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Good morning! It's Thursday, April 13th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, "NPR" tweets for the final time, new rules proposed by the EPA would revolutionize our roads and our air quality - will consumers go for it? - and why so many of us are feeling subscription overload.
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But first, let's start with a few updates on some stories that we've been following. A federal appeals court has weighed in on the legal battle over mifepristone, a drug commonly prescribed for abortions. Late last night, the court decided to temporarily block the decision made by a Texas judge last week to suspend the FDA's approval of the drug. Under the appeals court's new order, mifepristone will remain approved for now and the drug will stay on the market while an expedited appeal plays out. Some parts of the recent ruling in Texas were upheld, which blocks FDA actions to expand access to mifepristone, including making it available through the mail.
Now, let's turn to Indiana, where a massive industrial fire at a plastics factory is still burning, and authorities have not identified the reason it started. Around 35,000 people live in Richmond, the location of the fire. Authorities there have ordered those within a half-mile of the fire to evacuate and have told others nearby to shelter in place. Officials don't know the exact materials burning in the fire at this point.
They say they're mostly worried about potential respiratory issues and the possible presence of asbestos due to the age of the building. The EPA is monitoring air quality outside of the evacuation zone.
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Fortunately, the toxic compounds that we're looking for we're not seeing. But everyone needs to keep in mind that smoke is harmful, and we are seeing smoke in our particulate meters.
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The mayor of Richmond has blamed the owner of the factory for the fire. He said they were previously ordered by the city to clean up the site, but he said the order was ignored.
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We were aware that what was operating here was a fire hazard, so this was a fear for us and why we've taken so many steps to prevent this from happening.
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Authorities say the fire could continue burning for several days. And the county's emergency management agency is scheduled to deliver its next official update later this afternoon.
There's also some news out of Tennessee. The two lawmakers that were expelled from the state legislature last week, Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, have been reinstated to their seats. The two Black lawmakers were voted out by the GOP-controlled House after they joined a protest against gun violence on the House floor in the wake of the deadly mass shooting at a school in Nashville.
Jones represents Nashville. Pearson represents Memphis. And leaders around the country say racism played a role in their expulsion. Their colleague, Representative Gloria Johnson, who is white, was also involved in the same demonstration, but managed to keep her seat. Jones was unanimously reinstated Monday. And loud cheers echoed from the galley yesterday as lawmakers voted to reinstate Pearson.
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They tried to kill democracy. They tried to expel the people's choice and the people's vote! And they awakened a sleeping giant!
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The two will serve on an interim basis until a special election can be held in the coming months. And both have indicated that they plan to run.
Lastly, on Capitol Hill, California Senator Dianne Feinstein will temporarily leave the Senate Judiciary Committee. She's been working remotely for more than a month while dealing with shingles. And her absence from the Hill has made it difficult for Senate Democrats to move forward with judicial nominations. She's also faced some calls to resign. Feinstein has already said that she will not seek re-election.
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The EPA is proposing the most aggressive reduction in vehicle emission standards ever. If enacted, car manufacturers would need roughly two-thirds of new cars to be emission-free by 2032 to meet the requirements, meaning that we could be on the brink of a massive electric vehicle revolution.
The key variable here, though, is whether people will actually buy them. That's "Vox" correspondent Umair Irfan.
The government can regulate and mandate what companies sell, but shaping consumer behavior is gonna be the more difficult challenge. Electric vehicles currently account for less than ten percent of new car sales. Consumer demand is rising, but the high price tags on new EVs make them unattainable for most Americans. Plus, Americans love big cars. And the bigger the car, the worse they are for the environment, even if they are EVs.
Still, there's already a lot of evidence that EVs are making our air quality significantly better. Irfan recently reported on the impact of EVs in California, which has some of the strictest air quality rules in the country. In zip codes where you had a higher penetration of EVs, you saw a noticeable and measurable decline in emergency room visits related to asthma. And that shows that even a small number of EVs start to have measurable effects on air quality in the present.
And that is a key part of how the EPA is rationalizing this. This is not simply a thing to fight climate change decades down the line. The EPA's argument is that this starts having positive health benefits now because if you get rid of combustion engines, you get rid of nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, particulates and the chemicals that produce ozone as well. And that helps reduce the overall health burden.
Now it is important to remember, just because something is electric doesn't mean it doesn't come with any carbon footprint.
EVs are powered by electricity, and that electricity is only as clean as the sources that provide them. So, you also have to decarbonize the power grid as well in order to overall reduce the impact. So, there's still an environmental impact. There's still an environmental cost in the materials to produce these vehicles. The way to reduce the overall footprint of personal transportation is to reduce the demand for these vehicles as well and to make them more efficient.
Irfan expects some states will sue if the proposed standards take effect. A handful of Republican-led states are already suing the EPA over its existing fuel economy and car pollution rules.
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"NPR" has tweeted for the final time. Yesterday, it became the first major national media organization to announce it was logging off Twitter. The decision came after the social media company labeled "NPR" as "state-affiliated media," the same term it uses for propaganda outlets. After backlash to that inaccurate labeling, Twitter amended its decision and instead labeled "NPR" as "government-funded media," but even that was misleading. "NPR" is a private, nonprofit company with complete editorial independence. Less than one percent of its funding comes from government funding.
"NPR's" media correspondent, David Folkenflik, discussed the decision on "NPR's Morning Edition" yesterday.
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"NPR's" chief executive, John Lansing, told me just ahead of the announcement that to continue gracing Twitter with official accounts denigrates our credibility and undercuts the work of our reporters. He points out, look, "NPR" is a private, nonprofit corporation. Our institution is independent of government and of other corporate ownership for that matter. And its board is constituted independently. We aren't influenced by governments in that way.
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Folkenflik also noted that the decision likely won't mean all that much for "NPR" or hurt the news organization in any meaningful way. He reported that Twitter does very little to amplify "NPR" stories or get it engagement, especially when compared to other social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and TikTok. And "NPR" isn't stopping its journalists from using the platform if they want to.
On Tuesday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk gave one his most extensive interviews yet since taking over the company. He told the "BBC" that owning Twitter has been "quite painful" and said without any evidence that it's on its way to profitability. For context, the company has lost more than half of its value since Musk took over. He was also pressed by the "BBC" on the labeling of news organizations, like the "BBC," that receive government funding.
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I mean, our goal is simply to be as truthful and accurate as possible. So, I think we're adjusting the label to be "publicly funded," which I think is perhaps not too objectionable. We're trying to be accurate.
So, you're gonna change those labels on the "BBC" Twitter feed and also "NPR's" as well?
Yeah, publicly funded. Basically, we're trying to be as accurate as possible.
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That wasn't enough to convince "NPR" to keep tweeting. And they're not alone. "PBS" has now joined "NPR" in moving away from the platform.
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Do you have subscription overload? If so, you're probably not alone. "The Wall Street Journal" reports that about a third of people who responded to a Credit Karma survey said their biggest financial mistake last year was paying for subscription services they never used. In my case, I found this out when coffee beans kept showing up at my door.
On average, Americans think they are paying about 86 dollars in subscriptions every month. It turns out, the real number is actually closer to 133 dollars. So, what do we about all of this? Well, a few things might help. So first, the "Journal" reports that a new proposal from the Federal Trade Commission should make it easier to cancel subscriptions. They want to require service providers to make it as easy to cancel as it is to sign up, with just one click.
Just take inventory of what you have because you might be surprised. One person interviewed by the "Journal" said they didn't realize they were actually paying for two separate Amazon Prime accounts. Another person who signed up for a health club service said she had no idea she had been paying for it for the past four years. In total, that added up to 5,000 dollars on a subscription she wasn't using. And others saved money by consolidating the number of accounts among the people in their household.
Some companies are actually shifting their models to meet consumers where they are on this subscription overload. Yesterday, HBO Max announced that it would rebrand as Max with Discovery+ shows under its umbrella. That means you won't need multiple subscriptions to watch "Succession" and "Dr. Pimple Popper."
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You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app, don't go anywhere. We've got a narrated article coming up next from "New York Magazine." Stormy Daniels weighs in on former President Trump's historic indictment, and how she sees all of this ending. So sit back, enjoy listening to that, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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