[MUSIC FADES IN]
Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Thursday, April 27th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, major new developments in the politics around transgender health care, what happens if Hollywood writers go on strike, and it's not just you, why this allergy season is hitting everyone especially hard.
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
But first, let's quickly get up to speed on some big stories in the political and legal world.
House Republicans have passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling and make $4.5 trillion in spending cuts. Democrats say they'll never allow this to become law. And even House Speaker Kevin McCarthy basically says it's more of a negotiating tactic than a viable bill. Senior Congressional Correspondent Garrett Haake covered the action at the Capitol for "NBC."
[START NBC ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Garrett Haake: They won this vote by the narrowest possible margin. One vote goes the other way or one person who voted yes is absent, and this bill does not pass. So they got the vote, they got the win that they needed today and they advance to the next round.
[END NBC ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Haake says the next round is negotiations with President Biden.
[START NBC ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Garrett Haake: There's no room for error here. So if a bill that comes out of that negotiation moves a little to the right, you potentially have moderates fall off. If it moves a little to the left, you have hardliners fall off. Now maybe you could replace them with Democrats, but that's gonna cause a whole other problem.
[END NBC ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Deals to raise the debt ceiling have always gotten done in the past, and that's what Wall Street expects from Washington this time. But the U.S. could default on its debt this summer if there's no agreement.
In other news, writer E. Jean Carroll is expected to continue her testimony today in her civil suit against former President Trump. Yesterday, she testified that Donald Trump raped her in the mid-90s. Trump has denied this over the years. Carroll is suing for battery and defamation.
In another case involving Trump, a federal appeals court is rejecting his attempt to stop former Vice President Mike Pence from testifying before a grand jury. This relates to the criminal investigation into actions by Trump and his allies to reverse the results of the 2020 election.
And finally, a story where law and politics collide. Disney is suing Florida Republican governor Ron DeSantis. This is a fight we've talked about before on the show. The company says moves he made to strip Disney of authority over its theme parks is political retaliation after the company spoke out against a state bill that critics call "Don't Say Gay." DeSantis signed that bill into law, banning discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K through 3. And the state school board recently extended that to all levels of public school. The governor's office says the lawsuit is an attempt by Disney to skirt state law.
[SOLEMN MUSIC]
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
We are watching moves across the country that impact the rights of transgender people. Let's zoom in on just two states at the moment where there's been a lot of action this week.
In Montana, state representative Zooey Zephyr, the first openly trans lawmaker in the House, is banned from the floor for the rest of the legislative session, which ends next week. She'll only be allowed to participate via conference call. The Republicans in the majority banned her as punishment for what they say was a violation of decorum rules. She was speaking out against a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for minors. Zephyr defended her comments. She says denying gender-affirming care would cause real harm.
[START REUTERS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Zooey Zephyr: So when I rose up and said, "There is blood on your hands," I was not being hyperbolic. I was speaking to the real consequences of the votes that we as legislators take in this body.
[END REUTERS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
In Missouri, there is a new twist to a legal battle over transgender health care. A judge is now blocking an emergency order that would've set barriers on access to gender-affirming care for not just minors but adults, too. Now, unlike Montana, this move did not go through the legislature. It was an unusual emergency order from the state's Republican attorney general. Now, it'll be on hold for at least a few days while legal challenges to the order play out.
The American Medical Association says gender-affirming medical care is tested and proven to improve the physical and mental health of transgender people. But if the order by the Missouri A.G. goes into effect, it'll be much harder for them to access. People will have to first document gender dysphoria for three years. They must also go through 15 hours of psychiatric counseling over the course of at least 18 months. People who are already getting gender-affirming care would be able to continue.
Seventeen-year-old Chelsea Freels, who lives in Missouri, says this kind of care helped her heal from depression and thoughts of suicide. She's now fighting to make sure others can still get it. She told "St. Louis Public Radio" what she thinks is behind moves to limit access.
[START ST. LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO ARCHIVAL CLIP]
Chelsea Freels: The goal is to erase trans people and score as much political capital while you can.
[END ST. LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO ARCHIVAL CLIP]
[PLEASANT MUSIC]
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
It's been 15 years since the last major writers strike in Hollywood, and the creative minds behind some of your favorite films and TV shows are preparing to walk out again if a deal with producers isn't reached by May 1st.
You might remember the havoc wreaked on Hollywood by the last Writers Guild of America walkout in 2007. Lots of shows cut their seasons short and left a bunch of loose ends. Remember "Friday Night Lights" season two? But as "Vox" culture reporter Alissa Wilkinson explains, there is much more at stake here than what appears on our screens. For writers, this is about earning a fair and livable wage in exchange for making some of the world's most lucrative entertainment products.
Alissa Wilkinson: So Hollywood's writers are kind of the first block in the wall when it comes to the product that Hollywood puts out, the movies and TV shows and other kind of scripted content that people watch. And that is a product that makes a ton of money for Hollywood studios.
Wilkinson says there's a misconception about writers in Hollywood: people assume most of them make a ton of money. But she explains that many earn middle-class incomes. And they're worried about getting short-changed as the entertainment business transforms.
Wilkinson: So one thing that the WGA has done is looked at the pay that writers are receiving, and they've noticed that the amount of money that people are paid in the streaming era or to work on streaming platforms, which about half of all series writers now do, has shrunk. And it's certainly not kept up with inflation, but it's actually gone down on average.
Also, streaming services tend to put out fewer episodes of a show per season.
Wilkinson: Now, people are working much shorter jobs and thus earning less from them, and then they have to hop from job to job.
And the rise of streaming isn't the only concern writers have. This is another industry where people are worried about artificial intelligence taking jobs. AI doesn't write very good dialogue now, but it might someday. Producers might try to use AI to generate rough scripts that a human writer would polish. They could then argue that writers should be paid less since they would be revising AI scripts, not writing from scratch.
Wilkinson: It's not the one people are talking about quite as much, but the question of whether AI is gonna undercut people's salaries in the future is so much bigger than Hollywood writers. But this is kind of the first major place in which labor has been testing whether AI is going to become a problem for American workers in the future. So seeing what happens here really honestly sets the tone for the future, and that is something that I think everyone ought to be concerned about, not just people who like watching TV.
[LAIDBACK ELECTRONIC MUSIC]
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
This one goes out to everyone who feels like their sinuses are about to explode. Allergies, man! They're hitting us so hard this year. Even people who didn't think they had seasonal allergies. There's been a box of Claritin sitting on my countertop for the past week, and I feel like I've been handing them out like Tic Tacs to friends and family.
Maybe you have heard before that climate change is affecting allergy season. But I appreciated this write-up in "NBC News" that had some details I hadn't heard before. One ear, nose and throat doctor tells "NBC," pollen season is about three weeks longer than it used to be 30 years ago. As our planet gets warmer, the ground thaws earlier in the spring, and that means trees start flowering and producing pollen sooner. But it's not just earlier. Our pollen season is also getting more intense. There's about 20% more pollen in the air compared to a few decades ago. And part of the reason for that is, as we continue to burn fossil fuels for energy, we're putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. More CO2 means plants and trees produce more pollen.
Whether it's your first time with seasonal allergies or you've always had them, "NBC" says it might be good to check in with a doctor. These changes in the allergy season might mean you could benefit from a different medication or a higher dosage. Also, wear a hat outdoors, wash your clothes if you've been out and take a shower immediately after you've spent time outside. Oh, and if you can, plan your outdoor time to line up with the morning. That's when pollen counts tend to be lower.
[MUSIC FADES IN]
You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're listening in the News app right now, don't go anywhere. The NFL draft starts today, and we've got an unusual perspective piece queued up to play for you next from "The Players' Tribune." It's a letter written and read by University of Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson, addressed to NFL general managers. He's a top prospect, and he wants teams to know something about him before they make their picks.
Anthony Richardson: This isn't just about football. It's life-changing. So before everything is locked in, I just wanted to take this last opportunity to tell you a little more about my story. If you're going to make a bet on me, then I want you to know where I come from, and why I play this game.
So sit back, enjoy listening to that and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
[MUSIC FADES OUT]