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How kids survived 40 days in the Amazon after a plane crash · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Monday, June 12th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, new details on how four children survived for weeks in the Amazon jungle after a plane crash, studying the health impacts for people who fight wildfires, and why some Americans will get their mail by horseback this week.
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  But first, let's take a quick look at a few major stories during a busy week.
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  In Ukraine, we're getting more information on the opening phase of the counteroffensive to take back land from Russian forces. Ukraine's military says it fought dozens of battles over the past day, as troops attack in the country's east and south. Both sides have made claims of inflicting heavy losses, which can't be fully verified.
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  Former President Donald Trump is expected in court tomorrow on federal charges, including that he kept highly sensitive documents and tried to obstruct the investigation into his conduct. He has attacked the case, and many Republicans are defending him. But his former attorney general, Bill Barr, had a different view on "Fox News Sunday."
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  Bill Barr: We have to wait and see what the defense says and what proves to be true. But I do think that, even if half… what Andy McCarthy said, if even half of it is true, then he's toast. I'm mean, it's a pretty… it's a very detailed indictment and it's very, very damning.
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  Also this weekend, we saw the end of a story that stretches back decades. The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, died by suicide at a federal prison. He was 81, serving a life sentence after sending a series of mail bombs over 17 years. Kaczynski was finally caught in a cabin in Montana in 1996.
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  In the Philadelphia area, drivers face a difficult commute today. A section of I-95 collapsed yesterday, after a major tanker fire. No injuries were reported. The section was part of a nearly quarter-billion-dollar reconstruction project finished four years ago.
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  And finally, a very unusual Tony Awards took place last night. The Hollywood writers' strike threatened to derail the Broadway event. But the Writers Guild of America struck a deal to green-light the awards as long as they had no scripted material. At one point, host Ariana DeBose revealed she'd scribbled some notes on her arm to guide her through the night, but she couldn't read them clearly.
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  Ariana DeBose: I'm gonna tell you that Best Featured Actress in a Play is up next, and also… I don't know what these notes stand for, so please welcome whoever walks out on stage next!
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  [CROWD LAUGHS]
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  The night ended up leaning heavily on musical numbers. "Kimberly Akimbo" won for Best Musical. Tom Stoppard's "Leopoldstadt" was named Best Play.
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  We have new details this morning of an incredible survival story. Four children, siblings, were found alive after surviving a plane crash and nearly six weeks in the Amazon jungle. The Colombian kids ranged in age from 11 months to 13 years old.
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  Their mother survived for a few days after the small-plane crash. According to their father, she told the children to leave her, that they would have a better chance of surviving.
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  From rescuers and the children's family, we now know more about how they survived for so long. They had some cassava flour on board, so they ate that until it ran out. Then they relied on seeds and fruits that they found in the rainforest. One family member credits the late mother. She taught the eldest daughter how to forage for food.
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  The plane wreckage was found nearly a month ago. There were bodies of three adults, but no sign of the children. Authorities suspected they were alive, so they mounted a massive search. Colombian soldiers flew in. Members of the local Indigenous communities also helped search the jungle. Teams played a recorded message over loudspeakers from the children's grandmother.
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  Soldiers started to find clues: half-eaten fruit, a baby bottle, diapers. When searchers finally found the kids, they were weak and hungry, but they were alive. As Colombia's president put it, "the jungle saved them."
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  There's still dangerous smoke in U.S. air from hundreds of Canadian wildfires. But firefighters say they're starting to make progress in getting the fires under control. We talked on the show last week about the health issues we face, being exposed to smoke coming from hundreds of miles away. For the people fighting the wildfires upfront, the danger is far greater.
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  While they work, firefighters are breathing air full of ash, smoke, dust and toxins. The World Health Organization classifies the job as carcinogenic. In the U.S., there is a new effort underway to look into the long-term health risks wildland firefighters face. "Boise State Public Radio" talked to environmental health scientist Kat Navarro, who worked a season with a Forest Service firefighting crew, studying the impact. There was very little data to go on.
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  Kat Navarro: As far as what we know about the long-term health effects, there's really only two studies out there that have looked at that.
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  Navarro led a study in 2019 that found people who spent 25 years firefighting had a 43% higher risk of developing lung cancer. Now, there's a new program to create a national registry for firefighters, current and former.
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  The National Firefighter Registry went live this spring with the goal of collecting more data to understand the link between fighting fires and the risk of developing cancer. Kenny Fent of the CDC told "Boise State Public Radio" that the database will cover a broader group of firefighters, including volunteers, women and people of color.
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  Kenny Fent: Most of the studies that have been done have included primarily white male firefighters from large municipal departments who were employed decades ago.
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  Firefighters can sign up for the registry online. A veteran firefighter and advocate for their safety calls it an "enormous step in moving things forward."
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  If you live in the Midwest, you may have some mail on the way, arriving on horseback. The Pony Express is back up and running, temporarily, taking mail from Sacramento to Missouri. It's to honor the anniversary of the service, which kept the West connected in the early 1860s, before railroads expanded and telegraphs went coast-to-coast.
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  The old-school delivery service will last 10 days, 24 hours a day. Riders are switching off every 10 miles like they used to in the Old West. "The Sacramento Bee" talked to one of the participants about the early part of the ride.
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  Rich Chapman: We have 23 hours to get it to Nevada, so we're gonna ride all night long. And hopefully, with good luck, we'll get there right on time or a couple minutes early.
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  Six hundred riders are taking part, delivering mail to about 1,500 customers. There's a link to a tracker in the full story on the Apple News app. As of this morning, they were galloping their way through Utah.
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  You'll also be able to find sports coverage in the app, from French Open results to previews of the big NBA and NHL matchups. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around.
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  We've got a narrated article coming up next about "The Simpsons." "New York Magazine" has a look at how the show still feels relevant after 34 seasons.
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  So sit back, enjoy listening to that, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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