--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning. It's Wednesday, February 16th. I'm Duarte Giraldino. And I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A long fight against a gunmaker is now over. The families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims settled with Remington Arms for $73 million. The Trace covers gun violence in America, and it has a comprehensive look at the broader significance of this settlement. It says this particular case provides a template for successfully suing the gun industry.
--:-- Nicole Hockley: [identified as the mother of Dylan Hockley, a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting] For eight long years, we've continued our fight to hold Remington accountable for its role in prioritizing profit above safety and using reckless marketing techniques to appeal to at-risk and violence-prone young men. What she said about marketing was crucial to the outcome of this lawsuit.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We've talked before about how a 2005 law shields gunmakers in the U.S. from being sued over crimes committed with their weapons, but there was an exception that allowed lawsuits over violations to relevant state laws. The Sandy Hook families accused Remington of violating a Connecticut law against deceptive trade practices by intentionally marketing its guns to unstable men.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Ads portrayed semi-automatic rifles as signs of masculinity. One ad in particular appealed to buyers with this slogan, consider your man card reissued. Remington said it didn't target at-risk youth and that there was no evidence connecting their marketing to the Sandy Hook shootings. It fought this suit for years but ultimately it settled.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Trace points out this is only the second time in more than two decades that a major gun manufacturer settled a lawsuit over shootings committed with its weapons. And it's one of the only cases to win a payout for victims. Some legal observers think that even though it never made it to a jury, it could shape the way future court cases try to go after gun makers.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Prince Andrew settled the sexual assault civil case filed against him by Virginia Jouffre. She accused him of sexually assaulting her three times when she was 17 years old. He's repeatedly denied this. The Guardian has the details of the settlement.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Prince Andrew does not admit guilt. He does say he regrets his association with Jeffrey Epstein and commends Jouffre and others for standing up for themselves. The settlement also says he never intended to malign her character and recognizes that she suffered as a victim of abuse and public attacks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The settlement amount was not disclosed. In a court filing, Prince Andrew said he would make a substantial donation to Jouffre's charity in support of victims' rights. This deal comes weeks before Prince Andrew was supposed to give a sworn deposition. Now he's not going to have to testify under oath in the civil trial.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are, however, more questions about his friendship with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell. She was convicted in December of charges including sex trafficking and conspiracy.
--:-- Forrest Wilder: [identified as a journalist at Texas Monthly] George P. Bush was once believed to be the future of the Bush family dynasty. At 45 years old, he's relatively young. He's a photogenic Mexican who many thought could appeal to a growing population of Latino voters. His dad is Jeb Bush, which makes George W his uncle and George H his grandfather.
--:-- Forrest Wilder: Some family insiders thought George P. Bush was destined to become president himself one day. He had the money. He had the connections. He had the name. But now, he's running for Texas attorney general, but he's having a hard time getting traction in a crowded field.
--:-- Forrest Wilder: And that has some political observers wondering if the Bush line is going to end with George P. A lot of the people in the grassroots that I talked to were like, Bush? No, I'm done with the Bushes. I don't believe in dynasties.
--:-- Forrest Wilder: You know, the Iraq war was a disaster. Donald Trump has been harsh on the Bush family over the years. Still, George P. has embraced him. His political future now depends on convincing Republican primary voters that he is loyal to Trump.
--:-- Forrest Wilder: But there's one big problem. Trump did not give George P. his endorsement for the AG race. Instead, he backed the incumbent, Attorney General Ken Paxton. Basically, he's trying to position himself as somehow the Trump guy that doesn't have the Trump endorsement.
--:-- Forrest Wilder: And in terms of how that's being received by voters, charitably, I can say it's a mixed response. A lot of the folks who are the most engaged voters, the sort of activist base, the real grassroots, they see Bush as essentially kind of a phony and they have other options.
--:-- Forrest Wilder: Given all of that, George P. is still trying to convince voters he's a Trump guy. His campaign features a photo of the two of them shaking hands. And George P.'s policy positions are very much in line with Trump's. He's tough on immigration and promises to finish the border wall if he's elected as AG.
--:-- Forrest Wilder: And yet all of that might not be enough. The Bushes once dominated national politics. Now one may not even be able to win a race in a state that used to love them. The brand itself at least in Texas GOP world is tainted now at best. The Bush name is seen as the establishment that Trump helped, you know, destroy.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: A woman in New York may soon join a small and rare club of people who have been cured of HIV. NBC News reports doctors consider her HIV to be in remission. She got a very specific type of treatment for people with both HIV and cancer.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: It basically replaces a person's immune system with a donor's. See, there's this rare genetic abnormality that makes some people naturally resistant to HIV. So for this treatment, that person is the donor, and their stem cells are transplanted to the patient.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: It worked three times before, but it has failed for many others. What's different about this latest treatment is that the woman was given transplants from two different donors. This was to get around a challenge with that rare genetic defense against HIV.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: It's largely found in people with Northern European heritage, so it's hard to make it a match for people with a different genetic background. The cutting-edge move, combining different donors, as they did here, could open the treatment up to more people.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Doctors involved here say in a few years, if she shows no signs of HIV, they will consider her cured. And they're hopeful this type of treatment could work for roughly 50 patients a year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
