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War puts a spotlight on Ukrainian surrogates · Apple News Today

• 0:00
  [MUSIC FADES IN]
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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Friday, March 11th. I'm Shumita Basu.
• 0:02
  Duarte Geraldino, Narrating: And I'm Duarte Geraldino. This is "Apple News Today." Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news, and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
• 0:03
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  Basu: Congress has approved a $13.6 billion emergency package of military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. And President Biden is calling for Congress to revoke permanent normal trade relations with Russia, also known as "most favored nation" status. This comes as Russian troops are on the move and airstrikes are expanding to target more Ukrainian cities.
• 0:05
  Geraldino: Civilians are being attacked. We've seen images of pregnant women escaping a bombed-out hospital. This is putting a spotlight on an aspect of the country that's not well known. It's a major destination for Americans seeking surrogate mothers. Take Jessie and Jacob Boeckmann. This California couple's baby was carried by a Ukrainian surrogate. The story of their escape with their newborn during Russia's invasion, it's getting international attention.
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  Basu: The "L.A. Times" followed up to see what happened to the surrogate mother in Ukraine. The woman's apartment was bombed, but after getting home, she was able to reunite with her children. She's still scared. It highlights how difficult this is for families and for surrogates.
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  Alison Motluk: It's hard to imagine a more stressful situation.
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  Geraldino: That's Alison Motluk. She writes a newsletter about assisted reproduction, called "HeyReprotech." Her story in "The Atlantic" looks at the wartime experience of foreign couples and Ukrainian surrogates.
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  Motluk: Now you have people who, a month ago, were booking tickets to go and collect their child in a few weeks. And now they have no idea where their child is gonna be born, how it's going to get out of the country, what the conditions will be like on the day of that child's birth.
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  Basu: Ukraine is a popular place for international surrogacy because its laws make it relatively simple for prospective parents. There are various companies to help people navigate the system, even if they don't know the local language or laws. But this system was not designed to operate during a war. Families and their surrogates are now facing tough new choices.
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  Motluk: Now, the questions people are asking, or, you know, the things they're being told, "You may have to collect your baby at a border. Can you get to a border? Can you get someone to take your baby, your newborn, to a place where you can pick your newborn up?"
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  Geraldino: Some surrogates have been told by their surrogacy agency to relocate to safer cities, but many are worried about being away from their families during war.
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  Basu: Motluk writes, "Even in times of peace, surrogacy can be complicated. The interests of the parents and the surrogates don't always align. War raises the stakes for everybody."
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  Geraldino: When police departments settle suits over alleged police misconduct, the price tag that comes with it can be hefty. And ultimately, it's taxpayers who cover the cost.
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  Basu: "The Washington Post" collected data on thousands of payments made by 25 of the largest police and sheriff's departments over the last decade. In total, the bills to settle claims were more than $3.2 billion. The accusations against these officers included using excessive force and executing illegal searches.
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  Geraldino: The data journalism here reveals something striking: repeat offenders are responsible for nearly half the money spent to settle these claims. A lot of the cops involved are being accused over and over again, and their departments are having to pay major settlements. There's this one officer who was named in multiple lawsuits that led to payments of $5.2 million.
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  Basu: You can see how this plays out in the story of one man in Detroit, named Tony Murray. One night, cops with guns drawn came to his house. He let them in, they pushed him to the floor, and they went searching through his house. Officers flipped his sofa, they emptied out his drawers, they shot and killed his dog. Then, they showed him a search warrant to look for illegal drugs. But the address listed on the search warrant? It wasn't his. It was his neighbor's.
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  Geraldino: This man was never charged with any crimes. He sued, and though the city never admitted that police made any errors, it did eventually pay him nearly $90,000. The "Post" found, one of the officers involved in this raid had a long track record. He was accused of misconduct multiple times. Over the years, the city's paid out more than $600,000 to settle claims against that officer.
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  Basu: That officer did not return the "Post's" phone calls asking for his side of the story. Most of the people repeatedly accused of misconduct who the "Post" reached out to refused to comment or didn't get back. Some who did respond defended their actions. They said they might have won the cases if the authorities didn't settle out of court. One city spokesman said it's often cheaper to settle than to go to court and pay attorneys' fees.
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  Geraldino: The "Post" has some pretty striking charts where you see just how expensive these payouts are. Check out the full story on the Apple News app. There you can also find data from specific cities and counties.
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  [INTRIGUING MUSIC]
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  Basu: Today marks two years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Here in the United States, it feels like we're in a new phase. The CDC just said that 98% of Americans now live in places where indoor masking is not needed. But in Hong Kong, people are experiencing a wave of COVID cases much like American cities had early in the pandemic. Recent data showed Hong Kong reaching the world's highest COVID death rate.
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  Geraldino: "TIME" magazine looks at how Hong Kong has struggled to isolate people who tested positive in this densely-populated city. Vaccination rates for older people are relatively low. And this latest wave of cases is hitting vulnerable elderly people the hardest, not to mention children who are too young to vaccinate.
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  Basu: The situation has put residents on edge and fueled an exodus. "Quartz" cites immigration numbers showing, in the past month, more than 20,000 people left the city every week. Many people say, between the uncertainty of how COVID is spreading and the strict government rules, it's just too stressful. Patients say conditions at isolation facilities are harming their mental health. "TIME" reports that at one quarantine center, there were four attempted suicides over the course of 24 hours.
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  Geraldino: And now, the city is relying more and more on doctors and nurses from mainland China. For a long time, Hong Kong took pride in its independence. It once felt it had COVID under control. But now, as the pandemic enters a third year, this global city is finding itself in a scary situation.
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  [MELLOW MUSIC]
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  Basu: Finally, this weekend, be prepared to spring forward. Daylight Saving Time starts on Sunday. We are gaining sunlight, but we're losing an hour of sleep. Now listen, every year we do the same Daylight Saving Time story, right? We complain about the clocks changing, we question why the government forces this nightmare on all of us. But this year, we're not gonna do that. Right, Duarte? We're not gonna do that?
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  Geraldino: I don't know, Shumita. We gotta give the people what they want. Polling shows about two-thirds of the people in America really want to be done with seasonal clock changes. "The Washington Post" has a story about five myths about Daylight Saving Time.
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  Basu: For example, you probably think that Daylight Saving Time was first introduced because of farmers. I know that's what I was told in school. Many people believe that farmers wanted this extra hour of sunlight so they could tend to their crops. Well it turns out, that's wrong. According to the guy who wrote the book on Daylight Saving Time, farmers actually lobbied against it. After all, we might able to force our bodies to wake up an hour earlier, but I have not met a rooster who respected the changing of the clocks, you know?
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  Geraldino: [CHUCKLES] The "Post" also tackles this belief that changing clocks is good for the economy. Turns out, that's not quite true either. Yeah, certain businesses love it. The grill and charcoal industries campaigned for an extra month of Daylight Saving. They wanted to give people more time to cook out. But a bunch of industries are pretty against it. Hollywood hates it because TV ratings tend to suffer. Airlines say it screws up all their scheduling. And generally speaking, sleepy workers, we're less productive in the days immediately following the clock change.
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  Basu: And now, for the last myth on their list: that Standard Time is "standard." The "Post" points out, we actually spend more of the calendar year on Daylight Saving Time than we do on Standard Time. It goes for eight months. That gets at what some opponents of Daylight Saving Time are trying to change. It's not that they want to get rid of it. They want to make it the new standard, so we can put an end to the twice-a-year alarm clock whiplash that everyone seems to hate.
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  Geraldino: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
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  Basu: We also picked out a story from "ESPN" on the new deal to end the Major League Baseball lockout. It's a good roundup of what's changing and when the season will finally start.
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  Geraldino: And check out our weekend interview show, "In Conversation." This week, I speak with Tara Roberts. She's a "National Geographic" explorer who's been diving to find lost ships that carried enslaved people.
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  [START APPLE NEWS IN CONVERSATION CLIP]
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  Tara Roberts: So, it feels like part of this work is about acknowledgement, honoring and allowing those souls to rest, finally.
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  [END APPLE NEWS IN CONVERSATION CLIP]
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  Basu: Check out that weekend listen. We'll be back with the news on Monday.
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