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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Wednesday, October 4th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show: Why a judge slapped a gag order on former president Trump; The Supreme Court hears a case with implications for Americans with disabilities; And Fat Bear Week is here.
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But first, Kevin McCarthy is out as House Speaker after a close and historic vote.
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Unidentified Speaker: The yeas are 216. The nays are 210. The resolution is adopted without objection. The motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The Office of Speaker of the House of the United States House of Representatives is hereby declared vacant.
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No House Speaker has ever been voted out like this in American history, not even really controversial ones. Typically, they step down before it comes to this, because of scandal or just losing the confidence of their party. McCarthy didn't lose the confidence of the whole party. Nearly every House Republican voted for him to keep the job. But you heard how close the vote count was just now. And with things that tight, it only took eight Republicans on the right to take McCarthy down. Some were angry he worked with Democrats to keep the government from shutting down. Some disliked him all along. Either way, there was enough anger to put McCarthy into the history books as the first Speaker ousted by his House colleagues.
After the vote, McCarthy said he had no misgivings about avoiding a shutdown.
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Kevin Mccarthy: I don't regret standing up for choosing governance over grievance. It is my responsibility, it is my job. I do not regret negotiating. Our government is designed to find compromise. I don't regret my efforts to build coalitions and find solutions. I was raised to solve problems, not create them.
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So, what now? Congress only has a few weeks to get all the massive spending bills in order, or else the shutdown threat is back on the table by the middle of November. And the House lacks a speaker with no clear successor to McCarthy, who says he won't run for Speaker again. The last voting process that McCarthy won was long and messy. This one might have even more drama.
For now, North Carolina Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry is acting as temporary speaker. He's a close ally of McCarthy, and he got the job because McCarthy put him on a list of possible backups. That list was supposed to be for extreme events, like a deadly accident or assassination. But in this case, it's being used for continuity after a political assassination.
McHenry may run to get the job full-time. And there are several other candidates who could be gunning for the role. You can read about the possible contenders on the Apple News app. But it's not clear who could get enough votes in a House where a handful of Republicans are out for blood.
Speaker of the House. It's arguably the most prestigious role in American politics outside the White House. But right now, some see it as a pretty thankless job.
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Now, let's look at some other big stories in the news.
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Former President Trump is now under a gag order in the New York civil fraud trial. The judge banned personal attacks targeting court staff. Trump had posted a disparaging comment about a court clerk on social media, which included her photo. The post was deleted from Trump's social-media platform following the judge's order.
A massive strike of healthcare workers across several states is now underway. The labor dispute involves more than 75,000 union workers for Kaiser Permanente, people like nurses and medical technicians at hundreds of hospitals. The union said the company did not give an acceptable offer on key issues, including addressing staffing shortages, and improving pay and benefits. Kaiser says it’s been committed to striking a fair deal, and that it has a plan to keep hospitals and emergency rooms open during the temporary strike.
President Biden is rolling out another $9 billion in student-debt relief. Today's announcement will affect about 125,000 people. It's the latest move by the administration, after a much larger debt-cancelation plan was blocked by the Supreme Court. The pandemic pause on loan payments ended this month.
And later today, expect to hear a blaring alert on your phone, radio, and TV. Don't worry, it's just a test of the national emergency alert system. It's set to start around 2: 20 p.m. Eastern, 11:20 a.m. Pacific. Federal emergency managers are required to test the system at least every three years. It's in place to warn Americans about major natural disasters or even terror attacks. But again, today's alert is just a test.
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Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that could have major implications for civil rights laws. It has to do with the enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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The plaintiff in the case is a woman named Deborah Laufer. She has multiple sclerosis and uses a walker and a wheelchair. In the past, she has found it difficult to find hotels that can accommodate her disability. So, she decided to become what's known as a "tester." Essentially, a plaintiff who volunteers to face discrimination in order to file a lawsuit. In total, she filed more than 600 lawsuits in five years. Laufer says the hotels she sued failed to comply with federal rules requiring them to disclose online whether their rooms are accessible to people with disabilities.
Ann Marimow: The question for the court is, can she go forward with this lawsuit under the ADA?
That's Ann Marimow, a legal affairs reporter for "The Washington Post."
Marimow: So, in order to file a lawsuit in federal court, you have to have legal grounds before you can really even enter the courtroom, and that means you have to show that you've suffered some sort of concrete, direct injury, and so, here, the court will be asking the question, does she have standing to sue these hotels, one hotel, in this case, in Maine, if she never planned to stay or visit the hotel?
Lower courts have been divided over the question of whether "testers," like Laufer, should be able to sue a business if they weren't actually planning to do business with them. In legal terms, whether they have "standing." A district judge in Maine dismissed Laufer's case. But an appeals court reversed that. Marimow explained that it drew parallels to a case involving the Fair Housing Act in the 80s.
Marimow: A Black tester, who had no intention of renting an apartment, went and asked a landlord about availability of apartments and was lied to and told that there were no apartments available. Again, the court here said the Black tester did have standing even though she didn't plan to rent the apartment.
What the Supreme Court decides to do now could have big ramifications.
Marimow: Disability-rights advocates say if the court makes it harder for testers to bring these types of lawsuits that it will weaken enforcement of the ADA, and so, they're concerned about the court making it harder and saying someone like Laufer does not have standing.
As for Laufer, she said no matter the outcome, she plans to pull back from filing tester cases. She says the whole experience has just been too taxing. But she told the "Post" she's concerned there won't be anyone else to apply the same kind of pressure to make sure ADA violations actually get fixed.
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And finally, Fat Bear Week is back. Starting today, the annual competition returns. Fans can vote online for their favorite bear in Alaska's Katmai National Park. Now, if you haven't followed this contest before, let me just be clear, there's no body shaming going on. This is pure, goofy, educational fun. It's a celebration of what these bears have gone through to bulk up and get ready for hibernation.
Park Ranger Felicia Jimenez talked to "ABC" about how this contest is a chance to get people excited while teaching them about nature and conservation.
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Felicia Jimenez: The public loves Fat Bear Week. We see people make their own office brackets. They make treats about fat bears. They make their own campaign posters for the bears. And it certainly heightens the awareness of why protecting these bears is so important.
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See, all spring and into the summer, these bears snack on clams, berries, and grass. But let's be honest, the real draw is seeing them snatch fish out of the river with their paws. A single bear can put away 40 salmon in a day. This year though, the salmon were a little slow in coming, so the bears had to work a little bit harder. And rangers were a little worried they might not be fat enough in time for Fat Bear Week. But they are steadily packing on the pounds. Some of them could reach around 1400 pounds by winter, and they'll need to be that big because they lose about a third of their body weight in hibernation.
If you want to get really into Fat Bear Week, check out "The Washington Post" preview. It made these great little baseball cards for the bears and laid out their stats and bios. So, you can learn more about Otis, who's one of the oldest bears, a four-time title holder. Colbert is last year's winner, and probably the fattest one this year too. There's also Grazer, a fan-favorite mama bear who's seen as the best fisher in the field. One ranger explained, this bracket is meant to show off the range of bears and the stories they each have to tell about the park's ecosystem.
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You can read all about the bears and other stories that we talked about today in the Apple News app.
And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article cued up for you. It's about another kind of fat animal: rats. Stay with me though, because the story from "Popular Mechanics" is full of interesting details about why urban rat populations are growing, and what cities are doing to fight back.
That's playing for you next, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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