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Gideon Resnick, Narrating: Good morning! It's Wednesday, October 19th. I'm Gideon Resnick 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.
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Two big storylines involving inflation are in the news this morning, with major impacts for your wallet and maybe politics too. One is about energy prices, which we'll get to in a minute. First though, let's talk about taxes. The IRS is making a big move in response to rising prices.
"Barron's" has the key numbers. Starting with the 2023 tax year, tax brackets will be adjusted up to account for inflation. That'll shave a bit off of tax bills. Also, the IRS is boosting the standard deduction. For a married couple filing jointly, it's going up nearly $2,000, which means a little extra money that they won't owe taxes on.
Now to energy, where today President Biden is set to announce the release of another 15 million barrels of fuel from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It is a move to try to ease gas prices, coming just weeks before the midterm elections. Polls have consistently shown voters are worried about the cost of living. And prices at the pump are among the most tangible symbols of inflation since people drive by gas stations and see it daily.
Biden and Democrats have tried to blame rising prices on Russia's war in Ukraine, oil-rich nations, and energy companies. Republicans, meanwhile, have tried to make high inflation a focus of the campaign, blaming Democrats for the high cost of gas and other basic needs. And control of Congress just might turn on which party's argument voters believe the most.
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Let's stick with politics and zoom in on one place that has Democrats concerned: the Oregon governor's race. It has gotten surprisingly tight, which is why you saw Biden go there personally to campaign. It wasn't really supposed to go this way. It is a state that is reliably blue. There have been some close races, but Oregon voters haven't elected a Republican governor since 1982. This year, polls are showing a tight one.
<v One big reason the race appears close this year? There are three candidates in the running. All are former state legislators. There's Betsy Johnson, who used to be a Democrat but is running as an independent now. She could take away just enough votes to be a threat to the Democrat in the race>Tina Kotek. And that could clear a path for the Republican, Christine Drazan, to win.
Another reason the race is close is voter dissatisfaction with the current Democratic governor, Kate Brown, who is not running. She has some of the lowest approval ratings for any governor in the nation.
Big money is also making for a tight race. Oregon's richest resident, the billionaire co-founder of Nike, Phil Knight, contributed almost $4 million to Johnson, before switching recently and giving $1 million to Drazan. He told "The New York Times" last week that he would do whatever he could to keep Kotek out of office.
And this especially tight race is why President Biden recently paid a visit to the state to stump for Tina Kotek.
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President Joe Biden: What a governor does matters. It matters. It matters, it matters, it matters.
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Polling shows that Oregon voters are worried about homelessness and crime. And abortion looks to be a key issue as well. The state has become a haven for people traveling for the procedure. The Republican nominee Christine Drazan has said that she would veto legislation providing public funding for those traveling to the state for abortions. Tonight, the three candidates are set to debate.
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We want to go abroad now to spotlight coverage of a major natural disaster that is ongoing. More than 600 people are dead in Nigeria, in the worst flooding there in a decade. The country says that more than 2 million people are affected, with homes destroyed and families displaced.
We spoke to "CNN's" Nimi Princewill, who's been reporting from Nigeria.
Nimi Princewill: The devastation is just alarming. You know, even though flooding has been an annual disaster in Nigeria, what the country is grappling with right now, you know, can be said to be unprecedented.
Heavier rain made this year's flooding more extreme than usual. The U.N. says climate change played a role in making the flooding worse.
Princewill says it's been difficult to reach people in the hardest-hit communities. Many of the roads are completely cut off. He says most states simply were not prepared.
Princewill: In many states, displaced persons are mostly on their own, while some are relocated to dry lands where they have relatives. You know, it just so sad what's going on right now.
Princewill says officials are worried the worst still lies ahead. More flooding is expected in the coming weeks.
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When you look at pictures after a big hurricane, like Ian in Florida, have you ever
noticed that palm trees always seem to stick around and wondered, "How?"
This question has been bugging "NPR" reporter John Burnett for years. He's covered 20 hurricanes for "NPR" going back to the '80s. And he recently went looking for someone who could explain why palm trees are so resilient.
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Karen Maxwell: This is our royal palm, and if you would come up to this, you'd think you're knocking on a column of solid cement.
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That's Karen Maxwell, a horticulturist in Fort Myers, who spoke to "NPR."
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Karen Maxwell: What makes these trees outstanding in a hurricane is this tree is solid, and that's why I want you to feel how hard it is. This tree can bend almost 40 to 50 degrees and not break because it has no branches, it is not rigid.
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The no branches part is key. So palm trees are monocots. That means they're a bit closer to grasses than broadleaf trees. They don't have rings in their trunks. Instead, the inside is kind of like a bunch of tightly-packed straws. That's one reason they're able to bend so much without snapping.
As Maxwell put it, millennia of natural selection have given these trees all the tools they need to survive powerful hurricanes.
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You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app now, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next. It's about a trash-talking Florida entrepreneur aiming to compete with major players in the energy-drink business, like Red Bull and Monster. But "Bloomberg" reports his caffeinated venture could be headed for a crash.
So sit back, enjoy listening to that, and Shumita will be back here with the news tomorrow.
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