--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, May 31st. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, wildfires are raging in Canada. Why Americans can't stop buying luxury goods. And how teens are taking over women's soccer. But first, the Supreme Court is expected to hand down a ruling any day now in a case that has monumental consequences for Native communities. The case is Holland v. Brackeen.
--:-- Rebecca Nagel: At face value, it's about adoption and whether the law known as the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA for short, discriminates against non-Native families who want to adopt Native children. A lot of advocates and court watchers who are watching the Barakine case really don't think that it's about children or about ICWA at all, but is rather almost like a Trojan horse to open up this broader attack on tribes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's Rebecca Nagel, the host of the Crooked Media podcast This Land and a citizen of Cherokee Nation. She's written about the history of ICWA and why it was established in the first place.
--:-- Rebecca Nagel: The law was created in the late 1970s after nearly a third of Native children had been separated from their families by the federal government. Children were sent to boarding schools where they were given anglicized names and told they must assimilate to white society. They were punished for speaking languages other than English, and they were subject to emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.
--:-- Rebecca Nagel: There is a long history of the U.S. federal government systematically separating Native children from their families, which I think it's really important to point out is an internationally recognized form of genocide, to remove the children of a people. You can't continue to exist as a people, as a tribe, if you don't have your children.
--:-- Rebecca Nagel: Under ICWA, there's a priority list for who should get custody of a Native child if they're up for adoption. First priority goes to their family, then other members of the child tribe, then other Native families.
--:-- Rebecca Nagel: In this Supreme Court case, the plaintiffs say ICWA discriminates against non-parents based on race by putting them last on the priority list. And they're asking the court to overturn the law.
--:-- Rebecca Nagel: The U.S. has passed laws that apply just to tribes and tribal citizens. And for a long time, courts have recognized that that's not based on race, but it's based on the unique political status of indigenous nations.
--:-- Rebecca Nagel: And so it could really upset this whole area of law for the Supreme Court to rule that ICWA, which is just one of many of these laws, is not based on that political status, but is instead based on race.
--:-- Rebecca Nagel: Nagel says if the Supreme Court decides to strike down ICWA, the decision could open the door to upending hundreds of federal treaties and statutes that protect the rights of tribal nations.
--:-- Rebecca Nagel: If ICWA discriminates based on race and that's unconstitutional, well, what about the clinic where I go and get health care? Because if you're not a tribal citizen, you can't be seen there.
--:-- Rebecca Nagel: If we're just a racial group, then how can we have our own land and our own court systems and our own environmental regulations? You know, what quote unquote racial groups have their own governments?
--:-- Rebecca Nagel: And so it's really scary, the broader implications.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's turn now to some other big stories in the news. Yesterday, opening arguments began in the trial of a man who killed 11 people at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The shooting is the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. The shooter could face the death penalty if convicted of some of the 63 counts he's being charged with. Those include hate crime charges.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In Nova Scotia, raging wildfires have forced the evacuation of thousands of residents. Officials estimate that 200 homes or structures have been destroyed, and more than 16,000 people have been evacuated in areas around the capital of Halifax as of yesterday afternoon.
--:-- Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston: We're going to take whatever steps we can do to protect our resources. All travel and activity within Nova Scotia woods is banned. We're going to stop to travel. We have to do what we can.
--:-- Shamita Basu: These wildfires come after other blazes had broken out throughout Western Canada. Climate research has suggested that heat and drought driven by global warming are contributors to larger and stronger fires.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, the deal to raise the debt ceiling passed its first critical test yesterday. It advanced out of the House Rules Committee, despite some opposition from conservative Republicans. Today, a full vote on the House floor is expected.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Mass layoffs, high interest rates, rampant inflation. These aren't exactly things that make you think, hey, now's the right time to buy a stupid expensive watch or handbag. But the market for luxury goods is booming.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Champagne, upscale kitchenware, limited edition sneakers. These are all having a moment. And luxury companies are seeing their revenue and stock value soar.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As of this year, the richest person in the world is no longer Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos. It's Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, master of brands including Louis Vuitton, Dom Perignon, and Tiffany.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Vox looks at some of the reasons why people are splurging on luxury goods. One is that rich people are still doing well and haven't really been challenged by the uncertain economy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As for the less wealthy people flocking to luxury brands, some of this has to do with pandemic habits. Many people were spending less and saving more. Lockdowns had people pent up and looking for a way to blow off steam.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the growing resale market for luxury goods means a much wider pool of people now have access to high-end aesthetics and sensibilities. Platforms like Poshmark and Depop let people buy used luxury goods secondhand.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There's also evidence that younger consumers are starting to turn to luxury brands. Research shows people in Gen Z are making their first luxury purchase around the age of 15.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's earlier than the previous generation did. It might seem strange that luxury companies are doing so well when there are so many questions around the economy, but in a way it makes perfect sense.
--:-- Shamita Basu: After all, the luxury business is built on escaping reality.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're a fan of the National Women's Soccer League, you might notice something a little different this season. A wave of teenagers is taking over now that the league scrapped a longstanding rule that required athletes to be 18 years old before a professional club could sign them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now some players are skipping college ball altogether and going straight to the pros. There's a lot of upsides, improved pay and better facilities now that clubs are investing more in them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Wall Street Journal looks at the promising young talent taking advantage of this new pathway. There are athletes who are 15, 16, 17 years old, not only making professional teams, but getting game time and making critical plays.
--:-- Shamita Basu: What you just heard was 17-year-old Olivia Moultrie scoring her first goal as a pro for Portland. She's the player who made this change possible.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At the age of 13, she started training with the Thorns. In 2021, she filed a lawsuit against the league over the age requirement, and she won, making her the youngest player in the history of the league at the time at age 15.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This opened the door for other players, people like Alyssa Thompson, a midfielder for Angel City in Los Angeles, who at 18 years old could soon be among the youngest players to make the U.S. national team at the World Cup this summer.
--:-- 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 next. The New Yorker looks at how you can hire your favorite arena-filling pop star to play a private party corporate event or bar mitzvah. That is, if you have a few million to spare.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So sit back, enjoy listening, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
