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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Tuesday, June 21st. 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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Access to abortion is on the ballot in midterm elections this year. Not directly, but through a publicly-elected role that many voters don't think much about.
Megan Messerly: State Supreme Court races are going to be vital this year.
We spoke to "POLITICO" health care reporter Megan Messerly about why these races for state Supreme Court justices are so important right now. If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe as expected, that'll throw critical abortion questions over to state judges.
Messerly: State Supreme courts are going to be, you know, increasingly asked in the coming months and years to determine whether or not their state constitution does or does not protect the right to abortion.
That's why groups on all sides of this issue are putting more money and staff into state Supreme Court elections. We may see a historic level of campaign spending in this area.
Messerly: Court observers expect that the record could be broken this cycle, as we see an increased amount of interest in these state Supreme Court elections.
Candidates are not supposed to talk about how they would rule on future cases. Messerly says, listen for carefully-coded language on the campaign trail.
Messerly: Someone who is a Republican might signal to voters that they're, you know, a proven conservative, or use the word "conservative" on their yard signs. Someone who's a Democrat might sort of stress fairness and equality and justice, and using some of these buzzwords to kinda give voters a sense of where they stand.
Historically, many voters don't even bother to vote on the Supreme Court races at the bottom of the ballot. Skipping them this year could mean losing a say on the future of abortion law in America.
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Detailed reporting on the deadly shooting at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, is raising new questions about the police response to the shooter. Authorities have been heavily criticized for not going into the classroom to confront him sooner.
"The Texas Tribune" is out with an exhaustive look at available evidence: surveillance and body camera footage, transcripts of radio and phone communication and statements from law enforcement. It's a detailed article that needs to be read in full. But overall, it demonstrates that there were officers on the scene very early on, with the staffing, firepower and equipment to get into the classroom and confront the gunman. As one former police chief and active-shooting expert put it, quote, "They had the tools, but it takes someone in charge, in front, making and executing decisions, and that simply did not happen." In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Texas Department of Public Safety director Steve McCraw was critical that law enforcement didn't get into the classroom sooner.
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Steve McCraw: It was the wrong decision, period. There was no excuse for that.
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McCraw testifies before the Texas Senate today. The Uvalde schools' police chief has said that locked doors held the effort back. But the latest information and some law enforcement officials now cast doubt on that. "The Tribune" found that officers had a heavy-duty firefighter's tool that's used to break into locked doors. They also had access to ballistic shields not long after the gunman got into the classroom. Federal, state and local investigators are all looking into why it took 77 minutes to end the mass shooting. 19 children and two teachers were killed in that time, leaving the community to wonder whether a faster response could've saved some of those lives.
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<v We've talked a lot on this show about how inflation is up and costs for all kinds of things are rising. Part of the reason is supply chain issues and Russia's war in Ukraine. Those are things that companies can't control. But new "ProPublica" reporting reveals a factor that the shipping industry has a lot of power over>fees imposed by ocean carriers. And it's using its power in a way that could be making things we buy more expensive.
Michael Grabell: The cost to ship a container from Asia to the U.S. has really gone up during the pandemic. Before the pandemic, it was below $2,000. Last year, it went up to $20,000. So, a tenfold increase.
Economics and trade reporter Michael Grabell dug into the secretive world of ocean shipping. It's how Americans get 90% of the stuff that we buy from overseas. And companies that sell us that stuff say that the shipping industry is making money by squeezing them.
Grabell: There are these fees that ocean carriers are tacking on to shipping bills, and those have added up to billions of dollars and have really impacted the price of furniture, coconut water, you know, the whole range.
So, let's say for that coconut water, the ocean carrier is now tacking on higher fees to the shipping bill. The drinks company will probably raise prices to make up for the extra expense. The World Shipping Council tells "ProPublica" that ocean carriers are dealing with historic demand, and it's not fair to say all fees are unreasonable. But multiple companies are complaining.
Grabell: We've seen everyone from toymakers to meatpackers to furniture retailers speaking out and calling this anti-competitive behavior.
Grabell explains there are concerns that Washington regulators don't have the resources to hold these giant shipping companies accountable.
Grabell: The Federal Maritime Commission, which is, you know, this tiny obscure agency with like 128 employees that nobody ever paid attention to, is really going after some of the shipping companies.
Congress recently moved to give the agency more teeth to go after carriers that are imposing unreasonable fees. But it's up against the shipping industry, which is massive. It's having its most profitable period in recent history. And shoppers like us may be paying for it.
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A stingray as heavy as a Harley-Davidson is the new world record holder for the largest freshwater fish ever found. And catching this massive creature may help save unusual giant fish everywhere. "National Geographic" has the story of Zeb Hogan, a fish biologist who has spent decades tracking and protecting these huge animals. Now if his name sounds familiar, it might be that you caught him on his TV show, called "Monster Fish."
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Speaker: There's the tail. There's the tail, everyone, be careful.
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When Hogan's team got the call from a fisherman in Cambodia about a huge stingray, the team rushed in with measuring equipment. It was more than 13 feet long, so they had to line up a couple of scales to get the stingray's weight. And they were shocked at what they saw, 661 pounds.
Many of these giant fish species have been on Earth for millions of years, but they now face extinction because of overfishing, pollution and dwindling food. But this huge stingray, she was in good health. Researchers attached a tracking tag to her tail before letting her go. They'll now be able to see where she swims, where she eats, maybe even where she gives birth. And that data may help shape conservation rules that can protect her and future generations of these enormous fish.
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You can see the stingray for yourself, along with all these stories we mentioned today, in the Apple News app. There's also coverage of the next January 6th congressional hearing, starting at 1: 00 pm Eastern today. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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