--:-- Shumita Basu: Good morning. It's Thursday, July 13th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, Hollywood deals with a summer of strikes, investigating toxic lead cables all around the country, and previewing the hopes and hurdles for the U.S. women in the World Cup.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Let's start in Hollywood, where the Actors Union and studios failed to reach a deal before their contract expired at midnight. That means we're on the way to an actor's strike, presuming the union's board makes it official later today. This is not the ending the entertainment world wanted.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Normally, this would be a week to celebrate the Emmy nominations, but the conversation is now about the business, not the art. Writers are already on strike, which shut down many shoots. We talked to Vox senior culture writer Alyssa Wilkinson yesterday about how a rare double strike would choke off even more productions.
--:-- [Discussion continues with Shumita Basu and Alyssa Wilkinson]
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: When actors walk off the job, scripted live action movies and TV shows just shut down because there's nobody acting. You can kind of get along in a production if the script is already written and the writers aren't there. But you definitely can't shoot if you don't have your actors.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Bringing SAG-AFTRA and the writers together makes the strike, I would say, even more powerful. And it has effects like, for instance, the Emmys are probably going to need to be delayed.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: She says we can also expect to see a lot more unscripted reality TV with cast members who are not unionized actors. The Actors Union president says studios' response to their key issues was, quote, insulting and disrespectful.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: The studios say they are deeply disappointed that the union isn't continuing talks. Sticking points include residual payments and regulations on the use of artificial intelligence. So actors are paid for AI-generated content using their likeness.
--:-- [Discussion continues with Shumita Basu and Alyssa Wilkinson]
--:-- Shumita Basu: Striking writers also have their own concerns about AI and payment in the streaming era. The guilds have come back and said, you know, there's more money than you're saying, and you're trying to please your shareholders and cut humans out of the equation.
--:-- Shumita Basu: An extended fight hurts artists, studios, and fans. And Wilkinson says this one could go on for a while. The studios have signaled that they don't even want to go back to the table with the writers until October and that they're perfectly willing to freeze out the writers as long as they can in order to kind of force them to come back begging.
--:-- Shumita Basu: People on the studio side are trying to amp up the pressure, speaking anonymously to the industry news site Deadline recently. They were blunt about how they're willing to hold firm against the writers. One executive said, quote, The end game is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.
--:-- Shumita Basu: So the atmosphere is pretty nasty as studios and creators all try to protect their interests. It's got some union members saying we're supposed to just go back to work after all this. I think we're in a position where there definitely will be bad blood.
--:-- Shumita Basu: We mentioned this on the show yesterday, but it's worth saying again. The last time Hollywood saw a double strike like this was in 1960. That led to the creation of the residual payment system we have now.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Today's writers and actors are hoping they can channel that same energy and push for a new system, one that reflects the way technology is changing the industry.
--:-- Shumita Basu: For decades, the United States has tried to eliminate hazardous lead from paint, gasoline, pipes, and more. Just yesterday, the EPA proposed tighter rules on removing lead paint dust in homes and child care facilities.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The Wall Street Journal is out with a new investigation on a hidden source of lead contamination that's crisscrossing the country. Cables from telecom giants like AT&T and Verizon are coated in lead. Overhead, underground, and underwater.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Journal reporters found thousands of lead-covered cables that hadn't been addressed by companies or environmental regulators. The journal had experts analyze hundreds of soil and water samples from cable sites around the country.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Reporter Shalini Ramachandran says many were in populated areas. They're in areas where Americans live, work, and play. We've seen them near children's playgrounds and schools.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And our testing has showed that these lead cables are, in fact, leaching lead into the water and soil in the areas that they're touching. Doctors say no amount of contact with lead is safe.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Lead is one of those things that just wreaks havoc in various systems across the body particularly for children. It's been proven that it causes behavioral learning problems memory problems just a whole host of central nervous system issues associated with lead exposure.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Ramachandran and her colleagues found 330 lead cables underwater in critical areas for the drinking water supply. And they found aerial cables running alongside schools and bus stops.
--:-- Shumita Basu: From our testing, what we have found is that those areas right underneath those cables tend to have high levels of contamination. This kind of level of contamination that we are seeing underneath these cables is far exceeding EPA's recommendations.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences says the journal's reporting shows these lead cables are a widespread problem.
--:-- Shumita Basu: A number of telecom companies told the journal they don't believe their lead cables are a public health hazard and they take safety seriously. A group representing the larger industry says it's willing to work to address concerns.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Following the journal's investigation, Capitol Hill lawmakers are considering new legislation and asking questions to the companies. Rama Chandran says her team at the journal has a lot of questions, too.
--:-- Shumita Basu: You know, we'd like to know how many miles of lead cables are out there. They declined to provide that to us, and they've declined to talk about how much is out there. Because our understanding is that there's over 2,000 of them we've identified.
--:-- Shumita Basu: We believe that's a huge undercount. You can read about the journal's multi-part investigation and the technology they used to pull it off in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shumita Basu: We are one week out from the start of the Women's World Cup, and the U.S. women are hoping to make history by securing the title for the third time in a row.
--:-- Shumita Basu: So to help us get primed and pumped, we are joined now by Shaker Saman, sports editor for Apple News.
--:-- Shaker Saman: Hey, hey. So, shocker, you were at the media huddle just before the team left for New Zealand. And you got in a question. You asked Coach Vlatko Andonofsky about his expectations for the team.
--:-- Shaker Saman: And here's what he said. Would I be happy with anything short of third straight win? No. Absolutely not. I mean, there's only one thing in mind going to this tournament is our goal is to win the World Cup.
--:-- Shaker Saman: There's no question about it. That is a lot of pressure for anybody. It is. You know, like you said at the top, no team has ever won three straight World Cups.
--:-- Shaker Saman: The U.S. is coming off two straight. They are entering still as the dominant power in women's soccer. Four years ago we talked about the idea that the floor has been raised. Teams like France or the Netherlands could try to pick them off.
--:-- Shaker Saman: And yet, as we saw, that old guard still carried them through. This tournament's going to be a little different. There are 14 new players on this roster of 23.
--:-- Shaker Saman: And some of them are going to play pretty big roles, whether it be Trinity Rodman or Sophia Smith or any of the new players across the midfield and the defense. Youth is going to be the deciding factor for this team at this World Cup.
--:-- Shaker Saman: Yeah. As we know, Megan Rapinoe recently announced that she's going to be retiring. This will be her last World Cup. We are saying goodbye to the old guard in a way, right?
--:-- Shaker Saman: For sure. Every kind of era of the U.S. women's national team has been defined by a tentpole star. The last couple tournaments, it's been Megan Rapinoe.
--:-- Shaker Saman: You know, her bright hair, her vocal leadership. Her winning stance. Yeah, absolutely. Before that, Carly Lloyd, Mia Hamm, all the way back since the inception of the Women's World Cup.
--:-- Shaker Saman: And so we're really seeing the transition of eras right in front of us. Now, in the past, a team like the U.S. would have probably been expected to just cakewalk through the tournament.
--:-- Shaker Saman: But things are different, right? And talent across the world is much stronger than it used to be. What teams are you going to be watching that could really give the U.S. a scare?
--:-- Shaker Saman: Norway, they've won a World Cup before. They have two of the best players on Earth. They are so strong, especially in attack. You have Spain and Alexei Poteas. France with Wendy Renard are always really tough.
--:-- Shaker Saman: And the Netherlands, we face them in the group stage. They're our second game, a rematch of the last World Cup's final. So there's a lot of talent and a lot of strong teams.
--:-- Shaker Saman: Okay, not to put you on the spot, but I'm going to. Shocker, who's going to win it? I'm going to go with the United States here.
--:-- Shaker Saman: I made the mistake of very publicly claiming that France would knock the U.S. off their throne four years ago. I'm not going to make the same mistake again. United States, three World Cups in a row. Let's do it.
--:-- Shumita Basu: For more on the World Cup, make sure to follow our World Cup podcast, After the Whistle, with Brendan Hunt and Rebecca Lowe.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Also, check out MySports in the Apple News app. And if you're already in the News app right now, keep listening. We've got a narrated article coming up next.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The Atlantic takes us inside what it calls the greatest museum you've probably never heard of. So sit back, enjoy listening to that, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
