--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Here we are again. Hello, A. Hello. How are you? Okie doke. I've missed you. I know. When's the last time? Like, it's been a while, right? I don't know. It's been a while. Are they keeping us apart? Maybe. Do we have issues? Is there some, like, beef? Too much, too much M-A-R-T-I-N for the nation.
--:-- Host A Martinez: [laughs] I know, I know.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Ukraine is at the top of the agenda when President Biden meets with the UK's Prime Minister today. We're working with urgency to continue to ensure that Ukraine has what it needs to effectively defend itself. Could this be the moment that the U.S. allows Ukraine to have long-range weapons?
--:-- Host A Martinez: I'm Michelle Martin, that's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Former President Donald Trump says he won't debate Vice President Kamala Harris again. I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate. Trump says he won, but what do the voters think?
--:-- Host A Martinez: And it's been a bumpy year for Boeing. Now their workers are going on strike after rejecting a new contract deal.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And could your gas stove be a health risk? California State Legislature thinks so. But will warning labels make a difference?
--:-- Host A Martinez: Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: This message comes from BetterHelp. President Fernando Madeira describes how BetterHelp Online Therapy has helped him.
--:-- President Fernando Madeira: For me, sometimes I just need to go and talk to somebody that is not going to judge me, right? It's going to be there and they're going to listen to me. And I can't start just saying, look, I'm not feeling right today. And it feels natural. I love it.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: To get matched with a therapist, visit betterhelp.com slash NPR for 10% off your first month.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: This message comes from NPR sponsor Adobe. Introducing the all-new Adobe Acrobat Studio, now with AI-powered PDF spaces.
--:-- Host A Martinez: Need to turn 100 pages of market research into five insights with a click? Templates for a sales proposal that'll close that deal? Or an AI specialist to tailor the tone of your market report? You can do all that with the all-new Adobe Acrobat Studio.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Learn more at adobe.com slash do that with Acrobat.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: This message comes from Ethos. Discover the modern way to get life insurance all online.
--:-- Host A Martinez: Protect your family's future against the unexpected in minutes, not months. With Ethos, you could get up to $3 million in coverage without a medical exam. Just answer a few health questions. Some policies are as low as $2 a day billed monthly.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Get your free quote at ethos.com slash NPR. That's E-T-H-O-S dot com slash NPR. Application times may vary. Rates may vary.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: That's Kamala Harris. What is Donald Trump's post-debate campaigning like?
--:-- Host A Martinez: For one thing, he's really leaning into economic messaging. Just this morning, he put out a video saying that Kamala's economic plan is Biden's economic plan.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: But also at a Tucson rally yesterday, he announced a new policy, no tax on overtime pay. It's time for the working man and woman to finally catch a break.
--:-- Host A Martinez: And that's what we're doing because this is a good one. But also it's not clear exactly how that would work. And the campaign hasn't really communicated details.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Is any idea, though, who exactly he's trying to reach with this new policy plan?
--:-- Host A Martinez: Well, yeah, I mean, you put this next to his idea to cut taxes on tips. And he's really looking for places to boost his support among the working class, which makes up a lot of his base, particularly the white working class.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: But economists have big questions about that tips plan as well. I mean, you look at his plans altogether, he's proposed a lot of tax breaks, really a mishmash of them. And economists are saying his policies would just add a lot to the deficit.
--:-- Host A Martinez: As for the rest of his message yesterday in Tucson, it was a typical Trump speech. Plus, he continued pushing that racist and baseless idea that immigrants are eating pets. Again, that's not true.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: City officials have told reporters they haven't seen evidence of this. Moving forward, I should add, he'll be in Las Vegas today, and he has a town hall planned in Michigan next week.
--:-- [Guest introduction]
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: If you thought things couldn't get any worse for Boeing, well, it seems like it can. Remember, Boeing's year began with one of their planes losing a door plug mid-flight.
--:-- Host A Martinez: Now the aerospace giant is facing a strike at its factories near Seattle and several of its other West Coast facilities.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: The union, representing more than 30,000 machinists, voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative contract deal.
--:-- Host A Martinez: It's the latest bloater of the company that was already reeling, as A said, from safety and quality problems.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: NPR transportation correspondent Joel Rose joins us now.
--:-- Joel Rose: Yeah, they announced that agreement on Sunday after months of negotiations. But the union rank and file soundly rejected that deal, and it was not particularly close. 94% voted to reject the contract. 96% voted to authorize the strike.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Do you have any sense of why they would reject this deal so resoundingly?
--:-- Joel Rose: For a couple of reasons. I mean, the most obvious is financial. The deal would have raised wages by 25% and lowered employees' share of health care costs, also boosted retirement contributions by the company.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: But union members say that is still not enough. They were asking for a 40% raise and also big changes to the pension system. And clearly they think they can get a better deal out of Boeing with a strike.
--:-- Joel Rose: There is a lot of history and bad blood between this union and Boeing management. And I think that is the other big reason why this vote was so lopsided.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: So where does Boeing stand on all this?
--:-- Joel Rose: Well, before the vote, company leaders had been urging, maybe even begging the union to take this deal. Remember, the company is already grappling with a safety crisis after that door plug panel blew out of a jet in midair back in January.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Boeing is struggling to rebuild trust with airlines, with regulators, with the flying public. In a statement last night, the company said, quote, the message was clear, unquote, that the tentative agreement was not acceptable to union members and that the company is ready to get back to the bargaining table.
--:-- Host A Martinez: The last strike by Boeing machinists, by the way, was in 2008. It dragged on for eight weeks, cost the company an estimated $2 billion.
--:-- [Guest introduction]
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: President Biden hosts British Prime Minister Keir Starmer today at the White House Russia's war on Ukraine will top their agenda.
--:-- Host A Martinez: Now, there's speculation that President Biden may use the occasion to announce he's dropping his ban on Ukraine using long-range weapons provided by Washington to strike deep targets inside Russia.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: We're going to hear more about this from Terry Schultz, who covers NATO, where this issue has long divided the alliance.
--:-- Terry Schultz: That's right. Well, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants his forces to be able to destroy Russian capabilities, such as these missiles and drones we see doing so much damage, before they ever get off the ground headed toward Ukraine.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: So he's been lobbying hard and talking in public about this to get permission from the U.S. to strike back with long-range missiles that he already has, weapons coming from the U.S., but also Britain and France.
--:-- Terry Schultz: So what appears to have been changed in the last several days is that Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there's evidence Iran is providing Russia with ballistic missiles.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: He was in Kiev meeting with Zelensky and top Ukrainian officials when he said this. Now Putin's further empowering his aggression with the acquisition of Iranian ballistic missiles.
--:-- Terry Schultz: So we're working with urgency to continue to ensure that Ukraine has what it needs to effectively defend itself.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Western countries' fears that they would be seen as escalating the conflict by letting Ukraine have these deeper strike capabilities has now been superseded by what Blinken described as Moscow's own escalatory action in teaming up with Tehran to get these ballistic missiles.
--:-- Terry Schultz: Of course, that hasn't stopped Putin from continuing to threaten the West, including just yesterday, that he would view a change in the position on these weapons as direct involvement in the war.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: So, Tara, let me ask you, how seriously do NATO countries see that threat? Is Putin likely to hit a NATO country?
--:-- Terry Schultz: Well, you know, it's been one of the reasons why the U.S. has held off giving these longer-range capabilities until now.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: So they certainly don't dismiss it. But, you know, as we've seen, Putin has made these threats every time the West makes a move to help Ukraine.
--:-- Terry Schultz: So I think that people are not completely dismissive of it, but they also don't think that President Putin is aiming for a NATO country anytime soon.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Just to be clear about this for people who aren't following this as closely, most other countries providing weapons to Ukraine have not included any restrictions on where and how those supplies can be used.
--:-- Terry Schultz: So why do other governments see this so differently than the U.S. has?
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Yeah, that's true. Almost all the other allies who've given Ukraine weapons have said, use them as you wish.
--:-- Terry Schultz: And that's caused a lot of tension inside NATO. They say Ukraine can use their weapons however they need to do so and that they have the right under international law to defend their territory, Ukraine.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And one of the reasons is because most of those countries giving permission don't have the weapons that the U.S. and its closest allies, such as Britain and France, have sent to Ukraine and which Ukraine says it needs.
--:-- Terry Schultz: So this week, Secretary of State Blinken also met Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorsky.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And you can hear that difference of opinion in Sikorsky's response to this question.
--:-- Radek Sikorsky: Missiles that hit civilian targets are shot from bombers that start from airfields in Russia. The victim of aggression has the right to defend itself, has the right to combat all means of airstrikes that hit against it.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: I'm of the opinion that Ukraine has the right to use Western weapons to prevent war crimes.
--:-- Terry Schultz: Does this fit into a pattern? Has the U.S. government hesitated to do something and then done it anyway, eventually?
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Virtually every time the Ukrainians have asked for a major capability upgrade, this is what happens.
--:-- Terry Schultz: And so President Zelensky is going to be hoping that as frustrating as it is, this does fit into that pattern.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Because, as you may remember, he was told he'll never get Western tanks, and then the Pentagon sent him Abrams.
--:-- Terry Schultz: He was told he wouldn't get long-range missile systems. Finally, he got American attackums.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And then, of course, he finally got his long-delayed request for Western fighter jets when allies with U.S. permission sent him F-16s.
--:-- Terry Schultz: So on the Ukrainian side, there's always this mix of frustration and worry over the delay, and then, of course, gratitude when the weapons finally arrived.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: President Zelensky will definitely be hoping this fits into that pattern and that there are decisions made today that follow it.
--:-- [Guest introduction]
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: California Governor Gavin Newsom is deciding whether to sign a bill that would require health warning labels on new gas stoves similar to those on tobacco products.
--:-- Host A Martinez: Yeah, if signed by the governor, it would make California the first state to require such labels.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: For NPR's Climate Solutions Week, we're thinking about the future of food, including how we cook it.
--:-- Host A Martinez: So Jeff Brady from our climate desk is here to tell us why warning labels on gas stoves.
--:-- Jeff Brady: Well, you know, that blue flame on a stove, it's a fossil fuel that's burning and it releases pollution into your kitchen. Nitrogen dioxide is one pollutant. It can irritate airways and lead to asthma, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Using a hood that vents outside helps reduce that pollution.
--:-- Jeff Brady: California Assemblymember Gail Pellerin says she knew about that when using the cooktop, but not her gas oven.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: So if I got a lasagna in the oven, I have never put the vent on because you're not seeing the smoke and everything.
--:-- Jeff Brady: And so I was emitting harmful gases into my home.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: So Pelerin sponsored the legislation requiring a warning label.
--:-- Jeff Brady: It says gas stoves release pollutants that can be toxic to people and pets.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Well, I suspect that stove manufacturers are not happy about this, just like other companies like tobacco companies that require warning labels were not happy about it and opposed that.
--:-- Jeff Brady: So is that the case?
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: You are absolutely right. They opposed this legislation and echoed some of the arguments we've seen from gas utilities.
--:-- Jeff Brady: They say this campaign against gas stoves is just part of a larger effort by climate activists to get consumers to switch to electric appliances that don't burn fossil fuels.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And they say this problem is not the pollution that comes from burning the gas, but the fumes that come off of the food itself.
--:-- Jeff Brady: Here's Kevin Messner with the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.
--:-- Kevin Messner: If there's a debate on electrification or fossil fuels, please have that debate based on the science and merits of that issue. Don't bring in gas cooking.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: So his group suggested a different warning label focused on cooking fumes instead of combustion pollution.
--:-- Jeff Brady: But California lawmakers rejected that.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Now the bill is on Governor Gavin Newsom's desk, and he has until the end of the month to sign it into law or veto it.
--:-- Host A Martinez: So that's California. What about the rest of the country?
--:-- Jeff Brady: Lawmakers in Illinois and New York considered bills like the California one, but they have not passed them so far.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: There's also a campaign to get the Federal Consumer Products Safety Commission to require warning labels on gas stoves nationwide.
--:-- Jeff Brady: There is something else happening, though. In California, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C., there are lawsuits against gas stove manufacturers claiming they should be warning customers about these health risks.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: The manufacturers, though, say they won't comment on pending litigation.
--:-- Jeff Brady: What about retailers and their salespeople? Because I'm thinking that that's where a lot of customers get their information from when they want to buy a new appliance.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Yeah, you're right. And the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, they conducted a secret shopper survey to learn what salespeople at big box stores are telling customers.
--:-- Jeff Brady: They went into 62 Lowe's, Home Depot, and Best Buy stores in 11 states.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And they found most salespeople either flatly denied that there are any health problems with gas stoves or said they didn't know much about the issue.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: That's Up First for Friday, September 13th. I'm Amy Martinez. And I'm Michelle Martin.
--:-- Host A Martinez: And don't forget Up First airs on the weekend, too. Ayesha Roscoe and Scott Simon have the news.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: It will be here in this feed or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Host A Martinez: Today's episode of Up First was edited by Don Clyde, Megan Pratz, Neela Banerjee, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: It was produced by Iman Ma'ani, Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, Chris Thomas and Anna Perez.
--:-- Host A Martinez: We get engineering support from Carly Strange and our technical director is Zach Coleman.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And join us again on Monday.
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