--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning, it's Thursday, September 15th. I'm Shamita Basu. 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: Democrats have been doing something very unusual in this election. They've spent big money in Republican primaries. The latest example was in New Hampshire, where Don Bolduc won the Senate nomination this week. He's backed Trump's lies that the 2020 election was stolen, and he beat the moderate Republican he was up against, Chuck Morse. Now, Bolduc got help from Democrats. They didn't donate to his campaign directly, but they bought waves of ads attacking his moderate opponent. It was a lot of money. It was a little over $3 million that Democrats put behind this candidate. And he won narrowly.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Annie Linsky is covering this controversial Democratic strategy for The Washington Post. In some Republican primaries where far-right candidates are on the ballot, Democrats have taken steps to help them win. They're betting that these Republicans will be easier to beat in the general election. Now, political operatives sometimes intervene in the other party's primaries, but Linsky says the scale of what Democrats have been doing in this cycle is off the charts different. Democrats are pouring, by the post-calculation, $53 million into essentially amplifying the views of some of the fringiest candidates.
--:-- Annie Linsky: Some of these politicians getting Democratic help are explicitly questioning the way elections run. Some of the Republican candidates are people whose views are well outside what has traditionally been the norm in American politics and are openly denying that the 2020 election was properly decided and have said they would, in some cases, do things quite differently if they were in power.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This strategy has split the Democratic Party. Supporters of it say Democrats need to do whatever it takes to win in November. And if that means effectively helping extreme candidates win Republican primaries because they'll be easier to beat, so be it. But some prominent Democrats say this is tricky territory. Helping election deniers and conspiracy theorists win races means that their messages get amplified.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Former House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt calls it playing with fire. He says if you help a candidate who questions elections, that's dangerous for democracy and dangerous for the country.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are explosive new developments in a welfare scandal in Mississippi, one that involves high-level politicians, and Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Brett Favre. And the latest news includes some revealing text messages. But first, a quick catch-up if you haven't been following this story. State auditors found a nonprofit responsible for distributing federal welfare money to the poor misspent at least $77 million. It's the biggest public fraud case in Mississippi history. Money that was supposed to go to people in need was instead spent on lobbyists, football tickets, religious concerts, and $1.1 million in speaking fees for Favre for appearances he allegedly never made.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He's now repaid that money but is being sued for interest on it. And to be clear, Favre has not been charged with a crime. But now an investigative report by Mississippi Today reveals another layer in this elaborate scheme. It reviewed text messages between Favre, the former Mississippi governor, Phil Bryant, and Nancy New. She ran the nonprofit at the center of the story, and she's pleaded guilty to charges of misusing public money.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Those texts show the three of them discussing how to allegedly divert at least a million in welfare funds to build a volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi. That's where Favre played college football and his daughter played volleyball there. Now Bryant was the governor at the time and the texts reveal that he helped Favre write a funding proposal. One text shows plans, including naming the stadium after Bryant.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The former governor has long denied close involvement in steering welfare funds to the volleyball stadium. Favre's attorney says the athlete didn't know the money came from the Welfare Fund. In one text, Favre asks Nancy New, if you were to pay me, is there any way the media can find out where it came from and how much? She responded, no.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As for the larger scandal, a state civil case to recover some of the welfare money is pending. The FBI is still investigating.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There's an update on a story that you'll know well if you listen to the podcast Serial. It told the story of the murder of a teenager named Hei Min Lee. Her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was convicted of the killing in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison. Now, The Wall Street Journal breaks the story that prosecutors in Baltimore want a judge to vacate the conviction and give him a new trial. They say a year-long investigation found new evidence with information on two alternative suspects. That includes a document in the state's file saying that one of these other suspects said he would kill Lee. But the defense never got that information.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Prosecutors now say it might have helped Syed in his trial. Syed has long said that he didn't kill Lee. His story captured millions of people's attention when Serial broke through as the first big true crime podcast. He spoke to the host, Sarah Koenig, from prison. I just sometimes wish they could look into my brain and see how I really felt about it. And no matter what else someone would say, they would see, man, this guy had no ill will towards it. Whatever the motivation is to kill someone, I had absolutely, it didn't exist in me.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Syed may soon be able to tell his side of the story outside of prison. Prosecutors recommended he be released while the investigation continues.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Here's a really interesting giving away your wealth move. The billionaire founder of the outdoor clothing brand Patagonia says he's handing over his company to the earth. He says instead of extracting value from nature, he wants to use Patagonia's wealth to protect it. The BBC explains that Yvonne Chouinard is technically giving Patagonia to a charitable trust. Any profits that aren't reinvested into the business will go to fighting climate change. The company's estimated to make $1.5 billion in revenue this year. Chouinard says the handover will generate around $100 million a year to fund green initiatives.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Patagonia already donated 1% of annual profits, but the founder wanted to do more. He said he thought about selling the whole company or taking it public and donating the money. But Chouinard said doing it this way allows him and his family to have a say in how the company and the charitable fund move forward.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A few years ago, he spoke at the Commonwealth Club of California about business and social responsibility. We're a relatively small company, but we have an incredible amount of social power around the world. And it's only dawned on me recently that we have this, and therefore we probably have the responsibility to use that power and not just hire other people to do the right thing and stuff.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. There's coverage of a tentative labor deal that may prevent a rail strike and when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our news plus partners. I'll talk with you again tomorrow.
