--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Friday, October 27th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, the latest in Gaza, where hospitals and shelters are running out of fuel, an update on the trial of former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, and the unexpected World Series matchup.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But first, residents in Lewiston, Maine, and the surrounding communities spent a second night locked down in their homes, as authorities continue to search for the suspect in Wednesday's mass shootings.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Police say the person they're looking for is a 40-year-old Army reservist and a certified firearms instructor.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At least 18 people were killed and 13 injured at two locations, a bowling alley and a bar. There was a children's bowling league playing that night.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A 10-year-old named Zoe spoke with a local ABC News affiliate about how she was grazed by a bullet.
--:-- Zoe: I never thought I'd grow up and get a bullet in my leg. Why? Like, why do people do this?
--:-- Shamita Basu: In light of what's happening in Lewiston, The Trace, which is a nonprofit newsroom that covers gun violence, put out what it calls a guide to understanding mass shootings in America.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It puts the shootings in Lewiston into greater context by highlighting a few key facts about mass shootings.
--:-- Shamita Basu: First, to answer the question, have shootings like these become more common?
--:-- Elizabeth Lopato: The Trace says, according to data from the Violence Project, the answer is yes. Public mass killings, as they call them, that is, shootings where four or more people were killed in public, have increased every decade since the 1960s.
--:-- Elizabeth Lopato: With this decade on track to have the highest rate yet, six incidents a year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Another point that The Trace underscores, the majority of mass shooters obtain their guns legally.
--:-- Elizabeth Lopato: That was true in the recent shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We don't know all the details yet for the suspect in the Maine shootings, but we do know gun laws in Maine are looser than other states in the Northeast.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The state requires permits to carry concealed guns, has no red flag laws to temporarily prevent someone in crisis from having access to guns, and doesn't mandate background checks for private gun sales.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And a third stat that The Trace highlights is that mass shootings make up a small percentage of overall gun deaths in America.
--:-- Elizabeth Lopato: According to federal data from 2021, nearly 49,000 Americans died of gunshot wounds that year.
--:-- Elizabeth Lopato: Only about 1.4% of those deaths were from mass shootings. More than half were suicides.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can read more from The Trace and get the latest updates on the situation in Maine in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, let's check in on some other stories we're following in the news.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Israeli military officials say they carried out another ground raid, this one near Gaza City, overnight.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's the second such attack in the territory in two days, ahead of an anticipated larger ground assault.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Meanwhile, fuel supplies in Gaza have become dangerously low.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Hospitals are concerned that they'll have to turn patients away or even turn off critical life-saving machines.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Shelters are having to turn off lights.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So far, Israel has allowed limited aid into Gaza, but not fuel, citing concerns that it could be used by Hamas for military purposes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: According to the UN, about a third of Gaza's hospitals have already shut down due to the lack of fuel and damage from airstrikes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Meanwhile, the U.S. military carried out airstrikes in eastern Syria against Iranian-backed militant groups.
--:-- Shamita Basu: U.S. officials say it was in retaliation for rocket and drone attacks on American troops in Iraq and Syria that injured 21 service members.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Earlier this week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the U.S. is not seeking any conflict with Iran and doesn't want war in the region to widen.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In legal news, FTX founder and former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried took the stand for the first time in his federal fraud trial.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He faces seven criminal counts, including wire fraud and money laundering.
--:-- Elizabeth Lopato: His appearance on the stand yesterday was a sort of mini hearing.
--:-- Elizabeth Lopato: The jury wasn't even present for it, and he's supposed to testify in front of them today.
--:-- Elizabeth Lopato: But I don't think it's a very good idea for him to testify in front of a jury at all.
--:-- Elizabeth Lopato: He was okay on the direct examination with his own lawyer.
--:-- Elizabeth Lopato: But during the cross-examination, he kept dodging questions.
--:-- Elizabeth Lopato: And Judge Lewis Kaplan seemed to get pretty fed up with him answering the question he wanted to be asked rather than the question he was being asked.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The defense will continue its case next week.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And in Washington, politicians and staffers are remembering Bertie Bowman, the longest-serving African-American congressional aide in history.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He died this week at the age of 92, having worked on Capitol Hill for more than 60 years.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Washington Post calls his an extraordinary unsung life in Washington, one that started when Bowman was 13 years old, sweeping the steps of the Capitol.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He forged friendships with politicians, worked his way up to clerk on a Senate committee, and served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Federal Credit Union, which named their headquarters after him in 2019.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At the time, Bowman called it an honor.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's close out today with a preview of a major showdown in sports.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The World Series starts tonight, with the Arizona Diamondbacks taking on the Texas Rangers.
--:-- Shaker Saman: I'm going to be honest, no one expected that these were going to be the two teams.
--:-- Shaker Saman: That's because looking at the 2022 records of these teams, you would not have seen this coming.
--:-- Shaker Saman: But rising young talent helped the Rangers and Diamondbacks turn things around this year.
--:-- Shaker Saman: Both teams have been buoyed by breakout stars and rising young players who really have shown their worth in the majors so much faster than expected.
--:-- Shaker Saman: For the Diamondbacks, it's Corbin Carroll, the frontrunner to win National League Rookie of the Year.
--:-- Shaker Saman: He overnight went from this highly touted prospect to straight up one of the best players in baseball, an exceptional outfielder, one of the faces of the game for years to come.
--:-- Shaker Saman: Other young talent on the Diamondbacks to keep an eye out for are second baseman Cattell Marte and outfielder Alec Thomas.
--:-- Shaker Saman: Then there's the Rangers, the home team, in Game 1 tonight.
--:-- Shaker Saman: They've gone out and they've spent a lot of money on big-name stars like Marcus Semien, like Corey Seager.
--:-- Shaker Saman: They've traded for superstars like Max Scherzer.
--:-- Shaker Saman: And they've also managed to develop a lot of really great young players.
--:-- Shaker Saman: Josh Young, Ezekiel Duran, guys who are not only contributing now, but will contribute for years to come.
--:-- Shaker Saman: And as a result, you have two teams that, frankly, are really good now and could be really good for the next half decade.
--:-- Shaker Saman: With no clear upper hand for either team, I say this World Series is totally up for grabs, and it should be a lot of fun.
--:-- Shaker Saman: Both these teams are coming off seven-game series in the NL and ALCS rounds.
--:-- Shaker Saman: This is going to be a fight, and we are all lucky for it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can follow the latest in the World Series from MySports in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're listening in the News app right now, stick around for the latest episode of our weekly interview show, In Conversation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This week, we dive into the true story behind the new Apple TV Plus movie Killers of the Flower Moon, about a period in the 1920s when dozens of Osage people in Oklahoma were killed for their wealth.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I spoke about this dark history with Osage Nation Principal Chief Jeffrey Standing Bear, who was a consultant on the film, and author David Graham, who wrote the nonfiction book the film is based on.
--:-- Shamita Basu: These crimes, what they were was inheritance schemes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And so they involved an extraordinary level of intimate betrayal.
--:-- Shamita Basu: These were people who were marrying into families while systematically plotting to kill their loved ones.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the Apple News app right now, that episode is queued up to play for you next.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Enjoy your weekend, and we'll be back with the news on Monday.
