--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Thursday, September 29th. 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.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S. It weakened to a tropical storm after it came ashore, but there's still strong wind and severe flooding.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: A boat carrying Cuban migrants sank near the Florida Keys. Some of the passengers were rescued. Close to two and a half million people in Florida were without power as of early this morning.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: ABC News spoke to a man in Fort Myers as floods swamped his street.
--:-- Man in Fort Myers: It just keeps coming. There's boats floating by. Our car floated away, the neighbor's car. Uh-oh, there goes a little. Holy crap.
--:-- Shamita Basu: When asked why he didn't evacuate along with his neighbors, the man said he thought the worst of the storm would be further north.
--:-- Man in Fort Myers: I thought it would be a little more north, you know, in the areas that were supposed to get hit the worst.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Officials urged people to leave the danger zone, but some stayed behind. Civilians who ride out the storm are often criticized for putting lives in danger, their own and the rescuers who have to save them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But some of those people might have evacuated if their circumstances were different. NPR spoke to some Floridians and found that for a lot of people, it's just too expensive. Paying for gas, a hotel, food on the road, it all adds up.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: And it's even harder for people who don't have cars. Or for elderly Americans who use medical equipment. Some people stay behind to protect animals. Shelters often won't accept pets.
--:-- Shamita Basu: NPR spoke to a wildlife rehabilitator who stayed put to care for nearly 20 animals.
--:-- Wildlife Rehabilitator: I have a responsibility to care for these animals, and I couldn't just leave them behind.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There's also a question of language barriers. NPR notes that Florida often releases emergency warnings and information about shelters in English and Spanish. But Haitian Creole is the primary language for more than 400,000 Florida households.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And tens of thousands of Floridians primarily speak many other languages.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Another challenge A lot of people in Florida are newcomers mostly from other places in the United States For some it's their first time experiencing a hurricane. Ian is forecast to cross into the Atlantic, then turn back toward the coast, threatening Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As always, you can follow the news throughout the day on the Apple News app.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Angola is one of the largest and most notorious maximum security prisons in the United States. Its official name is the Louisiana State Penitentiary. It holds more than 4,000 adults, and it has a reputation for violence. And now, several children at a juvenile detention facility will be temporarily transferred there.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: The Louisiana Illuminator reports that a couple dozen children as young as 10 years old could be moved to the prison. It's a temporary solution until overcrowding problems at juvenile facilities get better.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The children will be separated from incarcerated adults, which is required by federal law, and they'll live in a building that was originally designed for people on death row.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards announced the plan in July.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, I understand that this is not the perfect or the ideal plan, but I do believe that the situation demands an immediate response. And these are the best options we currently have to ensure the safety of the youth, the staff and the community.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Illuminator reports that over the past two years, incarcerated teens and children in Louisiana have repeatedly attacked each other and staff members.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The state says the plan to move the juveniles who have attacked others to Angola will be safer.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Civil rights groups sued Louisiana last month to try and block this plan. Attorneys argued that sending children to Angola would harm them and raise the risk they could die by suicide.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: NBC spoke to Rachel Gassert from the Louisiana Center for Children's Rights.
--:-- Rachel Gassert: It flies in the face of everything we know about keeping kids safe and providing the rehabilitation and education that kids are entitled to.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But a federal judge ruled that the plan can move forward. In her ruling, she acknowledged that the setting alone would probably cause these children psychological trauma and harm.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But she said the danger of keeping them in crowded juvenile facilities where they can harm themselves and others is intolerable.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There's now a fourth leak in a critical pipeline system that delivers Russian gas to Europe. EU officials say that they suspect sabotage, and they're promising a strong response to the disruption of a crucial part of the continent's energy supply.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: This is the latest big development in a growing mystery that connects two major global storylines, Russia's war on Ukraine and the global energy and cost of living crisis.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This morning is a good time to get caught up, and Vox has an explainer.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Earlier this week, pressure dropped in the pipelines. There were multiple leaks, and experts quickly said it didn't look like an accident. Seismology data points to underwater explosions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And unofficially, fingers point to Russia. It has a track record of using its energy supply as a weapon, recently against European countries to try to get them to ease pressure over the war in Ukraine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And Russia likely has the gear and expertise to pull off a sabotage operation, which could have been done with divers or undersea drones.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Kremlin has denied the allegations. It's a reminder that Europe is on edge about energy as winter approaches.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before the war, Russian gas made up about 40 percent of its imported supply. Now it's down to about 9 percent as European countries have scrambled to find alternative sources.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Energy price inflation is rampant. People are worried they won't be able to afford to heat their homes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's not yet clear who did this to the gas pipes or why. But they have succeeded in sending a message, a warning to Europe that their current energy crisis can get worse.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There's a magic number in the American car market: 300. The typical American says if they're going to buy a car, they need one with at least 300 miles of range.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Which means if you're going for an electric vehicle, it's going to need a bigger battery.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There's a lot of reasons why you might not want to do that. One, you have to pay that expense. Bloomberg News' Ira Boudwe says a bigger battery is more expensive.
--:-- Ira Boudwe: Plus, it's heavier, which means it takes more energy to lug it around. And that kind of undercuts the whole idea of greener transport.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Besides, as Boudwe explains, that bigger, heavier, more expensive battery that lets you drive a longer way, you might not really need it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Around 95% of U.S. car trips are 30 miles or less. To get 300 miles of range, you're talking about $11,000 in cost for the battery and about 1,100 pounds in weight.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And so if, in fact, most of our trips are 30 miles or less, does it make sense to carry $11,000 and 1,100 pounds worth of battery to the market impact?
--:-- Shamita Basu: Americans are buying too much range that they probably won't use. And carmakers are going along with it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Nowadays, nearly 40% of the EVs on the market come with at least 300 miles of range.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Boudwe has an electric vehicle, and he says as a consumer, it's complicated trying to figure out what kind of car is best for you.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And he says buying too much car is as American as it gets.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He recommends really sitting down and considering your needs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The basic question to ask yourself is kind of how will you be using this vehicle? How often will you be going more than 100 miles? Do you have a charger at home?
--:-- Shamita Basu: And to kind of picture that daily use and to buy for that daily use rather than for that rare possible use of driving 500 miles across country or whatever it may be.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find his full story and all the stories we talked about today in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: This is Apple News Today.
