--:-- Yasmin Khan: Good morning. It's Monday, March 4th. I'm Yasmin Khan, in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Coming up, the push for a ceasefire in Gaza. One of the world's largest cities faces a water crisis. And Caitlin Clark and LeBron James make basketball history. But first, let's take a quick look at some other stories in the news.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The Supreme Court says former President Donald Trump is eligible to remain on the ballot in the presidential election. Justices voted unanimously to reject a Colorado ruling that ordered him off the ballot.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The state court found that Trump engaged in an insurrection around the January 6th attack on the Capitol. There were similar cases in other states that sought to disqualify Trump. The arguments were based on the Civil War-era 14th Amendment.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: It has a rarely used provision barring people from holding office if they engaged in insurrection or rebellion against America. In today's Supreme Court ruling, the justices agreed that states did not have the power to enforce that provision of the 14th Amendment for federally held offices, especially the presidency.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Today's decision is widely considered to be the most significant Supreme Court ruling on an election matter since Bush v. Gore. In other election-related news, tomorrow is Super Tuesday, where voters in Colorado and more than a dozen other states head to the polls.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Over the weekend, Nikki Haley got her first presidential campaign victory, winning the primary in Washington, D.C. Trump also picked up wins in Missouri, Idaho, and Michigan. And tonight, North Dakota holds a caucus.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Finally, let's briefly turn to extreme weather that's hitting the United States. In California, blizzard conditions in the Sierra Nevada region have piled up feet of snow, knocked out power, and shut down roads and parks.
--:-- Renee Adelman: The storm had my house shaking. There were gale force winds the windows were creaking It was the worst that I seen in a few years
--:-- Yasmin Khan: There's more snow expected in the area today and tomorrow.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The Biden administration is making a new push for a temporary stop to fighting in Gaza in some of its strongest terms yet. Vice President Kamala Harris called on Hamas to agree to a six-week ceasefire deal and for Israel to allow more civilian aid in.
--:-- Kamala Harris: Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire.
--:-- Kamala Harris: Harris spoke just days after more than 100 Palestinians were killed while attempting to get food from aid trucks in Gaza.
--:-- Kamala Harris: The U.N. says at least 10 children have officially died of starvation, according to hospital records, but that number expected to grow.
--:-- Kamala Harris: People in Gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane. And our common humanity compels us to act.
--:-- Kamala Harris: Harris spoke from Selma, Alabama. She was there to mark the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
--:-- Kamala Harris: She called on the Israeli government to significantly increase the flow of aid into Gaza.
--:-- Kamala Harris: She also condemned Hamas and called for the release of all hostages.
--:-- Kamala Harris: Harris spoke after the U.S. dropped aid into Gaza from the air, the fifth country to deliver aid this way.
--:-- Kamala Harris: The mission delivered tens of thousands of meals, which aid workers say is not nearly enough for the hundreds of thousands of people needing help.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Journalists from The Washington Post were on board planes that took off from Jordan to report on how it worked.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Israel vetted everyone on the planes and assigned windows when flights could get through safely.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Out of the plains came tightly wrapped crates of food, medicine, diapers, and feminine hygiene products parachuting down along the coast.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Aid that landed in the sea was recovered by Gazans in small boats.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Aid agencies say airdrops are costly and inefficient compared to the much larger deliveries that convoys of trucks can make.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Many humanitarian workers want countries to put more pressure on Israel to allow more aid in by land rather than order more flights.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Yanti Surypto, head of Save the Children U.S., called the Aerial Aid theater on Sky News.
--:-- Yanti Surypto: Essentially what we need is opening of crossings more trucks of supplies coming in We need a ceasefire We need safe and unfettered access to the communities And that needs to be done with coordinated groups with U agencies NGOs like Save the Children We don't need very expensive, ineffective pallets dropping from the sky.
--:-- Kamala Harris: Vice President Harris got specific about changes Israel can make.
--:-- Kamala Harris: She called for opening more border crossings, ensuring that humanitarian workers and sites aren't targeted, and making sure basic services in Gaza are up and running.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Mexico City and its 22 million people face a severe water crisis. It's gotten so bad that some experts warn the entire city could run out of water in a matter of months.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Reservoirs are at historically low levels, and authorities have imposed rationing. But in some homes, faucets have already run dry.
--:-- Lorena Cruz: I was filling buckets of water from an underground tank. I lifted a hatch in the street to access it, even though I knew I was breaking the law.
--:-- Lorena Cruz: It is a miracle the city tank has water. And without it, the whole neighborhood would suffer because they've had no running water for over a month.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: There are multiple reasons why Mexico City is in this position today, including leaking pipes and climate change.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: But CNN also gives some interesting historical context to the problem.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: What's now Mexico City was originally built by the Aztecs. They worked around the area's lakes and constructed canals and bridges.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: But when the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, they tore down much of what the indigenous people built.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The Spanish drained the lake bed, filled the canals, and ripped out the forests. Those were natural defenses against flooding and drought.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: But most are now gone, covered with concrete and asphalt.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Those decisions laid the groundwork for Mexico City's water problems now.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: The public radio program The World spoke with Rhys Tisdale, who's been following the crisis.
--:-- Rhys Tisdale: They've had a series of droughts for several years. Reservoirs don't catch up. They have aging infrastructure.
--:-- Rhys Tisdale: So when they have leakage rates of 30, 40, 50 percent in different neighborhoods or across parts of the city, then people don't have access to water.
--:-- Rhys Tisdale: It's because of the inefficiency of the system. They've been overdrawing the groundwater supplies and aquifers at a rapidly increasing rate.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And so then that turns to trucking and other what I would say unsustainable temporary measures.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Mexico's national government says work is underway to address the problem, like repairing old pipes.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Some local politicians have been downplaying the crisis and dismissing concerns that the city will run out of water entirely.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: But residents are definitely feeling the squeeze.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: With 90% of Mexico City in severe drought, and the rainy season still months away.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: We've told you before about Iowa college basketball phenom Caitlin Clark.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: Well, Clark is in the record books again. Yesterday against Ohio State, she was one free throw away from becoming the all-time leading scorer in men's and women's Division I basketball.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: This for college basketball history. She does it with a ball shot.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: That basket took her past the previous record holder, Pete Maravich.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: LeBron James was among the basketball greats congratulating Clark on her latest scoring record.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: James also made a mark on the record books over the weekend, becoming the first NBA player ever to score 40,000 regular season points.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: James against Porter, drives, spins, gets inside. It's good. It's 40,000 for LeBron James, the NBA's all-time leading scorer with another milestone as the legend of LeBron continues to grow.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: James's career total is now 40,017 points, to be exact.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: You can find more sports coverage and all the stories we talked about in the Apple News app.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next from Runner's World.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: It's about a, frankly, crazy ultra-running competition that only 17 people have ever completed.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: It involves some controversial characters, little to no sleep, international license plates, and a battle of the elements and pure will.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: If you're listening in the Podcasts app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Yasmin Khan: And we'll be back with the news tomorrow.
