--:-- Gideon Resnick: Good morning. It's Wednesday, August 30th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: On today's show, family of U.S. troops killed during the pullout from Afghanistan demand accountability, why things are about to get messy if you've got student loans, and how to see tonight's super rare super blue moon. But first, Hurricane Idalia is hitting Florida with full force.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: It came ashore this morning near Keaton Beach, which is south of Tallahassee. It hit as a powerful Category 3 storm, bringing 125 mph winds and heavy rain to Florida's Gulf Coast.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In the final hours before landfall, Idalia went over some of the warmest Gulf water, intensifying the storm. The National Hurricane Center warns that some areas may have extensive power outages, possibly being uninhabitable for weeks or even months.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And there's life-threatening storm surge expected in some coastal areas. National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Jamie Rome talked to CNN about how dangerous the rising water could be for Florida.
--:-- Jamie Rome: If that forecast wouldn't materialize, it would be on par to the worst surge that we saw in Hurricane Ian. And I think many people saw the utter destruction that that storm surge brought to the community of Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach.
--:-- Jamie Rome: And so think about that imagery and just how powerful that surge was for that storm. And imagine it impacting these communities here.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Officials have been urging people to evacuate low-lying coastal areas. They're worried some people may be at risk because they decided to hunker down.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis talked about preparations in the state.
--:-- Ron DeSantis: We have all eight urban search and rescue teams with almost 600 personnel ready to deploy to help with search and rescue efforts. Hopefully that's not necessary.
--:-- Ron DeSantis: Hopefully everyone heeded the warnings and hopefully nobody ends up in harm's way when the storm hits. But we know that that's likely to be a necessity to have some rescues. So these folks are ready to go.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Residents in the path of the storm aren't sure what they'll find when they come back to their homes.
--:-- Amanda Chilcott: I'm not worried about the winds. I'm worried about the water. So the water raising like that going to come in the house. It's going to ruin your car.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: There will be impact beyond Florida. Travel in the region will be heavily affected for a while with airport and road closures. Idalia is forecast to move through Georgia and South Carolina and head out to the Atlantic.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: That means North Carolina and Virginia could be in for severe weather as well.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Two years ago today, the last U.S. troops left Afghanistan. They were there for two decades after 9-11.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The long presence in the country ended abruptly and chaotically. Many people died. Days before the last plane took off, a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport killed at least 183 people.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: That included 13 U.S. service members. Yesterday, families of the American victims were on Capitol Hill to demand accountability.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Needless to say, the knock on our door on August 26 turned our world upside down. That's Greg Page telling members of Congress about the moment he learned his son, Marine Degen Page, was killed in the attack.
--:-- Greg Page: This day, I can't describe the emotion that I felt when I saw two Marines at our door in the shadows. You know why they're there when you see that.
--:-- Greg Page: It's an emotion I hope to never experience again. We were thrown into a world that we never imagined, and I can't even begin to explain.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Coral Braseno lost her son, Humberto Sanchez, also a Marine.
--:-- Coral Braseno: I raised those kids to love and respect this country, and foremost, to appreciate the opportunity to live in the land of the free, in the home of the brave.
--:-- Coral Braseno: It was never, ever in my plans to lose my kid at the age of 22.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In a statement last week, President Biden said he will forever honor the memory of the service members who were killed.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But family members want more than condolences. CNN reports on how they've been pressing the administration and Congress for answers as to why there wasn't adequate security to prevent the bombing.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Several agencies have looked into this, too. A Biden administration report largely places blame on problems left over from the Trump administration.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: A State Department review criticized both presidential administrations. A Pentagon investigation concluded that the attack could not have been prevented without degrading the mission to evacuate as many people as possible.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And it said that leaders on the ground followed proper procedures.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Now, congressional Republicans have been very critical of the U.S. withdrawal, making Biden's actions the focus of multiple hearings and investigations since they took leadership in the House.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Many of the family members feel that these investigations don't reveal enough about what happened that day.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Jacqueline Schmitz's stepson, Jared Schmitz, was one of the Marines killed in the bombing.
--:-- Jacqueline Schmitz: We were pitched a well-executed defense and evacuation and ultimately spit in our face by referencing the evacuation is an extraordinary success.
--:-- Jacqueline Schmitz: Is losing 13 of our servicemen and women successful? Is success ending a 20-year war where veterans feel they fought for nothing, they lost their brothers and sisters in arms for nothing?
--:-- Jacqueline Schmitz: Is success hundreds of other people seriously wounded?
--:-- Gideon Resnick: If you want to understand more about what was going on behind the scenes when Biden made the decision to pull out of Afghanistan, The Atlantic has an excerpt of Franklin Foer's upcoming book.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: It's called The Last Politician. In it, he gives us the inside story of how Biden and his team handled the withdrawal. You can read that on the Apple News app.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: If you have federal student loans, get ready for things to get very complicated.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The pandemic pauses on interest and payments are ending. Interest on loans restarts this Friday and payments start to become due a month later.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: There are some new options for help with loans, but it can all get pretty confusing. The Wall Street Journal recommends that you start getting ready now and that you will need to be patient and persistent.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: People are already reporting that they are having trouble getting through to loan servicing companies to understand what it is they The companies are swamped with callers, placing people on hold and drop-in calls.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Part of the reason it's hard to keep track of what's happening is that the Supreme Court struck down President Biden's plan for widespread debt forgiveness.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The administration has scrambled to put other options in place. Most recently, it announced a new income repayment plan that could bring down the cost of monthly payments for many borrowers.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But getting a handle on what it is you qualify for is complicated. If you owe money and are not sure whether there is a path for you to get assistance, the journal recommends reading up on all the options the government offers.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And if you need to call the loan servicer, do it when you have a big chunk of time, because you could spend a while listening to hold music.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The journal reports that companies are adding staff to deal with the wave of calls, but they still might not be able to keep up with all the questions.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And be ready for surprises. This is a $1.6 trillion federal program that has basically been in a deep freeze since COVID hit.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And there's no real precedent here on how to reset it. You know what they say, blue moons don't come around all that often.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Neither do super moons. Even more rare is when they coincide, and that is happening tonight.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The super blue moon will be the closest and brightest moon we can see all year. USA Today explains the science behind this.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So a supermoon is when the moon is at or near its closest point to Earth in its orbit. That makes it look much bigger and much brighter.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: A blue moon is when there is a second full moon in a month. An alternate definition of a blue moon is the third of four full moons in a single season.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Are you still with me? So it's extremely rare for these two occurrences to happen at the same time.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: There are not supposed to be any more super blue moons until 2037. So if you want to see this unusual celestial moment for yourself, the peak time is around 9.30 p.m. Eastern tonight.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Go check that out. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we have got a narrated article coming up next.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Bloomberg Businessweek takes a look at Chris Christie's presidential run. The man who once stood at the side of Donald Trump is now shaping his campaign on attacking the former president.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Sit back, enjoy taking a listen to that, and we'll be back with the news tomorrow.
