--:-- Mark Garrison: Good morning. It's Wednesday, February 21st. I'm Mark Garrison in for Shemitah Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Coming up, the uncertain fate of IVF treatments after illegal ruling, unions under fire in Florida, and the sad short lives of today's appliances. But first, let's take a brief look at some other stories in the news.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The World Food Program is pausing deliveries to northern Gaza. It says aid workers were facing gunfire and looting with the collapse of civil order in the region. The agency says it wants to resume deliveries as soon as possible.
--:-- Mark Garrison: And for the third time, the U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The U.S. said the resolution would undermine hostage negotiations. It has drafted its own resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire, but it's unclear when it could come to a vote.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Also at the U.N., a group of human rights experts says there are credible allegations of executions and sexual assault against Palestinians by the Israeli military. Israel has rejected the group's claims.
--:-- Mark Garrison: In New York, Attorney General Letitia James tells ABC that she's ready to take strong action against former President Trump, including taking control of his buildings, if he can't come up with the cash to pay the $355 million civil fraud fine.
--:-- Mark Garrison: If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets. Trump is appealing the ruling.
--:-- Mark Garrison: And in sports, Lionel Messi starts his first full major league soccer season today. In the league's season opening match, he'll lead Miami against Salt Lake City.
--:-- Mark Garrison: When Roe v Wade was overturned reproductive rights activists warned that IVF could be targeted in courts Now we have a major new ruling affecting frozen embryos.
--:-- Mark Garrison: In Alabama, the state's Supreme Court recently ruled that frozen embryos created during IVF have the legal status of children. The case involved an incident at a fertility clinic. A patient dropped and destroyed frozen embryos that belonged to other people.
--:-- Mark Garrison: They sued the clinic using an 1872 state law involving wrongful death of minors. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the law applies to unborn children.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Frozen embryos are a major part of the IVF process. Clinics try to have enough to increase the chances of getting pregnant. Some people have more embryos than they eventually use.
--:-- Mark Garrison: And many people keep embryos frozen for years in case they're needed in the future. You can end up with something like 10 fertilized eggs, but you may only want to have one child.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Alabama Reflector reporter Alondra Rocha is on the story. So what these parents are concerned about is, will I have to pay for this for the rest of my life? And will my children have to pay to keep the frozen embryos stored?
--:-- Mark Garrison: This ruling means clinics could now be sued over destroyed frozen embryos. Patient advocates worry that this ruling couldn't limit or even end IVF in Alabama.
--:-- Mark Garrison: They're scared that providers simply won't want to provide these services if they're under the constant threat of litigation. And it's likely this doesn't end in Alabama.
--:-- Mark Garrison: That similar cases will come up in other states. Around one in six people are affected by infertility. So any rulings threatening IVF treatment could limit options for a lot of families.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The CEO of the National Infertility Association told Rosha about the painful uncertainty this is creating for people who want children.
--:-- Mark Garrison: She said that right now the rights of these embryos are no longer in the hands of the people who created them. And this could be appealed and it could change but right now people just don't know what to do.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Unions have been flexing their muscles in America lately, with auto workers and Hollywood actors and writers striking. But in Florida, many unions are struggling.
--:-- Mark Garrison: About a year after Governor Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping anti-union bill into law, Waves of teachers, accountants, janitors, and other government workers are in danger of losing their union protection.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Rich Templin, with Florida's AFL-CIO, spoke to the public broadcaster WLRN about the law's impact. The work conditions of these hundreds of thousands of people are going to be up in the air.
--:-- Mark Garrison: And that's real lives, right? That's not politics. That's not pro-union, anti-union. It's none of that. It's people's lives are going to be upended.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The law decertifies a union if it doesn't meet certain standards. It requires 60% of members to pay dues, a higher bar, but it also makes those dues harder to collect by ending the standard practice of automatic paycheck deductions.
--:-- Mark Garrison: If public sector unions don't have enough dues-paying members, they face losing their collective bargaining rights. They have to get enough workers' signatures or win a new union election to be able to continue.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Last year, Governor DeSantis and other Republicans argued that these changes would make unions engage with their members more. If you don't have a sufficient number of joining, then that should not be the bargaining unit if you don't even represent the majority of people.
--:-- Mark Garrison: But many labor leaders say the law was designed to be difficult to comply with, and the actual goal is wiping unions out. And they point to a double standard.
--:-- Mark Garrison: It does not apply to unions that have historically supported Republicans, for law enforcement, firefighters, and correctional officers.
--:-- Mark Garrison: One labor economist told WLRN, Florida's law might be one of the strongest anti-union rules ever passed by a state. And the story shows tens of thousands of workers have already lost their collective bargaining rights even though those rights are protected by Florida Constitution.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Finally, your dishwasher is going to die. And your oven, washing machine, and fridge. All of our appliances eventually let us down and have to be replaced.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The problem today, as the Wall Street Journal reports, is that appliance lifespans are getting shorter and shorter. You might expect your stove to last a lot longer than the ones your grandparents used.
--:-- Mark Garrison: But often these days, the newer the appliance, the sooner it breaks. And that means we're spending a lot more to repair and replace them. The stats are pretty brutal.
--:-- Mark Garrison: Household spending on appliances is skyrocketing. So are requests for repairs. The journal looks at all the reasons behind this.
--:-- Mark Garrison: One is that appliances are much more complicated now. It might sound pretty sweet to have a machine that promises to craft perfectly symmetrical ice cubes or preheat your oven through an app.
--:-- Mark Garrison: But more technology means more stuff that can break, often expensive stuff. Also, the latest machines are more likely to be made of plastic and aluminum rather than steel.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The less durable material is less likely to last. So what are we supposed to do? Appliance experts say think twice before you buy a new machine with a lot of fancy-sounding features.
--:-- Mark Garrison: The YouTube channel, Word of Advice, puts it this way. If you have appliances that are working good and they have no problems, I would not replace them. They're probably going to outlast any new units that you put in.
--:-- Mark Garrison: You can read the whole journal piece on unreliable appliances and all the stories we talked about in the Apple News app.
--:-- Mark Garrison: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next. Rolling Stone speaks with young black voters who helped Biden get into office in 2020.
--:-- Mark Garrison: This time around, they aren't so sure about supporting him. If you're listening to the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus narrated to find that story.
--:-- Mark Garrison: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
