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Duarte Geraldino, Narrating: Good morning! It's Thursday, March 17th. I'm Duarte Geraldino.
Shumita Basu, Narrating: And I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news, and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
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Duarte Geraldino: Fighting rages in Ukraine. There are new reports of local forces making gains against Russian troops. Back in Russia, President Vladimir Putin threatened dissenters. Analysts found his words striking, even chilling. He said he would cleanse his country of what he calls "scum and traitors."
Basu: This comes as President Biden is intensifying criticism of the regime.
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President Joe Biden: Putin is inflicting appalling, appalling devastation and horror on Ukraine. Bombing apartment buildings, maternity wards, hospitals.
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And he did something rare for an American president. He called Putin a "war criminal."
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President Joe Biden: These are atrocities. They're an outrage to the world, and the world is united in our support for Ukraine and our determination to make Putin pay a very heavy price.
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Moscow calls Biden's war crime accusations "unacceptable and unforgivable."
Duarte Geraldino: Yesterday, Ukraine's government said a powerful Russian bomb hit a large theater in Mariupol. That's where hundreds of civilians were sheltering. Satellite imagery shows the word "children" painted on the ground outside, in giant Russian letters. A city official now tells "Reuters" that the theater's bomb shelter held up. Rescuers are looking for survivors. The Kremlin denies intentionally targeting civilians.
Basu: While saving human lives is the top priority, the bombing of this theater highlights another crisis as cities throughout Ukraine are under siege: how the country protects its cultural institutions, its art, its history, its artifacts. Deliberately targeting a country's heritage is also considered a war crime.
Duarte Geraldino: "The Washington Post" talked to some of the people who are rushing to protect Ukrainian history and culture. The National Museum in Lviv stripped its walls bare, and the director is refusing to say where staffers have taken the artworks. The secrecy is because Ukraine's art has been targeted before. When Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014, dozens of works there were taken away to Russian museums. Nazi soldiers also looted Ukrainian art during World War II.
Basu: And so much has already been lost. The windows at Kharkiv's main art museum were blown out, leaving paintings exposed to snow and cold for weeks. The opera and ballet theaters have been repeatedly shelled. A museum outside Kyiv was hit. Dozens of paintings there from one of Ukraine's greatest painters, Maria Prymachenko, were burned. Her work is celebrated for depicting Ukrainian folklore and rural life.
Duarte Geraldino: A top U.N. official focused on preservation worries about centuries of culture being destroyed. As one Ukrainian museum director put it, "If our history and heritage are to survive, all art must go underground."
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Basu: We are starting to get a fuller picture of how Republican-led efforts to pass restrictive voting laws affected the most recent election in Texas. It held the nation's first primary earlier this month, so it could be a sign of what's to come in the rest of the country.
Duarte Geraldino: An "AP" analysis covering most Texas counties found 13% of absentee ballots were discarded or uncounted. For perspective, that represents nearly 23,000 votes, way above past levels. "Vox" spoke to a staff attorney at the Texas Civil Rights Project who's calling this situation "catastrophic."
Basu: This all comes after a Texas law created new voter ID rules for absentee ballots. It requires that voters use either their driver's license or the last digits of their Social Security number to request a mail-in ballot, and that form of ID must match what's in their registered voter file.
Duarte Geraldino: The "AP's" analysis showed Democratic counties had higher rates of rejection than Republican ones. But some counties weren't in the data yet, including smaller counties that lean red. Texas mainly allows mail-in voting for people over 65, those with disabilities and college students. People who vote this way in Texas have historically skewed older and more conservative, and that means some Republican votes could also be tossed out because of this law.
Basu: In spite of that, "Vox" reports key Republicans who have pushed for the bill have continued to defend it. Florida and Georgia have enacted similar bills, and at least five other states are considering new voter ID measures.
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Duarte Geraldino: There's this tiny Tennessee town at the center of a massive controversy. Billions of dollars are at stake. There are accusations of mismanagement, hostile takeovers and racism. This week, the state's comptroller said he's taking over the town's finances because they're in such bad shape. Anita Wadhwani is covering this for the "Tennessee Lookout," and she explains just how much a state takeover would change the town of Mason.
Anita Wadhwani: That essentially would control most of the things that the elected leaders do. They pay salaries of the police officers and the firefighters, the utility workers. They would have to run every single expense by him.
Basu: The town's leaders say something else is going on, and this is where race enters the story. The town is majority Black. It was led by white officials for more than a century. In 2015, fraud and mismanagement allegations led to the resignation of nearly all the City Hall officials. Residents have elected mostly Black officials ever since. The fairly new government acknowledges that there are still financial problems, but they say they've actually turned the town around in recent years. And they question why the state didn't threaten a takeover before.
Wadhwani: If you talk to the leaders of Mason, from their perspective, this is almost all about race. And they will tell you directly, "If we were white, if the leadership was white, this would not be happening."
Duarte Geraldino: The town's leaders also say the state is stepping in now because of a big business development. Here's where the billions of dollars come in. Ford plans to build a giant plant nearby. It's expected to create tens of thousands of jobs. Mason stands to benefit. And if you ask some local politicians, they'll say the state is trying to take what belongs to this tiny town.
Wadhwani: And I think they're really angry. They feel like this town has been ignored by state leaders until the Ford Motor Company decided their $6 billion new truck and battery electric vehicle plant would be located just five miles from Mason.
Basu: The state comptroller has denied that race is a factor. Mason's leaders say they will fight to keep control over their town.
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Duarte Geraldino: You've probably heard the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates for the first time in three years. The central bank also said it's planning to hike rates several more times this year.
Basu: Even if you're not a trader or a big investor, the Fed's moves here will definitely affect your wallet. "CNBC" lays out some of the big changes that are coming.
Duarte Geraldino: If you own a home, or want to someday, you're probably doing that through a mortgage, and it's gonna cost more, in part because of what the Fed is doing. It's also important to note, mortgage rates have been going up for a while for other reasons too. But if the Fed sticks with its plan to steadily raise interest rates, mortgage rates will likely follow.
Basu: That means it'll be more expensive to buy a home. And it'll be harder to find a sweet deal on refinancing an existing mortgage. If you're on an adjustable-rate mortgage, you'll feel the impact. Other kinds of borrowing costs will be affected too, like future car loans and some private student debt.
Durate Geraldino, Narrating: Credit card interest rates, they are especially affected by Fed rate hikes. So if you're holding balances on your plastic, prepare to pay a bit more. Financial advisors always stress the importance of paying down credit card debt when you can, and this is even more important when the Fed is raising rates.
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Basu: There is one possible bright spot for savers. Typically, as the Fed raises rates, savings accounts pay more interest on your deposits. One expert tells "CNBC," banks may be slower to pass along the benefits of higher rates to savers. So his advice is, shop around. On average, online banks pay more than traditional brick-and-mortar ones.
Duarte Geraldino: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
Basu: And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners
Duarte Geraldino: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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