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Mark Garrison, Narrating: Good morning! It's Monday, August 14th. I'm Mark Garrison in for Shumita Basu. This is “Apple News Today.” On today's show, why the investigations into Hunter Biden are set to continue. Who's really smuggling most of the illegal fentanyl across the U.S. Mexico border, and business strategy based on the croissant theory.
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But first, the latest on the Maui wildfires, where the death toll is close to 100, making it the deadliest American wildfire in more than a century. And that number is expected to rise, with many people still missing, and a lot of burned buildings that search teams haven't checked yet.
Honolulu Civil Beat spoke to survivors, who say aid is running short. Donations of water, clothes, and other supplies have poured in, but it's hard to get them to the people in need. Cars, trucks, and gas stations burned up in the fire. So there's a shortage of vehicles and fuel to move critical goods around. And the fires knocked out power and communications, so it's hard to stay in touch to know where people need help.
Some in Maui say state and federal resources have been too slow to arrive. But community members are stepping up. Hotels that once housed honeymooners and tourists, are opening up to the thousands of locals who lost their homes. Lahaina resident Wela Espiritu spoke to the “Washington Post” about grassroots efforts providing food and medicine.
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Wela Espiritu: We're just trying to do what we can. You know what I mean? This is how strong us people are from Lahaina. That's how we come. We stay together. We can survive together. We cannot wait for government. We cannot wait for county, state, whatever. That's why we're here right now.
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“Hawaii Public Radio” reports on how the recovery will take a long time: months to clean up, and years to rebuild. The major focus for now is the toxic air and immediate dangers. Older buildings may have released lead paint or asbestos when they burned. Tap water isn't safe to drink.
Much of Lahaina is still closed off to residents, while teams work to make the area safer. Early estimates say, rebuilding Maui could cost more than $5.5 billion.
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Now, let's take a quick look at some other stories in the news. Hunter Biden's attorneys now say federal prosecutors backed out of a promised plea deal over misdemeanor tax counts and a gun charge. In a new filing late yesterday, his legal team said prosecutors had agreed to end the investigation. It's the latest twist in a deal that fell apart last month over whether the plea would end the probe. Prosecutors said at the time, they intended to continue looking into Vice President Biden's son.
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And that investigation could go on for some time, now that prosecutor David Weiss has been named special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland. That gives Weiss, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, broader authority to look into Hunter Biden, and it may mean a trial is more likely.
Some Republicans are critical of Weiss, and how he managed the prosecution of Hunter Biden so far. But Former Vice President Mike Pence told "Meet the Press" that having a special counsel is a good addition to the investigations by Congressional Republicans.
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Former Vice President Mike Pence: While I welcome the appointment of a special counsel, which is, of course, appropriate and is a minimum where the attorney general has a potential conflict of interest, I'm also comforted by the fact that Congress is going to continue to do its work. I'm confident that House Republicans are going to continue to bring forward the facts in this case.
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In Atlanta this week, a grand jury will hear from witnesses, in the election interference case against former president Donald Trump. The timeline isn't public. But based on what we know, it's possible we'll find out by tomorrow night, whether Trump will be indicted in Georgia, adding to the various cases against him.
And California's power-grid operator is warning that the heat wave and expected boost in electricity use could strain supply in the coming days. Parts of California could see temperatures close to 110 degrees this week. In an attempt to avoid blackouts, the state's grid operator may issue an alert, telling customers to cut back on power use at critical times.
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Every month, thousands of pounds of deadly fentanyl flow into the U.S. from Mexico. “NPR” reports on how almost none of it comes from migrants seeking asylum. Close to 90% of seizures happen at official border crossings. And the drugs are almost always carried by people who can cross legally. Most are American citizens.
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“NPR” got a rare interview with one of them, a 32-year-old mother of three named Haley. She'd lost her job, was dealing with meth addiction, and lost custody of her children. When she was offered $500 to carry fentanyl pills, she said yes.
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Haley: That was the first time I've ever done it. I guess because when you're on drugs, your mind is not fully there. You're not fully thinking. You're just like, okay, I can get this over with and get my bills paid. You know?
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A prosecutor told “NPR” that many people drawn into smuggling are often dealing with drug addiction themselves. Cartels tend to recruit people who can cross legally, since they're less likely to get attention from law enforcement. “NPR” spoke to Michael Humphries, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Arizona.
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Michael Humphreys: They're looking for somebody we're not going to pay a lot of attention to. They target certain people, uh, and they offer them money to drive through.
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Haley was caught. She cooperated with prosecutors and got a lighter sentence, serving six months in prison. But she wasn't able to regain custody of her children.
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That one decision that I had made to carry, my ex-sister-in-law had to adopt my kids because I got sentenced and I was in jail. Yeah, that was hard.
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Now, Haley's been off drugs for 18 months and she has a job. She can see her kids and Haley told “NPR,” her focus is on rebuilding their trust.
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So, will you have to wait in line for your breakfast today? Is there some favorite bakery where you need to get there early, or else you won't get your favorite croissant, donut, or Danish?
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That's more of a thing now. And unlucky customers who get there after things sell out probably wonder, Why doesn't the baker just make more? “The Wall Street Journal” looks at how that disappointment is by design. Academics call it artificial scarcity. But the "Journal" has a more fun name, “the croissant theory.”
Part of making less product available is to whip up demand and hype, boosting prices and profits. Companies have been doing that for a long time. But lately, there's also a pandemic twist. Bakeries have had to deal with higher ingredient costs, and labor shortages. So if they make a fixed amount of pastries per day, they know exactly how much flour to buy and how many people to hire. Selling out means no waste. And selling out faster means bakeries can keep shorter hours.
Also, bakeries are trying to build a culture around the idea that their stuff is so good that people are willing to trek to their store, wait in line, and post about it on Instagram or TikTok. Business owners use their own social accounts to share when items are sold out for the day. Here, empty shelves are a point of pride, a marketing tool. The founder of Mindy's Bakery in Chicago says they stop making products that don't sell out.
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Bakeries appear to be doing something right coming out of the lockdowns. Sales were more than $7.7 billion last year. That's an increase of more than 25% from 2018.
You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, don't go anywhere.
The latest episode of our World Cup podcast “After the Whistle” is coming up next. We're now down to four teams. New Zealand is a host country, and its groundbreaking former prime minister Jacinda Ardern sits down with Brendan Hunt and Rebecca Lowe.
Jacinda Ardern: I never ever questioned that I as a women could or couldn’t be a politician, let alone a prime minister. Never, never occurred to me that I couldn’t do it and that won’t occur to my daughter, that she can’t be in the best team in the country and be on the world stage. And that is a magnificent thing.
So sit back, enjoy listening to that, and we'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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