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- [00:05]
A
Good morning. It's Tuesday, December 16th. I'm Gideon Reznick in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News today. On today's show, the conviction of a major figure in Hong Kong's pro democracy movement. Why? Dollar store prices aren't always what they seem. And victims at Brown University are remembered and mourn. But first, to the deaths of filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer Michelle Singer Reiner. Yesterday, the Los Angeles Police Department said they made an arrest in the case, one of Reiner's sons. Here's LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.
- [00:48]
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We have our Robbery Homicide Division handling the investigation. They work throughout the night on this case and were able to take into custody Nick Reiner, a suspect in this case. He was subsequently booked for murder and is being held on $4 million bail. Pretty much that's what I can share at this point. But again, a very, very tragic incident.
- [01:11]
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The case now goes to the LA County District Attorney's office today. While many details remain unconfirmed or unaddressed by authorities, tributes poured in for Reiner yesterday, including everyone from former President Obama to Stephen King. The range of voices highlighted Reiner's iconic standing in American culture. He was an actor on the sitcom all in the Family and the director of movies like the Princess Bride, this Is Spinal Tap and When Harry Met Sally. But also Reiner's years supporting progressive politics and the Democratic Party. The Los Angeles Times notes that Reiner was a co founder of the American foundation for Equal Rights, which successfully mounted the effort to overturn Proposition 8, a ballot measure in California that banned same sex marriage. In an interview with the outlet Midas Touch on Monday, California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom reflected on his relationship with Reiner, who he said supported him during his time as mayor of San Francisco.
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I was out there feeling a little alone doing same sex marriage. In 2004. It was Rob who reached out. It's how I got to know him, saying he had my back at a time when a lot of members of my own party, a Democratic Party, didn't. And so he's been a friend for decades. He actually was co host on an event that I'm doing later this week. So it just breaks my heart.
- [02:25]
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Newsom is referring to the time when he defied California state law to allow for same sex marriages. In recent years, Reiner was an extremely harsh critic of President Trump, calling him, quote, mentally unfit at one point and saying that the atmosphere under the administration's leadership is, quote, Beyond McCarthy era esque. President Trump initially reacted to Reiner's death by suggesting that it had something to do with his, quote, obsession with the president. His statement on Truth Social was condemned by a number of conservatives and Republican members of Congress. Later on Monday, Trump was asked about that social media post by reporters at the White House.
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A number of Republicans have denounced your statement on Truth Social after the murder of Rob Reiner. Do you stand by that post?
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Well, I wasn't a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned.
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Yesterday, fans laid flowers at Reiner's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One note read RIP Meathead, referencing Reiner's role as Michael Stivic, the liberal student and Archie Bunker's son in law on all in the family. In a 60 Minutes interview earlier this year, Reiner talked about landing that role for Norman Lear's show and his dad's reaction to it.
- [03:35]
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Norman Lear was the first person that got me. I mean, I was playing jacks with his daughter. Norman says to my dad, you know, this kid is really funny. My dad's about that kid. That kid, he's sullen, he sits quiet. He doesn't, you know, he's not funny. He didn't think I was in any way.
- [03:53]
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Many would come to disagree with that. Yesterday, one of the leaders of Hong Kong's pro democracy movement was convicted on charges of sedition and collusion under the country's national security laws. The trial was described as a cruel judicial farce by Human Rights Watch. 78 year old media tycoon Jimmy Lai now faces the possibility of life in prison after he was found guilty of using his popular newspaper to collude with foreign forces against the interests of Hong Kong and China. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The national security law that was used against Lai was imposed by Beijing in 2020 as part of a crackdown against anti government protests. The judge in the case said that Lai harbored resentment and hatred for China and concluded that Lai was the mastermind of conspiracies designed to undermine the regime. Lai had the chance to flee Hong Kong, but stayed to fight the accusations in court. Speaking from his home in 2020, he reflected on his journey to the BBC.
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This is just living my life peacefully. If I'm in jail, I'm living my life meaningfully. I come here with one borrower. I got everything I have because of this praise. If this is the payback time, this is my redemption.
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For critics, Lai's conviction demonstrates Beijing's brutal intolerance for the freedom of expression that was once A core part of Hong Kong's cultural identity. Tom Grundy is the editor in chief of Hong Kong Free Press, a donor funded outlet launched to provide independent journalism for its residents. He spoke to us about the trial and its implications.
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The striking thing for anyone is that this is under the security law. Things are quite different. He was denied his first choice of lawyer. The judges are handpicked and basically approved by the city's leader. There is no jury and not really bail. It's almost a perfect record of guilty convictions.
- [05:53]
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Grundy said Lai's journey to the top of Hong Kong's pro democracy movement was an unlikely one.
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He comes from a very humble background. He's from China. He arrived in Hong Kong, not an atypical story. Age 12 on a fishing boat, he was a child laborer in a in a garment factory. Eventually just working his way up to become a clothing tycoon. But particularly since the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, he became a media tycoon with a colorful, you know, grubby, sensational tabloid a lot of the time. But as the years passed, it did investigative journalism and firmly sided with the democracy movement.
- [06:29]
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But in 2020, Hong Kong was changed forever with that national security law we mentioned. It criminalized dissenting acts and diminished the region's autonomy. Lai's tabloid, Apple Daily, no Relation, had its assets frozen, its headquarters were raided, and Lai's rise to Hong Kong's elite ended abruptly in metal chains. Now he awaits sentencing, but his health is deteriorating, and Lai's family has urged foreign governments to lobby Beijing on his behalf. President Trump told Fox in August that he would do everything he could to help Lai. But as of yet, there's no sign of progress. And as for the future of journalism in Hong Kong, Grundy said, the risks have grown.
- [07:08]
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We have seen newsrooms raided, journalists arrested, a thousand reporters out of work. Some other editors, some stan news, were jailed last year for 21 months. And dozens of civil society groups, let alone a dozen odd news outlets, have shut down in recent years. So not exactly what we signed up for 10 years ago.
- [07:27]
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Over the weekend, Hong Kong's last major opposition party, the Democratic Party, voted to disband as members reported pressure from China. Now to a story that examines a trend at dollar stores across the United States. It's been a year of strong sales for these discount brands. And stores like Dollar General and Dollar Tree noted growth even among higher earners, as many look for ways to reduce their expenses. But even though the discounts are there, the total at checkout can sometimes be a surprise. The Guardian investigated this trend across the country and found that a combination of understaffing, poor inventory controls and misleading sales pricing is causing many people to overpay. Jocelyn Zuckerman, one of the reporters on the story, spoke to us about it.
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We found that Since January of 2022, Dollar General failed more than 4300 government price accuracy inspections in 23 states. Over the same period, Family Dollar fail 2100 in 20 states, some of them with error rates as high as 76%.
- [08:35]
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These inspections are part of a regulatory process that involves state government employees who are quite literally sometimes carrying a laptop and a scanner gun like the one that you might see at a checkout. They look to see how different the labeled cost is for an item versus its cost at checkout. And if the price tags are out of date, failed inspections have led to major fines or expensive legal settlements. But that hasn't always delivered much improvement.
- [08:59]
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Even in the states where they've been fined, it continues to happen. So in November 2023, Family Dollar settled with the Attorney General of Wisconsin, paid $850,000. Within the next 23 months, Dollar General stores had failed 31% of inspections and Family Dollar failed 30%.
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And just last week, Dollar General said it had agreed to pay more than $1.5 million after the Pennsylvania attorney general found that the store was overcharging customers in the state. Neither Family Dollar nor Dollar General agreed to interviews with the Guardian. In statements, they said they were committed to providing customers with price accuracy, and Dollar General noted its employees were empowered to correct mistakes at the register, according to lawsuits, experts and employees. Overpricing often stems from a labor issue within the stores. When prices change, registers get automatically updated, but the listed prices on the shelves require staffers to manually replace them.
- [09:56]
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Now you might see a pack of laundry detergent on the shelf and the shelf price says $4 and then you get up to the register and you might be charged $5.50. And that's largely because the new price just hasn't been updated on the shelf yet. But it's already reflected in the system.
- [10:11]
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That difference in cost can be critical for shoppers that have fixed budgets and rely on these stores in their communities. And finally, other stories were following a JetBlue flight traveling over the Caribbean narrowly avoided a mid air collision with a US Military aircraft near the Venezuelan coast on Friday, the Miami Herald reports. An Air Force plane crossed directly in front of the JetBlue flight at close range. That's according to newly released Air traffic control recordings. The military plane was an air to air refueling tanker which the JetBlue pilot reported did not have its transponder on. Transponders send data to other planes to avoid mid air collisions. U.S. southern Command confirmed that it was reviewing the matter, which comes amid broader scrutiny of U.S. military operations in the region. The two students who died in the mass shooting at Brown University have been identified as 18 year old Muhammad Aziz Umerzukov, a freshman, and 19 year old Ella Cook, a sophomore. The AP reports that Umerzhikov planned to study medicine after suffering a neurological condition himself that required surgery. His sister told the AP her brother had so many hardships in his life and after getting into Brown, he worked hard to follow through on his promise to become a neurosurgeon. Cook, meanwhile, was vice president of Brown's College Republicans and was described as a bright light by her church pastor in Mountain Brook, Alabama, where she was from. Her fellow College Republicans said that she was bold, brave and had a kind heart. They said they were devastated by her passing. Meanwhile, authorities are still looking for a suspect in the shooting and have offered a $50,000 reward. And finally, in Sydney, as mourners gathered to pay tribute to the victims at Sunday's Hanukkah Festival shooting, one man who is being credited with saving lives insisted that he is not a hero. The publication the Australian reports on Ahmed Al Ahmed. He's the man seen on video appearing to disarm one of the shooters from behind. A man who was his immigration lawyer and visited him in the hospital said that Ahmed had no regrets and that he would do it all again if he a GoFundMe page set up for him has reportedly raised over a million dollars as he receives treatment in the hospital. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening to the News app right now, we have a narrated article coming up next. Superbugs are getting better and better at evading antibiotics. The San Francisco Chronicle reports on why old antibiotics are losing their effectiveness and how new ones aren't being discovered fast enough. If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News plus Narrated to find that story and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.