--:-- Gideon Resnick: Good morning. It's Friday, September 8th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: On today's show, why the childcare situation in America is about to get even worse. An unusual controversy rocks India as it hosts Biden and the world leaders at the G20. And the surprisingly big business of college mascots making wedding appearances. But first, let's take a quick look at some major stories that are in the news.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Hurricane Lee reached Category 5 strength overnight. It's currently pretty far out in the Atlantic, so it's too soon to tell whether it will hit the East Coast directly. But over the weekend, dangerous currents are expected in the U.S. and the Caribbean.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In legal news, the actor Danny Masterson is heading to prison for 30 years to life for raping two women. The crimes happened in the early 2000s when he was on that 70s show. Last year, a jury deadlocked on the case, leading to a mistrial. But he was convicted in a new trial that happened earlier this year.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Moving to a misdemeanor case involving a former Trump insider, Peter Navarro was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena. The House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol subpoenaed the former trade advisor, but he didn't comply, arguing that he was protected by executive privilege. He'll be sentenced in January.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Another former Trump advisor, Steve Bannon, was convicted in a similar case and sentenced to four months in prison, but is free pending an appeal.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And in the world of sports, American Coco Gauff is in the U.S. Open final for the first time. Here's the moment last night on ESPN when she beat Karolina Muhova of the Czech Republic.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: A protest during the match stopped play for nearly an hour. Gauff said afterwards that she treated it like a rain delay and used that time to change and grab a snack. She faces Irina Sabalenka of Belarus on Saturday for the title.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: American families are facing a looming crisis. At the end of the month, the remaining pandemic money for child care that Congress set aside will expire. And according to an estimate from the Century Foundation, as many as 70,000 child care centers across the country could close.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: To put that into perspective, that could mean roughly one in three U.S. child care centers forced to shut down. More than three million kids risk losing access to care. While all of this is happening, the cost of child care, a thing that already stretches many family budgets to their limits, is going up.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: U.S. inflation may be well under control at just over 3%, but daycare and preschool fees, they're rising at nearly double that rate. Closures could drive those prices even higher. This is forcing families to make difficult decisions.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Some parents are reducing their work hours to make more time for child care. Others have had to leave the workforce altogether. And some people are even reconsidering plans to have kids. The estimated economic loss from child care closures could be $10.6 billion.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Economist Betsy Stevenson talked to CBS about the potential impact in America. If the parents don't have any child care and they're not willing to take those jobs, then we're going to see the labor market start to contribute to inflationary pressure. And that's going to make the Fed's job higher, could lead to higher interest rates down the pike.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So I think we all need to be concerned about this story, regardless of whether you have children at home, children in child care, relatives that you care about, but realize that this affects our whole macro economy.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Our next story takes us to India where the G20 summit starts tomorrow in New Delhi. President Biden will be there, and there's already a controversy. It technically about a dinner invitation for the summit, but in reality, it's about big difficult questions of identity and diversity that Indians are grappling with.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Time magazine explains how it started with a single word on the invite. Bar it. That's the Hindi word for India. Some people use it as the name of the country. But critics of Modi say that formally calling India Bharat on an invitation to world leaders is problematic.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: They say it's another step by his Hindu nationalist party to marginalize Indian citizens who are not Hindu. That includes the 200 million strong Muslim population, the largest religious minority. Some in Modi's party say that they prefer the name Bharat as another way to break from the colonial past, arguing that the word India is associated with British rule.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And they point out that part of the country's constitution calls it both Bharat and India. Images of the invitation have been stirring up debate inside the country. The issue pops up from time to time in court cases, arguing that India should officially change its name to Bharat.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So far, judges have not weighed in on the controversy. But this invite wording means that the issue is now front and center, as Biden and others visit India for the G20.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Football season is underway, and college mascots are busier than ever, on and off the field. Some fans love their team so much, they are paying hundreds of dollars an hour to have their mascots appear at weddings and other private events.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The Wall Street Journal looks at the challenges of commanding a dance floor in a giant bird, beaver, or frog costume. One guy who played the University of Miami mascot says he sometimes did double duty with weddings scheduled after most home football games.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: He says he would guzzle water through his beak, an impressive party feat, but also really a necessity. The Journal reports that in some cases, a college mascot might spend 12 hours suited up.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And here's the real kicker. No paycheck is guaranteed. At some schools, mascots are classified as athletes or volunteers, so the money instead goes toward maintaining those giant goofy suits or funding travel to national spirit competitions.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And there are some pretty strict rules about staying in character. Mascots typically are not allowed to remove their gear in public, and if you've ever been sweaty at a wedding, you know that can make events extra tricky.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: For a woman who played the Falcon mascot for Bowling Green State, that meant hiding in a bathroom stall where she could finally remove her giant bird head to properly breathe and hydrate.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: She says the work requires, quote, a lot of thinking on your feet. Or in the case of playing Freddy Falcon or Frida Falcon, your giant orange mascot sneakers.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the app, stick around for our weekly interview show, In Conversation.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Shamita talks with Jennifer Senior about reconnecting with a relative Sr.'s family kept hidden, her aunt Adele. Adele was institutionalized as a baby in 1953 and spent almost her entire life separated from family.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: As Senior looked into her aunt's life story, she also uncovered the dark history of institutionalizing people with intellectual disabilities in the U.S. Institutionalization victimized everybody. It victimized the people inside. It victimized the siblings, the families, the parents. Everybody lost.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Shamita's full conversation with Jennifer Senior is queued up next in the News app. Enjoy the weekend, and I'll be back with the news on Monday.
