--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Tuesday, June 13th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, how some very young plaintiffs are leading a landmark court fight over climate change, what to know about student loan payments before they resume later this summer, and the new NBA champion who just wants to go home. But first, former President Trump is set to appear in Miami federal court today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He says he'll plead not guilty to charges that he illegally kept classified documents and tried to keep the government from finding them. It'll be similar to how things went when he showed up to court in April in New York in a different case. This time, though, he faces federal charges. 37 charges, to be exact.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Most involve what's called willful retention of national defense information, basically that he kept sensitive documents that he shouldn't have and failed to give them back. Federal prosecutors say the documents included sensitive military secrets, including information on the U.S. nuclear program.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump is also accused of various charges related to the investigation, withholding or concealing documents, making false statements and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Prosecutors say he conspired with an aide, who is now facing charges too, to hide classified material from investigators.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This allegedly involved lying to the FBI and moving boxes before agents searched his Mar-a-Lago home. Some of the charges Trump faces carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In theory, if he were convicted on all of them, a sentence could add up to hundreds of years. But in practice, federal defendants rarely get maximum sentences. And none of the charges against Trump have mandatory minimums.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump and his supporters are criticizing the charges, saying it's unfair that he's being charged for mishandling classified information and other politicians are not.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Washington Post reports on how the cases are very different. It's true that former Vice President Mike Pence and President Joe Biden both had classified documents from their previous time in office and Hillary Clinton used a personal email server to conduct government business including writing about classified information.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One major difference was that Pence and Biden returned the classified documents they had. Had Trump done this, he may have never been charged. He faces no charges for the many documents that he did return to the National Archives.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And then there's the issue of the investigation. Pence, Biden, and Clinton cooperated with investigators. Trump is accused of lying to them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Special counsel Jack Smith says the charges come down to a simple principle. No one is above the law. We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. Applying those laws, collecting facts, that's what determines the outcome of an investigation. Nothing more and nothing less.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Apart from this case and the fraud charges Trump faces in New York, there could be more criminal trials ahead. He's also under investigation for his role in trying to overturn the election he lost and the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Right now in Montana, a group of young people, some in elementary school, is trying to fight climate change in an unusual new way. They are suing the state, saying its energy policies violate their constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The case is getting global attention not just because of the plaintiff's youth, but also because of the novel approach to challenging governments to do more about climate change.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Daily Montanan is covering the trial, which started yesterday. These young people are basing the case on language in Montana's state constitution, which guarantees a, quote, clean and healthful environment for present and future generations.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They're pointing the finger at lawmakers for policies that benefit fossil fuel industries. And that includes looser coal mining regulations and failing to consider climate impact when doing environmental reviews for projects.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 15-year-old Badge Bussey is one of the plaintiffs. He told Montana Public Radio why he joined the lawsuit.
--:-- Badge Bussey: It's hard to watch the things that I love get like get depleted slowly like fishing and my dad is like my main way to hang out with him and my brother.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Each of the young plaintiffs is passionate about this suit for different reasons. A young indigenous woman worries that climate change will jeopardize ancient cultural traditions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There's a very young child who's struggling to breathe because wildfire smoke aggravates his asthma. In court yesterday, one of the young plaintiffs, Ricky Held, told the court how wildfires and other environmental issues hurt her family and other ranchers.
--:-- Ricky Held: Neighbors lost cattle in the fire, and then we lost a few cattle just because they were so stressed going, trying to find water, and also the drought, trying to find grass.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The state of Montana tried to get the suit dismissed, but it's moving forward, and it could set a new precedent for climate lawsuits across the country.
--:-- Shamita Basu: People with student loans are facing a tough summer. The payment pause that was part of pandemic relief measures comes to an end on August 30th.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Millions of people who borrowed from the federal government will have to resume making payments. This was part of the recent debt ceiling deal between Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And at the same time this summer, we are awaiting the Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the Biden administration's planned student loan forgiveness program.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Julia Carpenter. That court opinion on student loan forgiveness is coming any day now.
--:-- Julia Carpenter: Carpenter says for borrowers, the pause on payments has been a huge relief, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of break.
--:-- Julia Carpenter: They needed it during the pandemic, but they also needed it during this period of high inflation. They were using that money to stock up their savings, or they were using that money to make ends meet in their household.
--:-- Julia Carpenter: And now preparing for that payment to again be part of their financial plan is a struggle. Many borrowers have questions about what to do now that payments are restarting.
--:-- Julia Carpenter: So the first thing you should do is contact your loan servicer. Call sooner rather than later. Review your payment history review what your payment will be what it should be in effect as of August 30th and then make plans to start reabsorbing that payment into your budget.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A financial advisor she talked to also says that if you think you might qualify for loan forgiveness, don't refinance just yet. Consider waiting to see how the Supreme Court rules on Biden's forgiveness plan.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are many more tips in Carpenter's article, which you can read in full on the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Denver Nuggets are NBA champions. That's a first in the nearly half-century history of the team. They defeated the Miami Heat last night to win the series 4-1.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the final's MVP was Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets star is known for his powerful offense and clever passing skills, but it also means he's often the target of aggressive defenders.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Wall Street Journal even did a whole article about how many times they've literally drawn blood during the playoffs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As the Journal puts it, he leads the league in flesh wounds. One of his teammates said he looks like he's been mauled by a tiger.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So when the time came for the standard post-game victory interview on the court, he sounded satisfied, but also super tired.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You are an NBA champion, Nikola. How does that feel?
--:-- Nikola Jokic: It's good. It's good. The job is done. You can go home now.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Home for Jokic is Serbia. And he's mentioned many times how he looks forward to the offseason when he gets to look after his horses.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. That includes a collection of NBA Finals coverage, as well as previews of hockey's Stanley Cup Finals game tonight.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're already listening in the news app right now, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next from Bloomberg Businessweek.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's about America's race to get better at making electric vehicle batteries. The fall of a startup set things back, and there are big concerns about competing with China.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's playing for you next, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
