancer treatment. Buckingham Palace hasn't said what kind of cancer the 75-year-old has, other than to say it's not prostate cancer.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Doctors found his condition while he was being treated for a separate, benign prostate enlargement. And in entertainment news country star Toby Keith is dead at 62.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The artist was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2022. He had dozens of top 10 hits. Some were classic country party songs. One of his most controversial was a 2002 song after 9 that fans found patriotic and critics thought was overly aggressive.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Also, Tracy Chapman returned to the top of the charts. Fast Car hit number one on iTunes. Her Grammys duet with country singer Luke Combs had people wanting to hear her 1988 original again.
--:-- Abba Botterai: In many ways, the U.S. economy is doing great. Job growth is solid. Overall inflation is dropping. But try telling that to somebody who's staring at a fat grocery receipt and wondering why they got so little food for the money.
--:-- Abba Botterai: The cost of groceries is one place where consumers are still feeling a pinch. Food costs have climbed 25 percent over the last four years, outpacing inflation.
--:-- Abba Botterai: And according to Washington Post economics correspondent Abba Botterai, there's no easy policy fix here because many factors are keeping food costs high.
--:-- Abba Botterai: You know, a lot of things related to climate change, droughts, dry weather, you know, just excess rain, flooding in different parts of the world.
--:-- Abba Botterai: We also have Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has impacted a bunch of commodities, avian flu, and then labor shortages and higher wages just across the spectrum of the food process.
--:-- Abba Botterai: Economic policy experts say another issue is consolidation in the food business. Less competition means large chains can keep prices higher without losing customers.
--:-- Abba Botterai: President Biden has accused some large-scale grocers of price-gouging Americans, and his administration has taken legal action.
--:-- Abba Botterai: I think it has become a big priority of the administration to figure out, you know, whether companies are jacking up prices beyond what is necessary and sort of taking advantage of this moment where consumers are resigned to the fact that they might have to pay a little bit more at the supermarket.
--:-- Abba Botterai: For those of you wondering, will prices ever come down at the grocery store? The answer is yes and no.
--:-- Abba Botterai: One agricultural economist told Baturai they likely will not return to pre-pandemic levels. But things are at least stabilizing, with several items dropping in price last year, like eggs, lettuce, and tomatoes.
--:-- Abba Botterai: And the agriculture department predicts a very slight drop in overall grocery prices this year.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: For Israelis and Palestinians who have been separated from their loved ones by war, it has been a difficult four months. But some have been figuring out ways to talk to their loved ones through the radio.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: NPR has a story on how Palestinian and Israeli radio stations are trying to reconnect families.
--:-- Yarden Romangat: I was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7th, but has since been released. She said her captors allowed her to listen to the radio.
--:-- Yarden Romangat: That's how she found out that some of her relatives died, but that her husband and child were alive. She also learned that her family was aware she was being held hostage.
--:-- Yarden Romangat's cousin: She said that that was one of the most important things for her while she was in captivity, keeping her strong, knowing that her husband and child are still alive, and that we fight for her.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: That gave the country's biggest broadcaster, Israeli Army Radio, an idea. The radio station started airing messages for the remaining hostages in Gaza from their relatives and loved ones.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Every hour, a song is dedicated to a hostage by name, like this song called We Will Meet.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Meanwhile, Palestinians are using the power of radio too. There are thousands of Palestinians being held in Israeli jails.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Most are being held without charge or are awaiting sentencing. And Israel has all but cut off communication.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: There are no more family visits. Lawyers have minimal access to their clients. And even some mail delivery services have been severed.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Israeli officials say the measures are in place to prevent coordinated attacks. But jailed Palestinians say it's unbearable not knowing what's going on in the outside world.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: So one radio station has been playing messages from families to their detained loved ones, hoping that maybe they'll hear it.
--:-- Dima Ali: 18-year-old Dima Ali recorded a message for her dad, who's been accused of having ties to Hamas, which the family denies.
--:-- Dima Ali: She told NPR she has no idea if her dad would hear the message. But in it, she wanted him to know that everything at home was fine, school was good, and not to worry.
--:-- Dima Ali: We have no connection to reach to him or to speak with him. Where's the human rights? Where's the prisoner's right? Even the lawyer can't reach to him.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Technically, Palestinians aren't allowed to listen to radios and Israeli detention centers. But some who've been released say that occasionally one gets smuggled in and a message can get around.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: As NPR notes, desperate families feel there's nothing to lose in recording a message. You never know who by chance may be listening.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Lovers of hot sauce, specifically the iconic Sriracha from Hoifang Foods, are a passionate group. They go crazy for that bottle, the one with the bright green cap and rooster on the label.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: This particular brand of Sriraja has attracted legions of fans. It even inspired a whole documentary.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: I just love that bold flavor. It's yummy. But those folks have been out of luck lately. The hot sauce has been in short supply in grocery stores, and online sellers have sometimes jacked up prices to nearly $70 a bottle.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The company has blamed the shortage on climate change and drought in Mexico. But some experts said that didn't quite add up.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Now, Fortune magazine reports on what it says is the real origin of this shortage. The problem goes back to a dispute in 2016.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And it's actually a breakup story about a decades-long friendship and business partnership that completely unraveled.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: For years, the maker of Hoifeng Foods had an agreement with a farmer from California. He would grow all the chilies for the hot sauce, and the company would be his only pepper buyer.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Together, they had enormous success, becoming a worldwide bestseller. Then, in 2016, a fight over pricing ended their 28-year partnership and brought each man financial ruin.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Each person has their version of who did what wrong. But the bottom line was, one guy had thousands of acres of peppers with no one to buy them, and one guy had a hot sauce factory with no peppers to keep it running.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: It's an epic tale that turned two men into direct competitors and left millions of people without their favorite hot sauce.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: You can read the whole thing, along with all the stories we talked about, in the Apple News app.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And if you're already listening in the News app, we've got a narrated article coming up next from the Atavist magazine about an incredible story of survival.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Last year, four children went missing in the Colombian Amazon after surviving a plane crash. They spent 40 days alone in the jungle before they were rescued.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And this story gets into all the details on how they survived and were finally found.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
