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- [00:01]
A
Hey there, it's Shemitha. I've got a quick request for you. If Apple News Today is an essential part of your morning routine, follow the show in Apple Podcasts. And if you have another 30 seconds, leave us a rating and a review too. It helps other people find our show and it helps us know what you like about it. Thanks. Good morning. It's Wednesday, October 8th. I'm Shamit Sebastu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, the Supreme Court weighs a ban on so called conversion therapy, an important FDA approval that went under the radar, and the man who went hiking and missed his Nobel Prize call. But first, the government shutdown is beginning to take its toll on the nation's airports. Right now, air traffic controllers are deemed essential so they have to keep showing up for work. But there are still problems emerg emerging.
- [01:05]
B
All 11,000 of them are still working without pay in the government shutdown and some are now calling out sick during a time when they're not getting paid.
- [01:17]
A
That's Pete Montine, a CNN correspondent covering aviation and transportation. He reported with his colleagues that on Monday night, 12 FAA facilities across the country had staffing shortages. At Burbank Airport in California, the control tower was entirely shut down for a brief period of time, which meant that it function like a small airport typically does without control towers. That led to delays.
- [01:42]
B
It sort of switches over from kind of like a stoplight or maybe a crossing guard to a four way stop and so pilots sort of have to self announce on a common radio frequency. Some call it like sort of like a chat line and sort of see and avoid one another.
- [01:56]
A
Last night, the FAA reported staffing related delays in Boston, Houston, Chicago and Las Vegas, among others. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that the number of air traffic controllers calling out sick has increased in the days since the shutdown started. And a union representing the workers has said that they have encouraged staff to keep working. But even a small absence in an already strained system can lead to challenges. During the last major shutdown, there was a marginal increase in sick leave at two highly trafficked facilities in Virginia and Florida.
- [02:32]
B
Frankly, pretty small numbers caused the FAA to implement flight delays, some of the biggest pieces of airspace in the country. And it wasn't really all that long after that, lawmakers struck a deal and ended the shutdown.
- [02:45]
A
President Trump signed a temporary funding measure in January of 2019 that brought the longest shutdown in U.S. history to an end. Montine told us there doesn't appear to be a collective effort to call out sick in some kind of protest right now and that difficult individual decisions get made during shutdown.
- [03:04]
B
In some cases, they're living paycheck to paycheck. And so when you think about not getting paid, their thoughts sort of deviate to, well, how am I going to put food on the table? And I even talked to a controller during the last shutdown that was starting to drive for Uber because they needed to just make ends meet.
- [03:27]
A
He said that the last scheduled paycheck going out to controllers, a partial one, would be issued on October 14, separately from controllers. Yesterday, multiple outlets reported that the Trump administration is considering not issuing back pay to some furloughed workers, arguing that further congressional action would be needed. That's in spite of a 2019 law intended to make sure federal employees get back pay after a shutdown, a law that was signed by Trump in his first term. Now to the Supreme Court Court, which yesterday heard a challenge to Colorado's ban on what's known as conversion therapy. Colorado's law prohibits licensed physicians and mental health care providers from, attempting to, quote, change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity. More than 20 states have initiated bans like this, including some conservative states like Utah. The methods of so called conversion therapy can vary widely, though it tends to be conducted by faith groups. For some people it can involve faith healing and spiritual rituals, while many others have reported receiving physically abusive treatment like shock therapy. Research as far back as the 1970s has concluded it is ineffective and can be psychologically damaging. And the American Psychological association supports a ban. The case here is being brought by Colorado based Christian therapist Kaylee Chiles, who says the ban on conversion therapy violates her free speech. Her lawyers argue that Colorado's law prevents her from providing talk therapy to her clients who want guidance informed by Christianity. Here she is talking to cbs.
- [05:12]
C
The care that is at stake in this lawsuit is that we are allowed to speak freely and that we are allowed to by the product of that sort through feelings, sensations, thoughts, beliefs. It's truly that we can have a conversation without the government peering into our private counseling conversation and dictating what we can and cannot talk about.
- [05:36]
A
And one Colorado campaign group set up by parents is backing Chiles because they believe the ban prevents alternatives to gender affirming guidance for kids struggling with their identity. Simon Kent Fung, who went through years of conversion therapy himself, told PBS about how it can affect people who go through it.
- [05:55]
D
That ends up stacking on levels of shame that a lot of people never recover from. First, there's the shame that you feel for just being different, right? Then there's the shame that comes from being told that something horrible happened to you that made you this way. And then thirdly, there's the shame that happens when you can't actually change.
- [06:15]
A
Colorado says this is not a free speech issue. It's about getting people appropriate professional health care. Yesterday, the Supreme Court appeared to take a skeptical view of that argument. Here's Justice Samuel Alito One viewpoint is.
- [06:30]
E
The viewpoint that a minor should be able to obtain talk therapy to overcome same sex attraction if that's what he or he or she wants. And the other is the viewpoint that the minor should not be able to obtain talk therapy to overcome same sex attraction even if that is what he or she wants. Looks like blatant viewpoint discrimination.
- [06:50]
A
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, however, said there was a long tradition of regulating medical treatments and questioned how that impeded free speech rights. Now, if the Supreme Court does back Chiles, it will have wider ramifications for the dozens of states with similar laws, and that worries many people in the LGBTQ community, especially those who have been left traumatized. Kate Saussen, a Reporter for the 19th who covers LGBTQ rights issues, told us that advocates were concerned about the general direction this could be heading.
- [07:23]
F
We've seen rulings against LGBTQ rights, so I think that there is some pessimism from LGBTQ rights advocates about this. If they throw out one in the form of Colorado, it spells doom and gloom for the other 23. And really the state of the nation changes in terms of conversion therapy and LGBTQ rights. So this case is blockbuster.
- [07:48]
A
A ruling is expected by the summer. Let's turn now to a reproductive healthcare story that's going a little under the radar. Last week, the FDA quietly approved a generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone without a public announcement. But anti abortion activists and some Republican politicians noticed and found themselves questioning the Trump administration's commitment to limiting limiting abortion access. The pill was approved 25 years ago and has been prescribed in increasing numbers since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. It's repeatedly been deemed safe and effective by FDA scientists. In 2021, the FDA under President Biden allowed for online prescribing and ordering of the drug. In recent years, it's become the next frontier for anti abortion advocates who want to further regulate it or curtail its use. As Natalie Allison, a White House reporter with the Washington Post, told us, this.
- [08:53]
G
Is a huge disappointment to anti abortion activists who were expecting the Trump administration not only to not approve any new versions of mifepristone, but to potentially even add more regulations to how the drug is distributed already.
- [09:08]
A
Alison explained that the timing of this announcement was unusual, too.
- [09:13]
G
Just a couple weeks beforehand, the Department of Health and Human Services and FDA Commissioner Martin McCary essentially confirmed that they would be investigating the safety, as they described it, of the abortion pill.
- [09:27]
A
A White House spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment about Trump's specific position on the pill, but an HHS spokesperson said in a statement that by law the FDA has to approve applications like this for generic drugs if they match the brand name drugs. Still, Republicans like Missouri Senator Josh Hawley spoke out about the move.
- [09:48]
G
He immediately went on X and said he had lost confidence in the leadership at fda. We saw something similar from former Vice President Mike Pence, who said that the president needed to not only fire Secretary Kennedy, but he also needed to get involved in withdrawing this approval.
- [10:06]
A
Allison said that the pushback from activists is part of a delicate balance the administration has attempted to strike on the issue of abortion.
- [10:15]
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Trump, he'll gladly take the mantle of a pro life president, as he would call it, but he has been careful to not go as far as the anti abortion activists would like him to. And he has said that he has no interest in removing access to the abortion pill.
- [10:29]
A
Restrictions on the medication are not supported by most major medical societies, including the American Medical Association. Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following. Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a contentious hearing on Tuesday. She spent a good part of it refusing to answer questions from Senate Democrats over numerous issues, including the Epstein files, a now closed investigation into an alleged bribe taken by border czar Tom Homan, and the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. And she attacked Democrats often with personal criticisms. Here she is in an exchange with California Democrat Adam Schiff. When will it be that the members of this committee, on a bipartisan basis, demand answers to those questions and refuse to accept?
- [11:26]
F
Clearly you're a failed lawyer.
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Someone can and cannot accept personal slander as an answer to those questions.
- [11:35]
C
Personal slander.
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Would you apologize to Donald Trump for slandering him?
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C
Personal slander.
- [11:43]
A
Denmark has become the latest country to announce a plan to ban social media for kids under 15. Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen opened its Parliament by saying, quote, we have unleashed a monster and hoping to bring in the restrictions as early as next year. The Guardian reports that Denmark is following in the footsteps of Australia, which is introducing a ban for under 16s, and Norway, where the Prime Minister said he would enforce an age limit of 15. And finally, the Nobel Prizes are rolling out all this week. And while the award can be a life changing moment for recipients, when and how they find out can vary wildly. That was the case for Fred Ramsdale, an American immunologist who shared this year's prize in medicine. Ramsdell was on a hiking trip with his wife, way off the grid in the Rocky Mountains when the award was announced. So for 12 hours he had no idea he had won. He finally got the news when they reached an area with cell service and his wife told him excitedly she had hundreds of text messages saying he had won the most prestigious prize in science. 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, we've got a narrated article coming up next. Town and country magazine has the story of Princess Mako, the Japanese royal who left the imperial family in extreme exchange for a life of anonymity in New York City and the carefully orchestrated way she and her husband avoid the spotlight. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News plus narrated to find that story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.