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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Friday, December 2nd. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, Biden wants to change the line-up of the 2024 presidential primary system, how scientists in Florida are trying to save coral reefs, and the mythical demon creature said to be haunting the halls of Congress.
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But first, the Supreme Court is stopping Biden's plan to forgive student debt, for now. It's the latest bump in the road to the administration's attempt to fulfill a campaign promise. The high court will hear a challenge to the plan in February. The Biden administration was set to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student debt for more than 40 million low- and middle-income borrowers. It was hoping the court would allow the plan to continue while legal challenges moved forward.
Several Republican-led states challenged the plan saying the Biden administration doesn't have the right to cancel loans. These states argued that the program is fiscally irresponsible, that it'll reduce revenue for state and nonprofit organizations that service federal loans.
The Biden administration's argument involves COVID, which the president talked about back when he announced the program.
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President Joe Biden: And the pandemic only made things worse.
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The administration has long argued that it's following a law that allows debt relief during wars and national emergencies. It says the COVID pandemic qualifies because it's causing financial hardships for people.
Loan payments have been on pause since March of 2020. The Biden administration has repeatedly extended that pause. It did the same thing again last month, saying payments will stay on hold until 60 days after any litigation around the plan is resolved, or the end of August next year.
Elsewhere in Washington, "USA Today" looks at legislation that might help borrowers in a different way: a package of changes to retirement savings. One part is aimed at workers with student loan debt, who often struggle to save for the future. This legislation would allow companies to count loan payments toward 401(k) matching programs. That means the money you put toward loans could be matched by your employer into a 401(k). The bill has bipartisan support from lawmakers who say people shouldn't have to choose between paying off education debt and retirement savings. Congress has until the end of the year to pass it.
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Let's turn from policy to pure politics, where Biden is proposing a major shake-up to the 2024 presidential race. "The Washington Post" reports that he's told party insiders he wants to make South Carolina the first primary state, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada a week later.
It's the latest blow to Iowa and New Hampshire. They held first-in-the-nation contests for a long time. But in recent years, that system has come under fire, for giving so much power in nominating races to these relatively small states that don't have very diverse populations. South Carolina and Nevada both have substantial Black and Latino populations.
"CBS" political reporter Sarah Ewall-Wice recently talked about various factors that the party's been considering.
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Sarah Ewall-Wice: The things they were focused on is diversity in the state, feasibility of even holding the contests, and competitiveness, Democrats want to be having these contests where there's so much focus early on in states that were competitive in the general election.
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Biden referenced the importance of giving a diverse population an early say. He said in a letter to Democratic officials that a nominee won't win the White House without "overwhelming support from voters of color." Biden's proposal would also make the Georgia and Michigan primaries more prominent.
New Hampshire and Iowa officials signaled they're ready to fight to preserve their place in the pecking order. Both states have laws requiring them to hold the first primary and caucus, respectively. Key party members are hashing out the election plan over the next couple days and it seems likely they will back Biden's proposal. It would have to get approval from the full Democratic National Committee in February.
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One of the world's largest barrier reefs is in critical condition. It sits a few hundred miles off the coast of Florida. Development, climate change and human activity caused a huge decrease in coral. 95 percent of these tiny, ancient sea creatures have been lost. But scientists have been working to protect and rebuild the reef before it's too late.
"NPR" visited an Orlando warehouse where people help new coral spawn, and they spoke with Justin Zimmerman who is a supervisor at the Florida Coral Rescue Center.
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Justin Zimmerman: There are 16 300-gallon aquariums. And there's a little bit of noise. That's from the pumps. What you're looking at now, those are actually moon lights. So those are simulating the moon cycle. That's what tells the corals when to spawn.
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Think of this warehouse as a Noah's Ark for corals. Hundreds from 18 different species have been collected. The facility is a place where they can thrive, safe from dangers like warming ocean temperatures.
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Zimmerman: Our staff will come in. They'll watch the corals. We'll turn the flow off so we can see them better. A lot of corals may spawn. Their eggs and sperm are buoyant, so they'll float to the top. We can collect those, let them fertilize, and then we'll settle the baby corals, the larvae, after they develop, on little tiles.
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More baby corals means more genetic diversity, which helps long-term survival chances. And "NPR" says scientists, activists, and government officials are feeling optimistic that they can restore endangered reefs. One group has already transferred more than 200,000 corals from nurseries to established reefs. And the hope is that, if the coral population grows large enough and stays healthy, these small creatures can take over the job from scientists and start rebuilding the reefs on their own.
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Some stories we come across can be summarized in snappy headlines. But every now and then, we get one that needs just two words, in this case: "Demon Cat." The story comes, of all places, from "National Geographic". That's normally where you learn about actual, real things existing in nature. But in this case, "NatGeo" gets into the legend of the "demon cat." It's said to have haunted the U.S. Capitol for more than a century.
"National Geographic" rounds up reported sightings from over the years. Some have said: it can grow to the "size of an elephant before people's eyes." In the 1930s, a Capitol police officer told the "Washington Post" he once pulled out his gun and fired at a giant cat with quote "the generous proportions of Mae West plus the disposition of Bela Lugosi." Again, this was the '30s, and this officer was clearly a film buff.
It's all a bit much, and clearly "Nat Geo" is having fun with this story. But maybe the most chilling, most enduring superstition about the demon cat is that it's considered a sign that some kind of catastrophe is coming. It is said to have appeared before the 1929 stock market crash and JFK's assassination. But "National Geographic" found no recent sightings, so maybe we're okay for now.
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You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And be sure to check out the latest episode of our interview show, "In Conversation." This week, I talk to Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and cancer physician. He's out with a book about the new frontier of cellular therapies, and all the ethical questions they raise.
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Siddhartha Mukherjee: I pin my north star in terms of gene therapies and cell therapies where there's tangible suffering. I think that interventions should be linked with disease, not desire. Now, unfortunately, there's a gray zone between them. And that's where we really run into some concerns and troubles. Where is suffering? Who is suffering? How does one define suffering?
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If you're listening in the News app right now, we've queued up that episode of "In Conversation" to play next. I'll be back with the news on Monday.
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