Transcript

10.28.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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October twenty eighth, twenty twenty five. As a reminder, Radio
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I is a reading service intended for people who are
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blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
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read printed material. Your reader for to day is Cindy Fraser.
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To day's front page headlines from the Washington Post are
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Democrats begin effort to redraw Virginia's map. State special session
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opens amid nationwide redistricting battle. Next, Jamaica braces for a
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monster storm and praise island nation anticipates major damage from
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Category five Melissa. The next headline, Trump rebukes putin on
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arms use Russian says missile tests successful. President tells leader
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to end Ukraine war instead. Next, largest federal union calls
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for a quote clean bill to end shut down. Our
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next headline, Iowans to ask whether the land is making
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am ill young cancer pations are making the corn Belt
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state a bell weather of generational reckoning. And the final
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headline from to day's front page, Defiance of mandatory valing
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grows in Iran. More women flatting hijab requirements as police
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ease up on arrests now Let's turn to our first
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item entitled Democrats begin effort to redraw Virginia's map. State's
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special session opens amid nationwide redistricting battle. By Gregory S. Schneider,
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Aaron Cox, and Patrick Marley from Richmond. Democratic lawmakers launched
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an extraordinary special session of the Virginia General Assembly on
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Monday to consider a constitutional amendment to redraw the state's
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congressional districts, leaving Republicans howling with protest but unable to
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stop or in some cases, understand what was happening. Leader
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said the move is a blue state CounterPunch to President
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Donald Trump's push to create more Republican districts in red
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states before next year's midterm elections to help the GOP
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hold on to its slim us House majority. Virginia's special
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session could take all week, with Democrats inventing a strategy
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on the fly for what could be a month's long
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sprint to enact new maps ahead of the twenty twenty
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six elections. Another legislative session and a statewide referendum would
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have to land in their favor, and inevitable Republican legal
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challenges would have to fail to change the existing districts.
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Democrats continued to be tight lipped about the details of
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their plan. We're going to respond to the Trump administration
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and more details will be forthcoming. State Senate Majority Leader
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Scott a Surevel, Democrat from Fairfax said Trump's score ward
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another win Monday in his campaign to add red congressional seats,
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when Indiana Governor Mike Brown, a Republican, called a special
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session for his state's legislature next week to draw new districts.
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The redistricting frenzy kicked off over the summer in Texas,
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which passed a new election map favorable to Republicans, and
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then spread to other states, both red and blue. The
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session in Indiana is to begin November three, a day
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before California voters will decide whether to change their congressional map,
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which could benefit Democrats. Efforts to boost Democrats were also
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underway in New York and Illinois on Monday. Virginia is
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only a week away from November fourth elections for all
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one hundred seats in the House of Delegates as well
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as the offices of governor, Lieutenant governor, and Attorney General,
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and Republicans condemned the legislative session as a ploy to
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disrupt their campaigns. What we are seeing today is the
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worst kind of political backtracking, an attempt to grab power
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by erasing the void's voice, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earl Sears,
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the Republican nominee for governor, said Monday at a news
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conference on the steps of the Virginia Capital. She then
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went inside to preside over the state Senate in her
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role as Lieutenant governor, but she offered no commentary as
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Democratic leaders wrestled with the procedural requirements of what they
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were aiming to do. The campaign of her Democratic opponent,
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Abigail Spanburger, has said she was not involved in calling
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this session and declined to comment on the effort. Virginia's
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governor has no role in proposing or passing constitutional amendments.
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Democrats summoned lawmakers back to Richmond without a deal on
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what the constitutional amendment would say. The version to introduce
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has not been agreed upon yet, Surrevel told reporters after
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the Senate adjoured for the day. We're working on it. Delicate.
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Rodney T. Willett, Democrat from Henrico, said the intent is
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not to propose actual districts, but to create a process
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for redrawing congressional boundaries next year, state legislative districts would
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be unaffected, he added. Democrats intend to propose keeping the
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bipartisan Redistricting Commission that was created in twenty twenty, but
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his role is still being ironed out. Will It said.
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Virginia has eleven seats in Congress, six held by Democrats.
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Over the weekend, State Senator l Louise Lucas, Democrat from Portsmouth,
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President pro Tem of the Senate reposted an item on
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x suggesting that Virginia Democrats could create a map with
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as many as ten blue districts and one red one.
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All five of the state's Republican members of Congress appeared
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at the Capitol on Monday before the session started, holding
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a news conference to condemn a partisan redistricting effort that
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could drive some of them out of office. US Representative
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Jen Kiggins, Republican from Virginia, whose Virginia Beach and eas
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Eastern Shore district is considered by political analysts to be
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one of the most competitive in the country, said control
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of her seat could determine who wins a majority in
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the House next year. They want the United States houseback.
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We're not going to give it to them. She said,
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We're not going to give it to them without a
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very big fight, which is why we're all here in person.
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In the House of Delegates, Republicans accused Democrats of engineering
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the day's session to prevent discussion. The House gaveled in
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at four pm and then entered a procedural period known
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as the Morning Hour, where members can introduce visitors and
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bring up bills for consideration, all within the span of
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one hour. The House gallery was full of visitors, including
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planned parenthood, labor unions, sheriff's departments, college sororities, and each
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group got a lengthy introduction from a delegate on the
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House floor. Only when about five minutes were left in
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the quote morning hour did House Majority Leader Charnielle L. Herring,
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Democrat from Alexandria, rise to introduce a procedural resolution that
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would simply allow the Chamber to consider matters related to
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reapportionment and redistrupting. Such a motion was necessary because a
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General Assembly was technically already in special session, but one
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that had been called earlier with the limited purpose of
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addressing budgetary matters. With so little time left in the
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Morning Hour, House Speaker Don Scott, Democrat Portsmouth could sharply
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limit debate and discussion. Only one Republican was able to
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make a speech about the topic, Delegate Lee Ware from Pohatan,
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who said he thought mid decade redistricting as opposed to
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the usual practice of drawing maps every ten years following
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the US Census was a bad idea for both parties.
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Candor requires admitting that this bad idea did get its
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twenty twenty five launch by the President, where said, however,
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just because a bad idea was proposed and men take
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it up by a few of our sister states, such
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as North Carolina or California, is not a reason for
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Virginia to follow suit. House Minority Leader Terry G. Kilgore,
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Republican from Scott pointed out to hearing that the resolution
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said only that the House may take up such matters.
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He asked if Democrats plan to actually do so. Herring
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replied that the measure speaks for itself in the state.
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Senate Minority Leader Ryan T. McDougall, Republican from Hanover, asked
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for quote a little clarity on timeline for the surprise
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week away from my practice of law and family and
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other endeavors. A detailed discussion made clear it would take
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until Wednesday to even put the legislative session in a
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posture that would permit discussion of amending the state constitution.
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And that's just the beginning. The proposed amendment would have
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to go through the committee process in both the House
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and Senate, and then three readings before it could be
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voted on in either chamber. That sequence would take a
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minimum of three days unless Republicans waigh the rules, which
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they have made clear they will not do. Whatever the
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specifics getting the process changed in time for the twenty
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twenty six congressional mid terms. The whole point of this
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exercise would involve a procedural sprint. Virginia requires that proposed
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constitutional amendments pass the General Assembly twice, with a legislative
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election in between. Democrats hope they can get the proposed
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amendment agree to this week, then would have to maintain
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or increase their halt majority in next week's elections. The
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state Senate is not up for elections this year, then
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the thinking goes they could take up the proposed amendment
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during the regular General Assembly session that convenes January fourteenth.
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If it passed again, by the time that session concludes
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around the end of March. Leaders would have to wait
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ninety days before calling a statewide referendum for voters to
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consider the proposed amendment. The change would go into effect
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only if voters approve it, which would probably be around June,
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leaving little time for party primaries in the newly drawn
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districts before congressional election season. As ambitious as all that sounds,
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Virginia Republicans say they will contest every step. Kil Gore
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said he believes Democrats have waited too long that because
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Virginia's early voting started September nineteenth, they have missed the
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requirement to pass any proposed amendment before a legislative election.
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So I just think there's a flawed legal argument here
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and somebody may need to ask for an attorney general's opinion,
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kilgre said. State Senator Mark J. Peake, Republican from Lynchburg.
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The state GOP chairman, vowed that Republicans would mount a
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legal challenge to the attempted amendment. If it moves forward,
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oh one hundred percent will wind up in court, and
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if it didn't get overturned in the state courts, the U. S.
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Supreme court will overturn it peak set redrawing congressional district
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lines in the middle of the decade rather than after
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completion of the census. He is highly unusual. At Trump's urging,
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Republicans have drawn seven new districts for themselves this year
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in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina. On Monday, Indiana's governor
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said he would call state lawmakers into a special session
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next week to approve a new map, even though some
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Republicans who control the legislature have resisted the idea. In
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New York, four voters sued the state Monday over its
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congressional map, arguing that the Staten Island based district held
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by Representative Nicole Malotakis, Republican from New York, unlawfully dilutes
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the voting power of black and Latino residents. The lawsuit
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could give Democrats another district. Democrats are also pushing for
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a better map in Illinois, and House Speaker Haqem Jeffreys,
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Democrat from New York, was meeting with state lawmakers there
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Monday to sell them on the idea. The map that
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California voters are being asked to approve next week would
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give Democrats a chance of winning five additional seats. Marley
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reported from Madison, Wisconsin. Teo Armas and Kadiagoba in Washington
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contributed to this report. Our next item is entitled Jamaica
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braces for a monster storm and Praise Ireland Nation anticipates
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major damage from Category five Melissa by Brady Dennis, ben
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Knowl and Rubymellan. As a monstrance, Hurricane Melissa bore down
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on Jamaica, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said Monday that he
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had made time for one thing in addition to intense preparations.
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I have been on my knees in prayer, he said
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at a news conference out of the storm's arrival, adding
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that he had heard from other leaders around the globe.
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It would appear the entire world as praying for Jamaica.
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As of Monday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center warned that
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the core of Melissa, which has been crawling along at
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three miles per hour, was set to move near or
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over Jamaica late Monday and Tuesday. So strong were its
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winds that anoa aircraft gathering data inside the storm, had
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to abandon its mission early after experiencing severe turbulence in
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the southwestern Ighwa, The Hurricane Center wrote in a Monday update,
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Wholeness offered a sober assessment about the suffering Melissa is
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expected to inflect on the island nation with a population
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of more than two point seven million. He said the storm,
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which by Monday afternoon had sustained winds near one hundred
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seventy five miles per hour, is likely to tear off roofs,
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flood roads, compromise bridges, wreak havoc on the electric grid,
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destroy crop land, and damaged airports, warning that there is
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no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category five.
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Monday brought a litany of calls from meteorologists and public
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officials for those of Melissa's path to make final preparations
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and to seek the safest possible place to ride out
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the harrowing storm. Do not venture out of your safe shelter,
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the National Hurricane Center wrote early Monday, catastrophic and life
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threatening flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely today through Tuesday.
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Destructive winds, especially in the mountains, will begin by this evening,
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leading to extensive infrastructural damage, long lasting power and communication outages,
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and isolated communities in Jamaica. Officials said they had race
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to do everything possible to prepare in the days before
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its arrival, including setting aside four hundred million dollars to
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undertake projects intended to lessen the storm's impact. Crews have
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worked to clear drains and remove debris from gullies in
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anticipation of biblical amounts of rain that could fall on
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the island. They try i degird the electric grid for
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the potentially unprecedented strains it will face. The government said
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it already had positioned resources around the island in hopes
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of jump starting recovery efforts the moment the storm passes,
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including Mosquito Spring operations to reduce the threat of danghy
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and other vector borne illnesses. By Monday afternoon, there were
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eight hundred shelters open on the island. Robert Morgan, the
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Minister with responsibility for Works, told reporters officials were pleading
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with residents to seek out such shelters, particularly in vulnerable
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areas where evacuation orders had been issued. Darrell's ass Jamaica's
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Minister of Transport, Telecommunications and Energy, said the island's airports
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would remain closed until after the storm passes. All bus
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services had been canceled, tolls had been lifted on the
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nation's roads. Even so, more than fifty one thousand people
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had already reported being without electricity, mostly because trees and
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saturated soil hoppled on the power lines. Melissa is predicted
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to push ashore along Jamaica's southwest coast before moving across
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the island over a period of six to nine hours.
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That means the most dangerous weather will probably occur in
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Cornwall and Middlesex Counties in central and western Jamaica. Rain
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is forecast to fall in torrents totaling up to forty
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inches in the mountains, which will result in catastrophic flash
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flooding and landslides. Storm surge of nine to thirteen feet,
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as well as very large waves are expected to inundate
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areas near the south coast where the storm makes landfall,
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with the highest risk in parishes such as Westmoreland, Saint Elizabeth,
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Manchester and Clarendon. Once a storm moves to the north
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side of the island and winds change, surge risks will
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shift into Saint James and Trelawney. Matthew Samouda, Jamaica's Minister
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of Water, environment and climate change implored residence to store
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as much clean water as they could in case of disruptions.
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Every drop will count, he said. Holna said the Jamaican
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government has a multi level disaster respond system that includes
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a disaster management fund, several billion dollars in contingency funds
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that it can tap, as well as insurance provisions that
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are triggered depending on the severity of the storm. So
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we should be able to mount a response, he said,
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but that is all dependent on the level of the catastrophe.
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If the damage from Melissa is in line with that
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from Hurricane Beryl, which passed just south of Jamaica as
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a Category four storm last year, then we should be
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able to manage, Holna said. If Melissa proves far worse,
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then the relief and recovery will be that much more
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of a challenge. Either way, Holna said he expects a
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storm to have a significant financial impact on Jamaica as
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it forces businesses to close, grinds, tourism will halt and
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destroys property and infrastructure. All of that will have an
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impact on our economy, he said. The United States has
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long provided support to countries in the Caribbean after natural disasters,
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carrying out missions such as search and rescue operations and
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the delivery of food, water generators, and other supplies. But
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the Trump administration has cut foreign aid funding and dismantled
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the US Agency for International Development, shifting the agency's remnants
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into the State Department. The State Department would not say
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whether Jamaica has specifically asked for assistance or whether it
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anticipates a request, but a Department official, speaking on the
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condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the department,
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said it has taken steps to help partners in the
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region respond to the hurricane. The United States is monitoring
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the situation, the official said, and a decision to deploy
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additional capability will not be made untied is identified. The
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official added that the United States has the ability to
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provide life saving assistance to affected countries and people across
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the country when it is in the interest of the
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United States. As the storm barreled toward the island, international
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security experts said Monday that it might be too late
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to leave, with little to do but prepare and hunker down.
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There's no flights in or out right now, said Tim Miehan,
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security director for International SOS. A risk assessment firm. If
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you're there, it's kind of just batten down the hatches.
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Mihan added that he worried about the island's infrastructure, including
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its airport and a key power plant standing right in
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Melissa's path. He feared the damage would be worse than
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that of Hurricane Gilbert in nineteen eighty eight, the strongest
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storm in Jamaica's history. On Sunday night, satellite intensity estimates
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for Melissa jumped off the charts, prev ocastionally, reaching never
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before observed wind speeds of one hundred and ninety miles
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per hour in the Atlantic basin. Hurricane Hunter observations were
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lower than those estimates, but their mission didn't coincide with
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the satellite estimated peak. We're witnessing satellite history in the
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Atlantic tonight, meteorologist Michael Laurie wrote. Melissa also became the
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third hurricane of the Atlantic season to reach Category five strength,
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the second most of any season on record. Melissa's impacts
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will spread far from its center. Hurricane warnings cover all
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of Jamaica, but where exactly the storm makes landfall will
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influence which areas experience the worst effects. Although Melissa's eye
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won't push ashore in the country's capital, Kingston. It could
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come in a few areas to the west, dangers. Hurricane
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force winds will also fling debris, flattened trees, and snap
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power poles, especially within a thirty to fifty mile radius
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of the storm set. Jamaica's main island measures one hundred
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fifty miles from west to east and fifty miles from
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south to north, with tropical storm force winds expected across
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the entire island and hurricane force winds in central and
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western parishes. Places such as Kingston, Norman Manly International Airport,
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where the elevation is ten feet above sea level, Port
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More and areas around Old Harbor Bay are susceptible to surge,
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particularly as a violent counterclockwise rotation around Melissa pushes ocean
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water through the harbors and inland. Storm surge was already
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reported near those areas Sunday. Later this week, Melissa will
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race across the open waters of the North Atlantic, but
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not before it affects several more places, including Cuba, the Bahamas,
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the Turks and Caicos Islands, and possibly Bermuda. Melissa could
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make up to three landfalls in fewer than three days.
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After Jamaica, it will strike southeastern Cuba on Tuesday into Wednesday,
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before hitting the southern Bahamas later Wednesday into Thursday. Life
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threatening storm surge is expected along portions of the southern
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coast of eastern Cuba late Tuesday and Tuesday night, the
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Hurricane Center wrote, adding that up to twenty inches of
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rain could fall there. Preparations should be rushed to completion.
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It said. The storm also is in done hitting Haiti,
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where there have been three storm ladd deaths per local reports,
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and the Dominican Republic as flash flooding, including dampours, will
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continue through Wednesday. The storm is forecast to pass near
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Bermuda on Friday as it accelerates into the North Atlantic.
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Around the same time, some of Melissa's moisture will become
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entangled in a separate storm from the mid Atlantic to
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Atlantic Canada on Thursday and Friday, delivering heavy rain and
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wind that will lash areas from d C to Boston.
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Melissa's potentially historic journey will finally end in the North
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Atlantic late in the week, when the storm meets cooler
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waters and a harsh jet stream, But on Monday evening,
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the storm's demise felt far away the focus was squarely
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on Jamaica and the other island nations that lay in
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its path. As he addressed the nation wholeness, tried to
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cling to optimism, reminding his fellow residence that they had
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weathered many storms in the past. Even if the worst comes,
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we will be able to recover, he insisted. He reminded
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them of Jamaica's national anthem and the faith it expresses
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that the country will navigate even the hardest times. Eternal Father,
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bless our land. It begins, guard us with thy mighty hand.
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Den le Mouth contributed to this report. Our next item
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from today's front page is entitled Trump rebukes Putin on
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arms use, Russia says missile tests successful. President tells leader
23:56
to end Ukraine war instead. By Robin Dixon. President Donald
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Trump rebuked Russia on Monday for testing a new nuclear
24:05
capable cruise missile instead of working to end the war
24:08
in Ukraine, a testy exchange that is indicative of how
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relations between the countries have worsened in recent weeks. Russia
24:17
on Sunday announced a successful test of a nuclear powered
24:20
cruise missile called Purtasnik, which Russia says can carry a
24:24
nuclear warhead and travel for more than eight thousand miles.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, dressed in military fatigues, hailed it
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as a unique product, unlike anything else in the world.
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When asked by journalists on Air Force One whether he
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saw the test as nuclear saber rattling, Trump said the
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United States had a nuclear submarine right off Russia's coast
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and that it didn't need to travel eight thousand miles.
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I don't think it's an appropriate thing for Putin to
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be saying, either, by the way you ought to get
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the war ended. A war that should have taken one
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week is now in it soon to be fourth year.
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That's what you ought to do instead of testing missiles,
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he said. Russia's Skyfall cruise missile, as it is known
25:07
in the U S, has been under development for several
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years and has had a number of failed tests. Experts
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have said it is more a provocation than a major
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advance in military technology. Putin unveiled six quote invincible nuclear
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missiles in March twenty eighteen. Including Burevshnik. Commenting on Trump's statement,
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Russia would not be dissuaded
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from its weapons tests. Despite our openness to establishing dialog
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with the U, s Russia and the Russian president are
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guided by their own national interests. This has been the case,
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is the case now, and will continue to be the
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case in the future. Peskov said. He accused the US
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of unfriendly actions towards Russia, which he said complicated efforts
25:53
to improve ties. After adopting a policy that was much
25:58
more open towards Russia than his predeceessor was and speaking
26:01
directly with Putin several times, Trump is now expressing frustration
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with a Russian leader over the lack of resolution to
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the war in Ukraine. Last week, he announced sanctions against
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Russian oil companies, the first since he took ATHUS. Other
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administration officials have also adopted a Firmer tongue, including Treasury
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Secretary Scott Bassant, who on Sunday dismissed Kirol Dmitriev, head
26:26
of Russia's Sovereign Wealth Fund and a key interlocutor with
26:29
the administration, as a Russian propagandist. Dmitriyev said in television
26:35
interviews while visiting the US over the weekend that the
26:38
new sanctions would not affect Russia's economy and would only
26:42
lead to higher American gasoline prices. He denied that Russia
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had hit civilian targets, including a Kharkiv kindergarten, last week,
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and claimed that a diplomatic solution to the war was
26:53
reasonably close. Asked about Dmitriev's comments, Bessant criticized the journalist
26:59
for quoting a Russian propagandist. If you go through and
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look at every Russian talking point, they seem to use
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the word we have immunized the economy against us. Well,
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they haven't immunized the econmy Their oil earnings are down
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twenty percent year of a year, he said. Bloomberg News
27:17
reported the drop earlier this month due to lower oil
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prices and a stronger ruble. Russia's military commander, General Valery
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Gerasimov on Sunday claims that the Bresnik missile had flown
27:30
for eight thousand, seven hundred miles in a fifteen hour
27:33
test Tuesday, and that it could strike any heavily protected
27:36
target with guaranteed accuracy. The comments by Putin and Gerasamov
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on the missile test marked the latest instance of nuclear
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posturing by Russian officials during the war in Ukraine, which
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analysts attribute to Russia's attempts to deter the US and
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Europe from supporting Key. The uptaking confrontational rhetoric came after
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Russia last week rejected Trump's call to freeze fighting at
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current battle lines in Ukraine. A phone call between Secretary
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of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
28:09
on October twenty led to the cancelation of a planned
28:12
meeting in Budapest between Trump and Putin. Arms experts have
28:17
questioned whether the missile lives up to Moscow's boosts, but
28:20
I have noted that it could be a destabilizing factor
28:23
amid what many see as a new arms race at
28:26
a time when relations between Moscow and Washington are fragile.
28:30
Jeffrey Lewis, a Distinguished Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research
28:34
Institute and a Distinguished Scholar on Global security at Middlebury College,
28:39
cast doubt on Russian claims that the missile could not
28:42
be intercepted. He said, the missile isn't invincible. It's a
28:46
subsonic about two hundred sixty meters per second cruise missile.
28:50
NATO aircraft could intercept it. The problem is that Brevashnik
28:55
is yet another step at an arms race that offers
28:57
no victory for either side. Lewis wrote on X previous
29:01
tests had lasted between four seconds and two minutes when
29:05
the engine failed with night In twenty nineteen, Brewsnik missile
29:09
sank in the White Sea during a failed test, and
29:12
an explosion occurred during the recovery, releasing radiation and killing
29:17
seven people, including nuclear scientists. Dekker Eveleth, a nuclear deterrence
29:23
analyst at the Center for Naval Analyzes military think tank,
29:27
wrote on X that it was extremely dapple that Berewsnik
29:31
is all that capable of system a terear weapon, but
29:34
not much else. Flying the system in a figure eight
29:38
for a while doesn't really prove it's capable of targeting
29:41
what they want to target, he added. Our next item
29:45
is entitled largest federal union calls who are a quote
29:49
clean bill to end shut down by Amy B. Wang.
29:54
The nation's largest union of federal workers is calling on
29:57
lawmakers to pass a stopgap funding measures to end the
30:00
government shut down, calling it an avoidable crisis. As the
30:04
impass approaches the one month mark, the American Federation of
30:08
Government Employees which represents more than eight hundred thousand federal
30:12
and DC government workers, said in a statement Monday that
30:15
the shutdown is punishing the people who keep the country running.
30:19
Both political parties have made their point, and still there
30:23
is no clear end in sight. AFGE National President Everett
30:27
Kelly said in the statement, today, I'm making mine it's
30:31
time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this
30:34
shutdown today, no half measures and no gamesmanship. Put every
30:39
single federal worker back on the job with full back
30:42
pay today. The federal government shut down October first, after
30:47
the Senate did not pass a House approved measure to
30:50
extend funding at current levels. For seven weeks, Democrats and
30:54
Republicans have been deadlocked over extending health care subsidies that
30:58
otherwise will expire at the end of the US with
31:01
neither side budging. Republicans have suggested they are open to
31:04
debate on the issue, but only after the government reopens.
31:09
The shutdown has put at least six hundred seventy thousand
31:12
federal workers on furlough, while about seven hundred thirty thousand
31:16
others are working without pay, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
31:21
President Donald Trump has used the shutdown to institute mass
31:24
firings and council programs he dislikes, and his administration has
31:28
threatened to withhold back pay from furloughed workers. The AFGE
31:33
represents federal workers across nearly every agency. The agencies with
31:38
the highest memberships are the Social Security Administration and the
31:42
Veterans Affairs, Defense, and Homeland Security Departments. Kelly called it
31:46
a national disgrace that federal employees have been standing in
31:50
line at food banks after missing a second paycheck during
31:53
the shutdown. These are patriotic Americans, parents, caregivers, and veterans
31:59
forced to work without pay while struggling to cover rent, groceries, gas,
32:04
and medicine because of political disagreements in Washington. That is unacceptable,
32:09
Kelly said in the statement, first reported by NBC News,
32:13
citing pulling that showed the shutdown was unpopular. It's time
32:17
for our leaders to start focusing on how to solve
32:20
problems for the American people, rather than on who was
32:23
going to get the blame for a shutdown than americans dislike.
32:27
The AFGE endorsed then Vice President Kamala Harris for president
32:31
last year and has several active lawsuits against the Trump administration,
32:36
including over the mass firings during the shutdown. The union
32:40
statement is likely to put more pressure on Senate Democrats
32:43
to support a House pass Continuing Resolution five. More Democratic
32:48
senators would have to vote with Republicans to reach the
32:51
sixty votes needed to advance the bill. Senator Dick Durbin
32:55
from Illinois, the number two Senate Democrat, said the AFGE
32:59
statement would carry a lot of weight with his party,
33:02
but he stopped short of saying it would change their
33:04
overall strategy. I've talked to them, and they're in a
33:08
terrible mess, Durbin told reporters, so many of their workers
33:12
who are not being paid. I can understand why they
33:15
did that, but multiple Democratic senators who represent high concentrations
33:20
of federal workers didn't change our tune Monday, insisting as
33:24
they have from the start of the shutdown, that they
33:27
want Republicans to agree to policies that would bring down
33:30
health care costs. I'm committed to immediately reopening the government
33:35
in a responsible way that prevents the illegal budget actions
33:39
Trump has taken, including against our federal workers, and stops
33:43
americans health care costs from exploding. Senator Chris Van Holland,
33:48
Democrat from Maryland said in a statement to the Washington Post.
33:52
In the meantime, I'm also working to immediately pay all
33:56
our federal employees and prevent this administration's mass firings. Federal
34:01
employees did not cause the shutdown, and they should not
34:05
have to bear the brunt of it. Democrats have demanded
34:08
that Trump meet with them directly to negotiate an end
34:11
to the shutdown, but the President has insisted that he
34:14
will not meet until the government reopens. Senator Tim Kane,
34:19
Democrat from Virginia, has said that the lack of trust
34:22
in Trump has kept Democrats resistant to voting to reopen
34:25
the government. I've been clear and consistent that to earn
34:29
my vote to reopen the government, we need to be
34:32
on a path to fixing the healthcare mess Republicans created,
34:35
and the White House needs to provide an assurance that
34:38
a deal is a deal, he said in a statement Monday. Otherwise,
34:43
what's to stop this administration from immediately firing federal workers
34:47
and refusing to allocate appropriated funds to Virginia as it
34:51
has done since January twenty. In addition to demanding that
34:55
the government be reopened and workers receive back pay, Kelly
34:59
called on law mo makers to address rising costs and
35:02
to fix the broken appropriations process. None of these steps
35:06
favor one political side over the other. They favor the
35:09
American people, who expect stability from their government and responsibility
35:14
from their leaders, he said. Riley Began and Theodoric Mayer
35:18
contributed to this report. Next is an item entitled Iowans
35:24
ask whether the land is making them ill? Young cancer
35:27
patients are making the corn Belt state a bellweather of
35:30
generational reckoning by Ariyana en Jung, Chah, Dan Keating, Jahi Chikwindieu,
35:38
and Louis Melgar from Winterset, Iowa. Mackenzie Dryden's happiest childhood
35:43
memories are of running barefoot through the sunlit cornfields of
35:47
her hometown. When she was diagnosed with cancer two and
35:50
a half years ago at eighteen years old, a disturbing
35:53
thought began to take hold. Could something in the land
35:57
she loved have made her sick? Dryden went to social
36:01
media for answers and stumbled upon a deeper mystery. Within
36:05
just two years, four other recent graduates from her high school,
36:09
home to only five hundred students, had also been diagnosed
36:13
with advanced cancers. It's kind of insane. This is happening,
36:18
the college senior said in an interview. Dryden's questioning taps
36:22
into an unsettling shift in cancer diagnoses in America, with
36:26
rates for young adults in their twenties, thirties, and forties
36:29
trending up even as overall cancer rates decline, and with
36:34
geography appearing to be a key characteristic in who falls ill.
36:38
Young cancer rates among young adults in the Corn Belt,
36:42
a patchwork of golden fields and straight line highways stretching
36:45
across the heart of the Midwest, arising more rapidly than
36:49
in the country as a whole. A Washington Post data
36:52
analysis reveals the six leading states for corn production Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana,
37:01
and Kansas had the same cancer frequency as the rest
37:04
of the nation for young adults and the overall population
37:07
when state level tracking began in nineteen ninety nine. In
37:11
the two thousands, they began to diverge, and since twenty fifteen,
37:15
the states have had a significantly higher cancer rate among
37:19
those ages fifteen to forty nine. In the latest data
37:22
from twenty twenty two, those states have a rate five
37:26
percent higher for young adults and five percent higher for
37:29
the overall population. Young adults in those states have significantly
37:34
higher rates of several cancers. The post analysis found, especially
37:39
kidney and skin cancers. The skin cancer risk for young
37:43
adults in the corn producing states is thirty five percent
37:46
higher for men and sixty six percent higher for women
37:50
than their peers in other states. In Iowa, young cancer
37:54
patients like Dryden are redefining what it means to confront
37:57
the illness in the twenty first century, make the small
38:00
state a bell weather of generational reckoning. With the power
38:05
of social media, this group, which includes a young mother
38:08
haunted by the possibility that chemotherapy has stolen her chance
38:12
for another child, a woman in her forties who now
38:16
uses a feeding tube, and five young adults who attended
38:19
the same high school, has turned personal crises into collective action.
38:25
They are raising questions about the role of agrobusiness and
38:28
the water that runs through their communities, and pushing politicians
38:32
to act in a region where such questions have long
38:35
been taboo. They are also confronting a health care system
38:39
thus not only failing to offer answers about why so
38:42
many people are getting cancer, but also struggling to diagnose
38:46
and treat those who do. At a time when Health
38:50
and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Juniors quote make
38:54
America Healthy Again, the campaign has blamed environmental exposure and
38:58
diet for chronic disease. The activist similar message is starting
39:03
to resonate in this red state. Iowa. Governor Kim Reynolds,
39:07
a Republican, this year announced a one million dollar investment
39:10
to establish a research team dedicated to investigating the underlying
39:15
causes of the state's growing cancer rates. And pesticide manufacturer
39:19
Bayer recently faced a setback in the state legislature when
39:23
a proposed bill intended to protect the company from lawsuits
39:27
claiming that its flagship product Roundup causes cancer was defeated.
39:33
Researchers are still working to disentangle national trends from regional anomalies,
39:38
and the data doesn't yet offer a satisfying explanation for
39:42
why cancer rates among the young have shot up here.
39:45
The increase in cancer diagnoses among young adults may reflect
39:49
broader changes better detection, shifting environmental factors, or even evolving
39:55
livestock patterns, but the fact that some areas seem to
39:59
carry a heavyer suggests that something more specific, if still unidentified,
40:05
may be a play in this vacuum. Both patients and
40:08
scientists have grappled with incomplete information. Mary Charlton, director of
40:17
the Iowa Cancer Registry, said the state's rise is unlikely
40:21
to be the product of a single identifiable cause. Instead,
40:26
her work and that of other scientists points more toward complex,
40:29
interwoven forces, including those potentially seated in pregnancy and early childhood.
40:35
What's driving these rates is what's on everyone's mind, including mine,
40:39
all the time, Charlton said. The complicated thing is that
40:44
it's not risk factors now, it's our risk factors from ten,
40:47
twenty thirty years ago that are causing the cancers now.
40:52
Pointed questions in the geography of American health, early onset
40:57
cancer paints a stark and uneven map, one that potentially
41:01
reveals how environment, policy, and access to medical expertise and
41:06
resources influence health. Cross the Appalachian Quarter, States like West
41:11
Virginia and Tennessee bear a disproportion of burden with high
41:15
rates of both diagnoses and mortality. In contrast, the West
41:20
Coast and Mountain West have low rates of incidents and death.
41:25
Then there's Iowa, where young adults are being diagnosed with
41:28
cancer at high rates, yet dying at a rate typical
41:31
for the country. The article includes an infographic entitled Track
41:37
Your State and Young Adult Cancer Rates. The infographic shows
41:41
that Kentucky has both a high incidence of cancer and
41:45
a high cancer mortality, second only to West Virginia. At
41:50
the turn of the century, Iowa ranked eighteenth in the
41:53
nation for cancer rates among adults under fifty to day.
41:57
It's fifth in its yearly cancer report to the public.
42:01
The Iowa Cancer Registry, part of the National Institutes of
42:04
Health Surveillance program, has flagged ultra violet exposure due to
42:08
so many residents being involved in farming and being outdoors
42:12
and high rates of binge drinking. The state is often
42:15
among the top three in the nation according to surveys
42:18
as among the potential causes of Iowa's high overall cancer
42:22
rates at all ages. But in a report last year,
42:26
the University of Iowa's Environmental Health Sciences Research Center focused
42:30
on the land itself, casting Iowa as a hot spot
42:34
for environmental exposures to cancer causing agents. The assessment noted
42:39
that the state's soil harbors some of the nation's highest
42:42
natural radon levels, while its groundwater carries the country's highest
42:46
average nitrate pollution, largely due to decades of fertilizer use. Raydon,
42:51
a colorless, odorless radioactive gas, is considered a key risk
42:56
factor for lung cancer, and multiple studies have linked nitrate
42:59
in drinking water to cancer in the stomach area. We
43:03
are a place where a lot of agrichemicals are used,
43:06
both historically and currently, said Hans Joachim Lemmler, director of
43:11
the Center that raises concerns about exposures. Mounting scientific evidence
43:18
has linked long term exposure to fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides
43:22
with heightened cancer risks, most notably non Hodgkins lymphoma, leukemia,
43:27
and prostate cancer. Study suggest these chemicals may damage DNA,
43:33
disrupt hormone function, increase inflammation, suppress the immune system, and
43:38
trigger oxidative stress, a cognition that can harm cells over time.
43:43
While the data point to dangers for farm workers in
43:46
those entering fields shortly after spray, questions have begun to
43:49
extend to nearby communities and consumers. A twenty twenty four
43:54
analysis of population level data in the journal Frontiers and
43:58
Cancer Control and Society looked at countywide agricultural pesticide data,
44:03
along with cancer incidents and potentially confounding factors such as
44:07
prevalence of smoking. The analysis concluded that the impact of
44:12
pesticide use on cancer incidents may rival that of smoking.
44:16
The authors noted that states with higher agricultural productivity, such
44:21
as the leading corn producing states of the Midwest, also
44:24
have increased cancer risk. At the center of the controversy
44:28
is glyphosate, the active ingredient in round up and the
44:32
most widely used herbicide on the planet. In twenty fifteen,
44:36
the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of
44:39
the World Health Organization, deemed it probably carcinogenic to humans.
44:44
The Environmental Protection Agency disagreed, and as recently as twenty
44:49
twenty reaffirmed this believe that glyphosate is not likely to
44:52
be carcinogenic, a split that has fueled ongoing scientific and
44:57
regulatory discord. The EPA said in response to questions that
45:02
it is currently updating its evaluation of the carcinogenic potential
45:06
of glyphisate and plans to release its findings in twenty
45:09
twenty six. However, the agency said the underlying scientific findings
45:14
regarding glyphisate including its finding that glyphase is not likely
45:19
to be carcinogenic to humans, remain the same, although considered
45:24
less acutely toxic than some other agricultural chemicals. The US
45:28
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ATSDR notes that
45:34
glyphiseate can have a range of potential effects beyond cancer,
45:38
including respiratory problems, hormonal disruption, and possible impacts on gut health.
45:44
Thousands of cancer patients have sued Bayer, which makes glyphisaate
45:48
based products, although verdicts have varied. Recent massive jury awards,
45:53
for example two point one billion dollars in Georgia in
45:56
March and two billion dollars in California in twenty nineteen,
46:00
could lead to billions in payouts. Bear is asking the U. S.
46:04
Supreme Court to intervene, asserting that federal EPA approval of
46:08
round ups labeling without requiring a cancer warning should pre
46:13
empt state based failure to Warren claims. The company eliminated
46:17
glyphyside from its residential round up products in twenty twenty
46:20
three in the United States to reduce litigation risks, but
46:23
the commercial formulation with the chemical continues to be widely
46:27
used by farmers. Bayer declined to comment about the litigation
46:31
and Iowa, but said in a statement that the company
46:34
stands behind the safety of our glyphysade based products, which
46:38
have been tested extensively, approved by regulators, and used around
46:41
the globe for fifty years. Glyphysaate, despite its notoriety, is
46:46
just one piece of a larger puzzle. Safety tests often
46:50
assess chemicals in isolation, but people are exposed over time
46:53
to complex mixtures through soil, water, air, and food. Reynolds,
47:00
the governor of Iowa, said the research group she launched
47:02
would look holistically at potential behavioral, genetic, and environmental factors,
47:07
but that we shouldn't jump to conclusions. Doctor and Democratic
47:12
state Representative Austin bas forty one was among a group
47:16
of lawmakers who this year helped defeat a bill sought
47:20
by chemical makers, including Bayer, that would shield them from
47:23
lawsuits claiming that it failed to tell customers that a
47:26
pesticide could increase cancer risk. Similar bills passed this spring
47:31
into other states, North Dakota, and Georgia. Earlier this year,
47:36
after a particularly brutal shift as internal medicine, clinic Base
47:40
turned to tik Tok to talk about two young adults,
47:43
healthy people who live clean lives, whom he diagnosed with
47:46
cancer that day. I can't stop thinking about how stories
47:50
like this are unfolding all across Iowa every single day,
47:54
he said, the glow of his phone illuminating a face
47:57
heavy with frustration. His mos garnered a half million views
48:01
and thousands of comments, in which many i Ons shared
48:05
their own or loved ones. Cancer diagnoses at a young
48:08
age twenty one, twenty nine, thirty six, twenty twenty three,
48:14
twenty one, twenty one, thirty four, a system that wasn't
48:20
built for them. Beatrice abanging Tune was twenty five and
48:25
working double shifts as a waitress in West des Moines
48:27
when she found the lump pea sized and tucked in
48:30
her left breast. Doctors dismissed her concerns again and again.
48:35
She was too young for anything serious, they said. The
48:38
shadow on her scans was brushed off as a harmless cyst.
48:41
It took multiple appointments and her own insistence before the
48:45
truth emerged Stage three breast cancer. Across the country, young
48:50
people are being diagnosed with cancer at a later stage
48:53
than their older counterparts. In breast cancer, the most frequent
48:57
diagnosis Among young women. Nearly forty percent of patients under
49:01
fifty are diagnosed at a later stage, compared to twenty
49:04
nine percent of women over fifty. According to the Post analysis,
49:09
it's not just bad luck of biology, but a reflection
49:12
of a system that wasn't built for them. Modern cancer
49:16
care was shaped around the bodies and timelines of older adults.
49:21
The median age of diagnosis in the United States is
49:24
sixty six, and diagnosis and treatment protocols have largely follen suit.
49:30
Younger patients may endure aggressive therapies better in the short term,
49:34
but their long term risks are greater, as they are
49:37
more likely to survive past the five or ten year
49:40
mark than their older counterparts. A body with decades ahead
49:44
of it must live longer, with the consequences heart damage
49:47
from chemotherapy, hormone disruptions, secondary cancers, and infertility. Of all
49:54
of these, survivors say the infertility can be the most
49:57
personally devastating. To an eight year old, A Bangutun said
50:02
she and her longtime boyfriend hope to grow their family,
50:06
but her cancer medication jeopardizes that. Because a Bangnutun couldn't
50:10
afford to freeze her eggs. Doctors instead gave her a
50:13
shot to put her ovaries in a dormant state, which
50:17
only works about forty percent of the time to preserve fertility.
50:21
Talking about infertility it sends me into panic attacks, said
50:25
a Bagnetun, who is now a nursing student. A bill
50:29
introduced in the Iowa legislature aimed to insure insurance coverage
50:33
for newly diagnosed cancer patients to preserve their fertility, but
50:37
installed over cost concerns. Egg freezing can cost about ten
50:42
thousand dollars, while sperm preservation can be five hundred dollars
50:46
and up. A Bagnutun has argued on social media that
50:50
fertility preservation should not be treated as a privilege, but
50:53
rather a fundamental part of patient care. A former high
50:57
school gymnast and basketball player, a Bagnetune still carries the
51:02
poise of her athletic youth, but after six surgeries, six
51:06
months of chemotherapy, and six weeks of radiation, she lives
51:09
with relentless hot flashes and fatigue. Her left arm swells
51:13
painfully if she list it too high. She can't wear
51:16
heels because her feet are none. Chemotherapy turned her to
51:20
nails black and her doctor is recommended removing them permanently.
51:25
I'm twenty nine, she said, but I feel seventy eight.
51:28
Inside the paradox of survival. Emily Hoffmann, who lives in
51:34
West des Moines, was thirty when she was diagnosed with
51:37
cervical cancer. The physical toll was immediate, but the emotional
51:42
weight settled in more slowly. Surveys consistently show that younger
51:46
adults experience higher leve of the psychological distress than both
51:50
children and older adults, a paradox of their survival that
51:54
the medical system has yet to fully address. Hoffmann's digestive
51:59
system never re covered. Eating became painful and unpredictable. She
52:04
felt sick every time she tried. Once thriving in a
52:07
physically demanding job in corn fields for a biotech seed company,
52:12
she eventually had to move to a desk job as
52:14
her strength faded. For eight years, doctors tried everything. I
52:19
spent my thirty sick in bed, she said. Nothing helped
52:23
until they implanted a port in her chest connected to
52:27
a backpack that delivers liquid nutrition around the clock, a
52:30
system called total parential Nutrition or TPN. Hoffman jokes about it.
52:36
Now I admit it. I am sleeping with my TPN.
52:41
When she emerged from treatment, Hoffman was looking for some
52:43
one to talk to about being young, sick and still
52:47
expected to build a life, but found few resources. Now
52:52
forty two, she's helped launch a program for young survivors
52:55
at Above plus Beyond Cancer, a des Moin nonprofit founded
53:00
by a former National Cancer Institute researcher, where she's on
53:03
the board. Its bike rides, our classes and yoga sessions
53:08
reflect a simple but radical idea that survivorship deserves as
53:13
much care as treatment, not just to live, but to
53:16
live well with an illness. On a brisk April evening,
53:21
Hoffmann joined half a dozen friends, all diagnosed with cancer
53:25
in their twenties or thirties, for dance class at Ballet
53:28
des Moines. As they swayed and stumbled through the choreography,
53:32
their laughter filled the studio. Are we caring? Are we kind?
53:37
The instructor with flame red hair called out, yeah, they
53:41
shouted back. The Madison County Crew Madison County, Iowa, spans
53:47
five hundred and sixty two square miles of neatly planted
53:50
corn and soybean fields that roll toward the horizon beyond
53:55
its farming roots. The area is famous for its red
53:58
covered bridges, etched in popular culture by a best selling
54:02
book and the subsequent nineteen ninety five Clint Eastwood MARYL.
54:05
Street romantic drama The Bridges of Madison County. Cancer has
54:10
long been a part of life in the county seat
54:12
of Winterset, as in many places, but two springs ago
54:16
a wave of cancer diagnoses among young people began to emerge,
54:21
prompting a more urgent and unsettling confrontation with the disease.
54:26
Three of the five had blood related cancers and two
54:29
cancers related to the testes. Dryden, now twenty one, was
54:33
among the first to be diagnosed. In March twenty twenty three.
54:38
She was in college at the University of Miami and
54:40
snap chatting a friend when she saw herself in her
54:44
camera and noticed that her right eye was half closed.
54:47
She went to four different doctors before the last one
54:50
sent her to the er. Imaging revealed a tumor almost
54:54
six inches wide in her chest, crushing her left law.
54:58
She had hodgkinslim foama, a blood based cancer, stage two bulky,
55:04
meaning it was still early stage and hadn't spread to
55:07
the lymph. Notes below her diaphragm, but because one of
55:10
the tumors was so large, it required more aggressive treatment.
55:15
Since her diagnosis, Dryden has been posting on social media
55:19
about her worries about glyphissay that was and still is
55:22
sprayed every year on her family's farm and others in
55:25
her hometown. All of the five young people had been healthy.
55:30
Four played high school sports before their cancer diagnosis. Growing up,
55:35
she said, I didn't think much of the chemicals. It
55:37
was the norm here. People would spray whatever, and it
55:40
was what it was. Marshall Agnoll twenty had been a
55:44
senior at wintersd Senior High School in spring twenty twenty
55:47
three when he noticed a golf ball sized lump in
55:50
his left armpit and had horrendous itching for months Before that,
55:55
he learned he had Hodgekin's lymphoma stage three to four
55:59
advance camp answer that has spread beyond its point of origin.
56:03
Jack West, twenty three, a wrestler and golfer in high school,
56:07
was in his last year of college. In September twenty
56:09
twenty three. We have trouble breathing and doctors found a
56:12
softball sized mass in his chest. Further testing revealed it
56:16
to be an extremely rare form of cancer that is
56:19
believed to have originated in the testes stage four. Mikaela Hunter,
56:25
Agnoll's sister and a cross country teaman of Dryden's, was
56:28
diagnosed in March of this year with non Hodgkins lymphoma,
56:32
a different type of blood based cancer than her brother.
56:35
She had tumors in her breast, pelvis, and chest stage four.
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Cole Siler was diagnosed in April at age twenty eight
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with a type of testicular cancer, stage four and which
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was diffused through his body, including his back, liver, kidneys,
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and around a major artery that supplies blood to his legs.
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His body's first warning came in the form of aches
56:59
in his back. Doctors choked it up to weightlifting routine,
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straining nothing serious. He consulted a chiropractor, a physcal therapist,
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and a handful of other specialists. Many recommended heat, but
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his need was so persistent and intense that some nights
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he fell asleep on an electric heating pad, scorching his back.
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Sailer has been in and out of the hospital since
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its diagnosis, and started a concentrated round of chemotherapy in
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late May that has dramatically shrunken his tumors. He has
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gradually regained his strength, returning to work virtually in early
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October and taking longer walks, But the future weighs heavily
57:37
on him, too ill at the time to freeze his sperm.
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He's aware of other men left infertile by treatment, and
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he now wonders if he'll be able to have a family.
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Siler often finds his mind looping through the past, searching
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for answers. He'd always been strong and fit, playing football, baseball,
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running track at home. His family ate well, but on
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his own he had dull sometimes gas station snacks, fast
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food stops, red meat. Could it be his diet or
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even drinking out of the water hose and playing outside?
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He wonders, now, was it a lifetime of little exposures
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adding up? I think about why a lot? Saylor said.
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This concludes the reading of the Washington Post for to Day, Tuesday,
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October twenty eighth, twenty twenty five. Your reader for to
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Day has been Cindy Fraser. If you have any questions, comments,
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or suggestions concerning this program, please feel free to call
58:35
us at eight five nine four two two six three
58:37
nine zero. Thank you for listening and now please stay
58:41
tuned for continued programming on Radio I