Apple News Today

As tensions in Eastern Europe intensify, the Washington Post looks at how Ukrainians are preparing for a potential Russian invasion.   Winter Olympians who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 say they’re being subjected to substandard living conditions. USA Today has the story.   Americans have lost billions of dollars to fraudulent calls. One journalist writes for Wired about what happened when her mom fell victim to a phone scam.   Nominations for the Razzie Awards are out. The L.A. Times reports that, this year, the tongue-in-cheek answer to the Oscars made a whole category just for Bruce Willis films.

Households across the U.S. are struggling to deal with climbing rental prices. The Washington Post reports that the rise is likely to continue this year.   Hospitals are filling staffing shortages by hiring nurses from overseas. But Bloomberg Businessweek spoke with foreign nurses who say they feel trapped in their contracts and taking legal action.   Traffic fines can have a devastating impact on the lives of poorer Americans. The Atlantic explores an argument for scaling them according to income.   Ice-skating fans are hoping to see a move at the Olympics that symbolizes how far athleticism in ice skating has come: the quadruple axel. No skater has yet landed one in competition. The Wall Street Journal explains why the jump is nearly impossible to land.

In 1998, a student opened fire at a middle-school dance, killing one teacher and wounding another teacher and two students. Journalist Marin Cogan was a sixth grader at the time, and she recalls the shock and horror she and her classmates felt. Back then, school shootings were far more rare; kids and educators didn’t have the language or the tools to talk about — much less process — their trauma. For Vox, Cogan recently connected with survivors of other school shootings that took place in the 1990s. She spoke with Apple News Today host Shumita Basu about coming of age in a world wholly unprepared to deal with the aftermath of mass school shootings.

Investigators are going after a COVID-testing company accused of “invalid, false and delayed” results. USA Today has the story. As a brutal winter storm slices through the U.S. and boosts demand for energy, CNBC talks to Texas bitcoin miners who are powering down to help the electricity grid. Time finds that a program that was supposed to speed up the resettlement process for Afghans fleeing to the U.S. has left thousands marooned in the system. The Ringer ranks Winter Olympic events by how terrifying they are.

The Pentagon says U.S. special forces carried out a counterterrorism mission in Syria. The Washington Post reports on what’s known so far. You’ve probably heard that teachers are leaving schools. The Wall Street Journal looks at where they’re going. U.S. states and cities are backing an unusual lawsuit by Mexico against American gun manufacturers. The Trace explains. Health care in rural America had been deteriorating for years, as hospitals lost money and faced closure. Then the pandemic made everything worse. Bloomberg Businessweek has the story. Before athletes can compete in the Winter Olympics, they face a mundane challenge: getting skis, bobsleds, and other bulky winter gear on an airplane. The Los Angeles Times asks them how they do it.

A Black former NFL coach is suing the league and several teams, alleging racism in hiring. ESPN examines the lawsuit. As Black History Month begins, many books that examine racism are disappearing from school library shelves. NBC News looks at the growing trend of parents fighting to ban books. The Washington Post speaks to billionaire Leon Cooperman about the moral calculations of the extremely wealthy. You probably know rodents don’t make good weather forecasters, but it’s fun to read FiveThirtyEight’s running of the Groundhog Day numbers anyway.

The end of the enhanced child tax credit is forcing parents to make difficult choices. CNN tells some of their stories, while NPR crunches the numbers on the measure’s impact. Death doulas provide comfort in people’s final days. Time looks at how demand for the service grew during the pandemic. Chinese American freestyle-skiing Olympian Eileen Gu must walk a political tightrope, competing for China without making comments that anger the government and her corporate sponsors. Bloomberg Businessweek reports on the tough challenge she faces, all at the age of 18. The New York Times is buying Wordle. The Wall Street Journal reports on the deal, how the simple word game is sparking complicated debates about strategy, and how it’s inspiring some players to get their fix by digging out old childhood games.

FiveThirtyEight explains what you need to know about redistricting ahead of the midterm elections. Two of the men convicted of murdering Black Georgia jogger Ahmaud Arbery have reached plea agreements on federal hate-crime charges, CNN reports. An attorney for his mother says the family will oppose the deal. Americans aren’t just quitting jobs in record numbers. A Recode report pulls data showing they’re also starting their own businesses at the highest rate in years. Axolotls are quirky amphibian pets with special abilities that could lead to breakthroughs in human health. They’re also extremely rare in the wild. Vox has the story. The teams, the players, the ads, the halftime show. Apple News’s special Super Bowl collection has stories for football fans and everyone else.

Developing countries are bearing the brunt of the worst effects of our changing climate, despite contributing the least to carbon emissions. New York magazine’s David Wallace-Wells makes the case that wealthy nations should front the cost of cleaning up the environment — and that we should think of this as a form of climate reparations. Wallace-Wells spoke with Apple News Today host Shumita Basu about this idea.

It’s five years since then-president Donald Trump issued a ban on travel from several Muslim-majority countries. A HuffPost investigation finds lives forever changed in America and around the world. USA Today examines how a decision by Putin to invade Ukraine could affect American fuel and energy prices. The Washington Post explores how Europe’s reliance on Russian energy raises the question of whether the Kremlin might try to use its resources as a weapon against the West. When an iceberg bigger than Delaware broke off the Antarctic Peninsula in 2017 and drifted toward Argentina, melting as it went, the environmental consequences were devastating. USA Today explains why. A new generation of circus performers is using TikTok to redefine their field and reach new audiences. Input has the story.