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Workplace impact of SCOTUS’s affirmative-action ruling · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Friday, June 30th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, the verdict in a landmark school-shooting case, why millions of Americans can't rely on ambulances in emergencies, and the incarcerated people who just earned college degrees.
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  But first, there are a lot of questions as to how the Supreme Court's ruling against race-based affirmation action could affect higher ed. But educators aren't the only ones paying close attention.
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  Kelsey Butler: I think that the people that are really focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion were really watching this decision already in corporate America.
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  "Bloomberg" reporter Kelsey Butler covers how corporate leaders are dealing with these issues.
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  Butler: And I think that many of them are worried, and rightfully so, about the potential ramifications it could have and the chilling effect it really could have on DEI.
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  As Butler explains it, the latest decisions apply to education legally. But they could have broader impact. Advocates for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs in workplaces worry that the Court is giving their critics a new weapon.
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  Butler: If someone reads a headline that says, "Affirmative action is dead." That may give them a door to basically say, well, why was I discriminated against? Why didn't I get this promotion? Why am I forced to go to this DEI seminar that I don't necessarily wanna go to?
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  There's already an organized movement against corporate DEI programs. Former Trump aide Stephen Miller founded a group that's been filing legal complaints against many major companies. It says that their diversity programs are discriminatory and illegal. Butler says, the ruling comes as these kinds of programs are already in the crosshairs because so many Republican politicians are campaigning against them.
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  Butler: So I think every few years a new acronym becomes the most hated acronym out there. And right now, maybe DEI is one of them. We're already seeing that come up with Ron DeSantis in Florida. We are seeing Texas lawmakers move forward with bans essentially on DEI programs and initiatives at public universities, and so even though decisions might not have immediate legal ramifications, they do have ripple effects.
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  Advocates for DEI programs argue that they're good for business, pointing to data showing companies with diverse workforces outperform their peers. Dozens of major corporations, including Apple, Procter and Gamble, and American Express, signed a brief urging the Court to uphold affirmative action. Now those companies have to adjust to a new reality.
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  Butler: There's so many varying perspectives about affirmative action. I think one thing that we cannot deny is that it has had an absolute huge impact on what corporate America, what really big industries like medicine, teaching, law look like. It's going to be an absolute shock to the system to see what it looks like now. We've been living in one world, and now we're going to be completely living in a different one.
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  Let's take a quick look at some other major stories in the news.
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  The former school-resource officer accused of failing to confront the Parkland shooter is not guilty of child neglect and negligence. Prosecutors tried to make the case that Scot Peterson, who was armed, should've done more to try to stop the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. This was the first known American trial that prosecuted a law enforcement officer for failing to act during a school shooting.
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  In France, President Emmanuel Macron is holding another emergency cabinet meeting, after the most destructive night of clashes between police and protesters this week. There have been days of protests in cities across France, following the fatal police shooting of a teenager in a suburb of Paris. The officer is in custody and under investigation for voluntary homicide. Many marches have been peaceful, but in some places, cars have been burned, and stores damaged and looted. There have been hundreds of civilian and police injuries, and hundreds of arrests. The government deployed 40,000 officers last night.
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  In Ukraine, prosecutors have now charged a Russian politician and two suspected Ukrainian collaborators with war crimes. Today's charges are the first by Ukraine related to the alleged deportation of dozens of orphans into Russian hands. This follows a wider investigation by the International Criminal Court, which issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and a government official. Earlier this week, the Kremlin denied that it violated children's rights in Ukraine. Ukrainian prosecutors say the current location of these children is unknown.
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  And back in the States, three more NFL players are suspended for at least a full season, for breaking the league's gambling policy. Another will miss six games. The strongest punishment was for those who the league said bet on NFL games last season. Some players have said in the past that the league needs to do a better job of explaining its policy, now that there's so much more legalized sports gambling than in the past.
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  Imagine having a medical emergency, calling 911 but no one showing up for almost half an hour. That's the reality for about four and half million Americans who live in a so-called "ambulance desert," that's an area twenty-five minutes or more from an ambulance station. "USA Today" reporter Nada Hassanein talked to paramedics who work in these mostly rural places. In one part of north Florida, there are only two full-time paramedics covering more than 1,000 square miles. Hassanein talked to one about how she deals with limited resources.
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  Nada Hassanein: Because there's only one ambulance truck for the entire county, sometimes she and her husband will have to hop in their own car and go and stabilize a patient and then wait for a truck to come for transport.
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  On the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe Reservation in Nevada, the nearest ambulance is an hour away. So one family has basically stepped in to do the job.
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  Hassanein: This entire family all became volunteers of some sort, whether it was a volunteer firefighter or volunteer EMS professional, simply to fill this really, really critical need in their community.
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  Hassanein explains how low-income communities get left behind because of how emergency services are paid for.
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  Hassanein: There is no standard funding model for EMS here in the U.S. It's kind of left up to local governments, counties to determine how they want to fund an EMS station. And so, for a lot of these poorer, rural counties, oftentimes that money comes out of the general revenue or sometimes even, charity and donations.
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  Advocates say, without a systematized way of funding emergency services, rural areas especially will be left under-served.
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  Hassanein: One North Dakota paramedic told me that the EMS profession needs a home. And the way she put it was when you don't have a home, you kind of get left behind.
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  Let's close with one of the most unusual graduations of the season, one that didn't take place on a college campus. The ceremony happened at a maximum-security prison in Connecticut. There were seven graduates, part of a program where Yale and the University of New Haven educate incarcerated people. Alpha Jalloh got the highest GPA in the class, and he spoke at the event, which the local "Fox" station covered.
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  Alpha Jalloh: Use learning to empower yourselves, my beautiful brothers, because the world needs each and every one of your voices.
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  It was an emotional day for many of the graduates, who talked about the challenges of keeping up with a college curriculum, while dealing with all the distractions and stress of being in prison. They said they wanted to set an example for future students.
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  Unidentified Speaker: We worked tirelessly to prove not only our worth, but to demonstrate the potential that's encased in concrete nationwide.
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  They are the first set of graduates from the program. By the end of next summer, it'll have worked with close to 100 students at two prisons.
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  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, stick around for more Supreme Court-related coverage.
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  We've got a narrated article coming up next from "New York" Magazine that examines the relationship between Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni Thomas.
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  That's queued up to play for you next. Our show will be off through July 4th. So enjoy the holiday weekend, and I'll be back with the news on Wednesday.
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