--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, May 3rd. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, takeaways from the Senate hearing on Supreme Court ethics, troubling signs that press freedom worldwide is getting weaker, plus why soccer fans in Europe may not be able to watch the Women's World Cup this summer. But first, let's take a quick look at several big stories in the news this morning.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: The man accused of killing five neighbors with an assault rifle in Texas is now in custody. Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers says that a tip led law enforcement to his hiding place in a different county. He was caught hiding in a closet underneath some laundry. They effectively made the arrest. He is uninjured, and he is currently being taken to my facility in Cold Springs. This ends an extensive search that started after the killings Friday night. The suspect is now being held on five counts of murder and a $5 million bond.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In Serbia, a seventh grader opened fire at a Belgrade school this morning, killing at least eight children and a security guard. This type of gun violence is extremely rare in that country.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Back in the U.S., a new CDC report shows U.S. fentanyl deaths more than tripled in a five-year period through 2021. The drug can be 100 times stronger than morphine, meaning overdose risk is high. And it's often mixed with other drugs, causing people to underestimate the danger of what they're taking. The news comes as the Justice Department announced hundreds of arrests in an investigation of online sales of pills and other products laced with deadly fentanyl.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And this afternoon, the Fed will tell the world its next move. Nearly everyone on Wall Street expects a quarter-point interest rate hike. And let's talk about this for a minute longer, because everyone is waiting to see what Chair Jay Powell has to say about the state of the economy. There are some new signs it may be slowing down. The job market isn't as hot as it once was. GDP growth is slowing. And now some economists say a recession may be more likely.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There are also a few wild cards. If the debt ceiling fight in Washington drags on that could do economic damage. Plus there the wobbly banking industry. First Republic was the latest in a recent string of failures that included Silicon Valley Bank. When the financial industry is in trouble, it can have a major ripple effect. That's because every other industry relies on banks for the loans they need to grow.
--:-- Jason Trenert: Whatever your odds were for a recession before Silicon Valley, and for us, they were pretty high, but they've got to be higher now. But clearly, willingness to lend has gone down. There are no two ways of that. And for small companies, particularly small companies that do a lot of the hiring, they're very dependent upon bank lending.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So far, the failed banks were relatively small and had specific problems that other banks don't. It's not clear that there's a bigger wave of banking trouble ahead. Today's Fed meeting will answer some big questions, but it may also leave us with some new ones.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on ethics in the Supreme Court. Chair Dick Durbin outlined the goals. The court should have a code of conduct with clear and enforceable rules so both justices and the American people know when conduct crosses the line. The highest court in the land should not have the lowest ethical standards. That reality is driving a crisis in public confidence in the Supreme Court.
--:-- Dick Durbin: The confidence crisis he's referring to stems from recent reporting from ProPublica about luxury travel that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted from a Republican donor without disclosing. And from Politico, which revealed that Justice Neil Gorsuch didn't disclose selling property to a law firm CEO with multiple cases before the court.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Chief Justice John Roberts declined an invitation to testify in front of the Senate committee. The legal experts who did testify offered mixed opinions on what can and should be done around ethical rules for the court. At times, typical partisan themes came up, with Republicans questioning whether Democrats were using ethics as an issue to undermine a conservative-leaning court.
--:-- John Kennedy: I've been disappointed by Supreme Court opinions, too. But my Democratic colleagues should fill out a hurt feelings report and move on for the sake of the Constitution.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some Senate Republicans did agree with Democrats on the general idea that the Supreme Court could do more around ethics. The question is how to enforce a new code. There are proposals for Congress to do something, but that's unlikely to pass. And besides, there are separation of powers questions, whether the legislative branch can do that to the judicial branch.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As Politico explains, Congress may be more likely to serve as a force that puts pressure on the Supreme Court to make ethical changes on its own. There are some signs it's already happening. In a rare move last week, all nine members of the court signed a joint statement about their ethics practices. It didn't include a formal ethics code or enforcement method, but it does potentially signal that justices know their integrity is under a microscope.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's World Press Freedom Day, a day created by the UN to raise awareness about the importance of journalists' ability to report without fear of retribution from governments. 2022, by all accounts, was a troubling year for independent journalism. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says all our freedom depends on press freedom, and rights are eroding in every corner of the world.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Journalists and media workers are directly targeted on and offline as they carry out their vital work. They are routinely harassed, intimidated, detained, and imprisoned. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, last year, killings of journalists jumped 50%. Reporters Without Borders says a record number of countries had very serious press freedom problems. That means journalists may have been censored, surveilled, or pressured to stop writing stories.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A record number of journalists were imprisoned, hundreds across more than 30 countries. Iran and China top the list for jailed journalists. Russia is another major offender. One of the journalists held there is Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. He's accused of spying, which the Journal and the U.S. government deny. His family was in the audience when President Biden talked about the situation at the White House Correspondents' Dinner last weekend.
--:-- Shamita Basu: To the entire family, everyone in this hall stands with you. We're working every day to secure his release. Looking at opportunities and tools to bring him home. We keep the faith.
--:-- Shamita Basu: When the Women's World Cup kicks off in New Zealand and Australia this summer, fans in Europe could be sidelined from watching on TV. FIFA says media companies in several countries aren't offering enough for broadcasting rights. It says if offers don't improve, it won't broadcast the women's tournament in Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France.
--:-- Shamita Basu: FIFA says major European broadcasters are offering less than $10 million for rights. That compares to men's World Cup rights that went for up to $200 million. And because of the time difference, women's World Cup matches will air outside of prime time in Europe. But FIFA says that doesn't fully explain the low offers. Its president calls them a slap in the face to players and all women worldwide.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, reading about this potential FIFA broadcast blackout made us think about another story we read recently, a super local success story out of Oregon. A sports bar called The Sports Bra opened in 2022 with a unique niche, all women's sports, all the time. Everywhere you look, from TV screens down to the decor. Owner Jenny Nguyen talked to CNBC about the moment that led to her starting the business.
--:-- Jenny Nguyen: We were watching an NCAA finals game and we had a really hard time finding it. And I was just like, the only way we're ever going to watch a women's game in its full glory is if we had our own place.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She gambled her savings on it. And now she says that business is booming. The bar raked in nearly $1 million in its first eight months. And Nguyen says other entrepreneurs have called her for tips on opening similar women-focused sports bars in their communities.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next from The Atlantic, ahead of an expected counteroffensive by Ukraine, which could come any day now. This article argues that the stakes are higher than just the war with Russia, that the future of the democratic world is on the line.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's queued up to play for you next, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
