--:-- [Upbeat music fades out, and the hosts introduce themselves]
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning and happy new year. We hope you had a great holiday season and that 2022 is starting up well for you and your family on this Monday, January 3rd.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I'm Shamita Basu, and I'm Duarte Giraldino. A lot happened in these past few weeks. We're ready to get you back into the know.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So is 2022 going to feel just like the last couple of pandemic years? That's the question as we start this new year.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: It's challenging to write any sort of predictive article about what this year might bring. But The Washington Post is out with its annual year in preview. And it says maybe, just maybe, this could be a year that is not mostly defined by the virus.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A group of Post reporters explores a few big ideas that will drive the new year. The list still starts with COVID, though, as we head into what some people are calling the pandemic's junior year.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: We're miles away from where we were in the darkest moments of the early crisis. We have vaccines, new treatments, better testing, and a better understanding of how the coronavirus works.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But there are twists in the story. Omicron is rapidly spreading. This underscores the need for booster shots.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: As the Post Health Policy reporter points out, the coronavirus will probably never go away. But the hope is that we can get it under control to the point where it's more like the seasonal flu. Still dangerous, but not as deadly. That's where The Post leaves us on the pandemic.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And it goes on to explore several other big ideas, like what's ahead for climate. Just in the past few days, we have seen more extreme weather. Fires, floods, tornadoes. Climate change can make severe weather more deadly and damaging.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: There are efforts underway to do more to fight it, both globally and here in the U.S. in Congress. A key question for this year is whether that is going to be enough and whether political gridlock will prevent meaningful action.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 2022 is an election year and the Post political correspondent argues this may be the first election in generations where the result is less important than what happens before and after votes are cast.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Battles over how to run elections could end up defining this election cycle. And that goes all the way from the rules that govern access to the polls to how results are counted and certified.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are a lot of other predictions here, and not all of them are heavy. After the recent travel disruptions, there's hope that you can take a nice vacation in 2022. If you follow a few of the tips in this article.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And as big names in music go back to performing in big arenas, the prediction is streaming concerts are here to stay. You can check out the full list of ideas from The Washington Post in the Apple News app. Just tap that notification we send you midway through the show.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This week marks one year since the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. So we decided all week we're going to be highlighting excellent journalism, looking at what happened on that day and how it continues to shape our country.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: To kick this off, we reached out to political reporter Kyle Cheney. His beat is the aftermath of January 6th. This is what he focuses on. And he's been keeping a close eye on developments coming out of the congressional committee.
--:-- Kyle Cheney: Now, there are seven Democrats and two Republicans on this committee, and they're investigating what happened and who should be held responsible.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: So far, the January 6th committee has spoken with more than 300 witnesses, issued dozens of subpoenas, and gotten its hands on 35,000 pages of records.
--:-- Kyle Cheney: A key point they're trying to nail down is the actions of the former president on that day. One of the big revelations that's already come out of the committee is how people in Trump's inner circle were urging their boss to tell his supporters to stand down.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: You know, one of the things they've unearthed is messages pleading, desperate messages to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows. Even from one of his own sons, Donald Trump Jr., saying, hey, you've got to do something, get him on TV, do anything, help us, you know, help the Capitol that's under siege.
--:-- Kyle Cheney: And we know that despite all these messages, Trump didn't act for hours.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The committee is also focusing on the big money question. You see several big donors helped finance rallies that were held on January 6th and just before it. They're following the money trail to get a sense of you know who was helping facilitate what went on and were they aware should they have been aware that the people that they were bringing to Washington were likely to contribute to violence.
--:-- Kyle Cheney: But there's a big, intricate network of, you know, prominent Republican donors and activists who are pushing the fraud claims and setting up the rallies. And the committee is starting to ask who else contributed to the undermining of the election.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The chairman said it's possible they'll subpoena sitting members of Congress. One of the things that I told you stood out to me is how relationships on the Hill have soured since the attack.
--:-- Kyle Cheney: Capitol Hill is as toxic as it's ever been, maybe worse than it's ever been. There's always been a line. Yes, there's partisanship. Yes, there's politics and even some pretty dirty politics deployed against opposing rivals. But it's never, there's always been a line that seems to have now vanished.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: So there are not a whole lot of bipartisan victories coming out of Congress these days. But a new law just went into effect that lawmakers from both parties are behind. It's all about ending surprise medical bills.
--:-- Kyle Cheney: CNBC explains how this new law works. Surprise medical bills refers to these bills that patients get slapped with that are giant and not covered by their insurance. This happens in about one in every five emergency room visits.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Now, a typical story might go something like this. You get into an accident and you head to the hospital. You may think you're OK because the surgeon is covered by your insurance. But then you end up with a huge bill because it turns out the anesthesiologist is not in your network.
--:-- Kyle Cheney: A lot of Americans were getting these crushing bills right after some of the sickest, scariest moments of their lives. The No Surprises Act, it aims to end that.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Now, people will only pay in-network costs, and a lot of this is about ER visits. But the new law also blocks surprise bills from some other kinds of care.
--:-- Kyle Cheney: Now some surprise bills are still possible like the cost of being driven to the hospital in an ambulance. Still this new law could prevent situations like what happened to Stacey Jackson when her son got injured. He recovered, but she got hit with huge bills, including more than $26,000 for the helicopter ride to the hospital.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: She spent months negotiating and settling the surprise bill. And she told NBC she's glad that others won't have her experience. I think this bill is a great thing because this isn't a situation that's unique. This happens to people every day.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So go to any U.S. supermarket or restaurant and there's a strong chance you're going to see plenty of chicken breasts. But right now, there's a kind of paltry awakening happening. A different chicken part is on the rise.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The Wall Street Journal looks at why chicken thighs are now strutting their way onto the American food stage.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I actually bought 10 pounds of thighs the other day and last night had the best coconut curry. So I'm feeling pretty on trend.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Yeah, Duarte and I have talked about this a lot. We are both on team thigh. And if you're like us, maybe you're rolling your eyes and thinking chicken breasts, they're so yesterday. They're so basic.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Thighs have always been tastier, juicier and cheaper. But for years, thighs largely got exported.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But now, as the journal is pointing out, sky-high prices from a supply chain crunch have businesses saying, hey, let's keep more of the thighs around.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Key chicken prices have roughly doubled in a year. And thighs, they go for about a quarter of the price of boneless, skinless chicken breast.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: That kind of economics has more restaurants reconsidering the thigh. Yeah, and that even includes chicken wing chains. They are overhauling their menus to serve thighs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You're starting to hear a new phrase in the business, which is whole bird strategy. And this might even play into your Super Bowl plans.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: When you get ready to place your order for the big game, expect your favorite wing joint to give you a hard sell on thighs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all those stories and more in the Apple News app. And while you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
--:-- [Music fades in, and the hosts sign off]
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Thanks for listening to Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We're Shamita Basu and Duarte Giraldino. See you tomorrow.
--:-- [Music continues to play as the episode ends]
