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Mark Garrison, Narrating: Good morning! It's Tuesday, August 23rd. I'm Mark Garrison in for 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.
Voters in New York, Oklahoma, and Florida head to the polls today. In the run-up to his state's contest, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has been busy on the campaign trail.
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Ron DeSantis: We must fight the woke in our schools, we must fight the woke in our businesses, we must fight the woke in government agencies. We can never, ever surrender to woke ideology.
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But that speech was in Pittsburgh, not Pensacola. DeSantis is running unopposed in Florida and he's been spending a lot of time campaigning for Republican candidates in other key states. NBC News looks at how this could potentially lay the groundwork for a DeSantis presidential run in 2024. Officially, this is just DeSantis being a good Republican, helping his party's candidates, but this kind of activity can be typical of politicians ahead of a presidential run.
"The New Yorker's" Dexter Filkins recently profiled DeSantis. Many people think he could win over Trump voters nationally if the former president decides not to run. As the piece puts it, DeSantis "channels the same rage as Trump, but with greater discipline."
DeSantis has fought mask mandates and COVID lockdowns, he signed the controversial bill banning K-through-3 teachers from talking about sexual orientation and gender identity. That's the one critics call "don't say gay."
And he seems to be gaining supporters. In 2021, the number of registered Republican voters passed the number of Democrats for the first time. The Democratic Party in the state has gotten weaker. In 2020, it applied for a loan designed for struggling small businesses during the pandemic.
DeSantis has been seen as a strong Trump ally, but he could be a rival in 2024. The former president seems to be taking notice of the governor's growing profile. NBC points out, in the middle of that speech DeSantis gave in Pittsburgh, Trump said he was planning to campaign in Pennsylvania too.
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Three Arkansas officers are under federal and state investigation after a video of them beating a man during an arrest went viral Sunday. The video from a bystander shows two of the officers punching the man in the head and kneeing him several times. A third officer is holding the suspect down. All three have been suspended.
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Yesterday, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson called the officers' actions "reprehensible." All of them have been in law enforcement for a long time.
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Asa Hutchinson: That response was not consistent with the training that they receive as certified officers with the Arkansas law enforcement training academy. That will be investigated by the state police.
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Randal Worcester is the man in the video. Police say he threatened a gas station clerk. After the arrest, he was hospitalized and treated. He was later jailed on complaints including burglary, resisting arrest, and assault. He was released on $15,000 bond. The sheriff was asked about the importance of the arrest being caught on tape.
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Unidentified Speaker: Without this person posting this video on social media, would you have known about this incident?
Sheriff: Probably not. Probably not.
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The attorney representing two of the deputies defended their actions and said they used methods they were taught in training. He says another dash cam video will show a fuller story.
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After the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade, Google searches for Plan B and contraception went up. So did the number of people seeking out vasectomies. And there's also been more interest in another form of birth control…
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Meena Venkataramanan: There has been an increase in tubal sterilization requests from patients who are confident that they don't wanna get pregnant in the future. And a lot of this has to do with concerns around abortion access in the future.
That's Meena Venkataramanan. She reports in "The Washington Post" on how OB/GYNs across the country say they're seeing a spike in requests for tubal ligations, also known as tube-tying. Some of them are coming from younger people, which is notable because it's a permanent form of birth control. Many patients in their twenties say they've had a hard time getting doctors to do the procedure.
Twenty-four-year-old Frances Vermillion is one of them. Vermillion spent about five years considering and researching the procedure. The Supreme Court ruling sealed the deal, and they scheduled the appointment. But according to Vermillion, the doctor pushed back pretty hard. Venkataramanan says that kinda thing happens a lot.
Venkataramanan: If a young patient who doesn't already have children comes to an OB/GYN, the OB/GYN might say "Are you sure that you wanna do this?" or "You might experience regret after you do this," and discourage them from getting the procedure done.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says doctors should be very clear that tubal ligations are permanent. But if patients are willing, it says it is ethical to do the procedure on young people who haven't had kids.
Some OB/GYNs are using social media to help patients find doctors who are willing to do tubal ligations without judgment. One has gotten nearly five million views. As for Frances Vermillion, there eventually was a doctor willing to move forward. They're doing the procedure in November.
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"Do you wanna grab drinks after work?" That was a pretty uncontroversial question before the pandemic. It just wasn't that hard to find a few coworkers who were up for throwing down the company card and chatting over some beer and wine.
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But COVID has changed that. "The Wall Street Journal" looks at how more and more Americans are taking a pass on having work friends.
One person puts it to the "Journal" this way: after working eight to ten hours a day, do you really want to go out and spend several more hours talking about work? His answer was no. In his new job, he says he's got no interest in making work friends.
And data shows that he's not alone. A recent survey shows employees say relationships with co-workers are the least important part of their job satisfaction. But fraying work friendships may be an issue for managers. Gallup data shows people who have a best friend at work are less likely to want to leave the company.
Places like KPMG and Salesforce are hoping fancy campuses and wellness retreats will encourage bonding, but they'll have to get employees on board. Many of the youngest people in the workforce, especially those who joined remotely during the pandemic, they say making friends at work just isn't a priority.
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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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