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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Thursday, May 19th. 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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The U.S. military is now involved with the shortage of baby formula in America. President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to help manufacturers get the ingredients to make more formula. And he's telling the Pentagon to take to the sky.
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President Joe Biden: I'm also announcing Operation Fly Formula. I've directed the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services to send aircraft planes overseas to pick up infant formula that meets U.S. health and safety standards, so we can get it on the store shelves faster.
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Also, the House has passed a $28 million emergency funding bill, though its fate in the Senate is uncertain. The action in Washington is a sign of how big a deal the shortage is for American families.
Maybe by now, you've heard some people, many of them men, say, "The formula shortage doesn't have to be a big deal. Just breastfeed, it's free."
"Vox" takes that argument apart in an unusual way. This article is in graphic novel format. And it literally illustrates the facts around the cost of breastfeeding, both financially and emotionally.
For one, we should say, there are many situations where breastfeeding is not possible, including medical needs and allergies. In terms of the financial cost, breastfeeding can require bottles, pumps, milk storage. Not to mention, a nursing parent has to eat a lot more per day and might need to keep taking certain vitamins. "Vox" cites research that says breastfeeding costs about $950 a year. That's not that much less than infant formula.
If you feel like some of the commentary around these stories pits those who breastfeed and those who formula feed against each other, you might appreciate this "Vox" piece. It sticks to facts and doesn't judge parents for making either choice. You can see it on the Apple News app.
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Anti-abortion campaigners often point to adoption as an alternative to ending a pregnancy. Which is why right now, an extensive new investigation from "USA TODAY" about the American adoption system feels more urgent than ever. Their reporters pulled together data from every state and interviewed more than 100 people, painting the picture of an adoption system that's in more trouble than you might have realized.
Marisa Kwiatkowski: Our investigation found that while a majority of adoptions in the U.S. remain intact, tens of thousands of children suffer the collapse of not one, but two families: their birth family and their adoptive family.
That's Marisa Kwiatkowski. She's an investigative reporter with "USA TODAY."
Kwiatkowski: And we found that those failures occur across the spectrum of adoption affecting children adopted internationally, from foster care, through private agencies, and even by relatives.
According to this reporting, conservatively, 12 adoptions fail every day. Kids end up back in foster care, sometimes homeless and hungry. Kwiatkowski told us about one adoptee, Demetrius Napolitano. He was removed from his adoptive home, where he says he was physically and emotionally abused. His adoptive mother denies the allegations.
Kwiatkowski: But after the adoption failed, he reentered the foster care system and cycled through 25 foster placements and five high schools before ultimately aging out of the system.
For families and adopted kids who are struggling, resources can be hard to come by. Billions of taxpayer dollars are allocated every year for adoption assistance programs, but "USA TODAY" found the federal government doesn't do much to track the outcome of adoptions or understand why they fail. A federal official told "USA TODAY" that adoption is "largely a state issue." And this story finds issues at the state level as well.
Kwiatkowski: We found breakdowns at every point in the adoption process. In some cases, we found that there were faulty home studies. In others, we found that parents were struggling to access appropriate mental health services. We also found that in some cases, parents felt like they were pressured into moving forward with an adoption, even though they were hesitant to do so.
Kwiatkowski says yes, there are lots of good, capable parents out there who want to offer kids a loving home. And there's lots of adoptions go well. But for many kids and families, that's just not the reality.
Kwiatkowski: We interviewed families who loved the children that they adopted and wanted to do what was best for them. And they were frustrated by their efforts to seek appropriate mental health services or supports in order to keep the adoption intact. Where they didn't want the adoption to fail. They wanted it to be that forever family concept, and they just needed a little bit of help.
You can learn more about this reporting in "USA TODAY's 5 Things" podcast, available on the Apple Podcasts app.
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When you're scrolling through the headlines today, you're gonna come across a word that you don't see very often: monkeypox. Now, if you read the wrong story, you might get a little freaked out. The pictures of the symptoms are kind of alarming. But if you read the right story, like one we like from "NPR," you'll probably feel okay, and you might even learn something.
We like what "NPR" did because it's not alarmist. It sticks to the facts. And one key fact is the so-called monkeypox outbreak that we're seeing right now is very small, literally dozens of cases in Europe. There's one known case in America. It causes fever and aches and blisters. It's in the news because even though it's a tiny outbreak, and we can't emphasize that enough, there is something unusual. It may be spreading through sexual contact.
Now, that's unusual because the typical way humans get monkeypox is from rodent bites. And please don't blame monkeys. It doesn't come from them. It's only called monkeypox because the first documented case of the illness hit a colony of monkeys. Scientists are working to understand what's going on now and keep it contained. There is a monkeypox vaccine if needed. If you want to know more, check out "NPR's" story on the Apple News app.
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Today marks the beginning of the PGA Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And this year, the defending champ is missing.
Mark Schlabach: Phil Mickelson is one of the most famous players in golf history. Along with Tiger Woods, probably the most popular player of his generation.
That's Mark Schlabach, senior writer for ESPN. You see, Mickelson is skipping this year's event after controversial comments he made in support of LIV Golf. That's a rival golf tour funded by Saudi Arabia. It was offering golfers some of the biggest prize money in history.
Schlabach: Probably the most alarming thing was that he said they… even though they had killed a "Washington Post" reporter and U.S. resident, Jamal Khashoggi, and had a horrible human record on human rights, and he knew that they executed people in Saudi Arabia for being gay, that he was still using the opportunity to play golf for the Saudi Arabians as a once in a lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA tour operates.
Mickelson was seen as greedy, trying to use a corrupt regime for leverage, or both. The backlash was swift. Sponsors dropped him. Other golfers were critical. He stepped out of the public eye and off the golf course. He was absent at the Masters and now he's missing this major tournament. On the eve of the PGA Tour, Tiger Woods spoke publicly about his frustration with Mickelson and the rift he's causing.
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Tiger Woods: I have not reached out to him. I have not spoken to him. A lot of it has not to do with, I think, personal issues. It was our viewpoints of how the tour should be run and could be run, and what players are playing for and how we're playing for it. I have a completely different stance on that.
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Ultimately, the uproar caused by Mickelson is the latest example of something we've recently talked about on this show: sportswashing. In this case, by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Schlabach: It's really an attempt by the monarchy there to improve their tarnished reputation through hosting these sporting events and purchasing professional teams to really just take the focus and the world's attention off of some of the alleged human rights violations and atrocities in that country. And, you know, by saying, "Look, all these famous, rich athletes are coming here to play sports, so it can't be that bad."
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You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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