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The trailblazer who paved the way for Ketanji Brown Jackson · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Friday, April 8th. I'm Shumita Basu.
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  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.
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  Basu: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will soon be the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She was confirmed by the Senate yesterday with 53 votes in her favor. She'll replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who retires after this term.
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  Geraldino: "The Wall Street Journal" takes a look at some the first cases she could be hearing when she officially puts on that black robe in October. One involves the Environmental Protection Agency's power to fight water pollution. Another case will focus on the Voting Rights Act.
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  Basu: Judge Jackson will be the high court's first Black woman and only the eighth justice who is not a white man. A recent "Politico" article says this is a good time to look back at history. It draws some parallels between Judge Jackson and Constance Baker Motley. Motley was the first African American woman appointed to the federal bench and a pioneering civil rights attorney. She helped litigate Brown v. Board of Education. And she won nine out of the ten cases that she argued before the Supreme Court.
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  Geraldino: Civil rights historian Tomiko Brown-Nagin writes, in the '60s, there were calls for Motley to be nominated to the Supreme Court. So many of her peers considered her immensely qualified for the position. But the opposition to her was fierce. Critics said her civil rights work would make her biased. One senator even equated that work with communism.
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  Basu: Of course, Motley never was nominated to the highest court. Now, more than 50 years later, Judge Jackson is officially confirmed. When she takes the bench as a justice this October, Brown-Nagin says she will be standing on Constance Baker Motley's shoulders.
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  Dozens of people are dead in eastern Ukraine following a rocket attack on a train station. That's according to Ukraine's state rail company. The Ukrainian government says Russia deliberately targeted a station where thousands of civilians were trying to evacuate.
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  Geraldino: Russia's invasion is having impact around the world. Since this war started, some food and fuel prices have gone up even further. And that's sending political shockwaves thousands of miles away from this region. Daniel Ten Kate from "Bloomberg" explains how rising prices can shake the foundations of governments.
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  Daniel Ten Kate: Yeah. Inflation plays a big role in political stability around the world, particularly in countries where the average earnings aren't that much. So, if you're making two dollars per day, for instance, a small increase in the price of food or fuel goes a long way. So, where we see the biggest impact, politically, is these countries on the margin.
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  That list of countries is long and diverse.
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  Kate: Peru is one of those countries, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Kenya. You know, these are countries that are really getting hit hard first.
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  Basu: Take Peru. Prices are rising faster than they have in more than two decades. Ten Kate told us farmers and truckers have protested.
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  Kate: They're basically hitting the streets and trying to block roads, block highways, block ports, basically stopping the flow of trade and commerce there.
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  Geraldino: The political unrest is bad news for President Pedro Castillo, who, at the end of March, survived a second impeachment attempt.
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  Basu: Ten Kate also told us, the thing in many of these countries is people feeling the price pinch may not make the connection between Russia's invasion, global markets and what they pay at the supermarket or gas pump. So some of them may be taking it out on their country's leaders.
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  Kate: They see prices going up, and they're blaming their own leaders for that problem. There's a disconnect there between what's happening globally, the reasons for it and then the unique domestic political situations that these governments find themselves in.
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  Geraldino: He also points out, that anger over rising prices is a thing in America too.
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  Kate: They blame Joe Biden for that. And they don't care that much about Russia. Russia's not the main issue in their lives every day. The main issue is providing for their family and making sure there's enough food on the table and making sure they can buy the things they wanna buy.
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  Basu: A faster-spreading version of Omicron is now the dominant strain in America. New reporting in "The Atlantic" says the U.S. is heading into this wave with little interest in actually measuring or responding to it.
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  Geraldino: Science writer Katherine Wu points to the closure of testing sites and the decline of enthusiasm for at-home testing. As she sees it, this could lead to a shortage of solid data, making it harder for public health officials to track and respond to outbreaks. This is all tied to a general fatigue about the pandemic that a lot of people and politicians are feeling. Many may not have their guard up.
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  Basu: The big picture is, the United States has all the tools at our disposal to take this wave or the next one seriously. We know how to test and track cases. We know what does and doesn't work when it comes to masking, social distancing and ventilation. But the political will to do all these things has faded.
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  Geraldino: And that's a problem because less than half of all Americans have gotten their COVID booster shots. And health care workers are still recovering from the emotional and physical toll of previous surges.
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  Basu: Wu says, "When infections take off, it's not always easy to tell who holds the steering wheel," the virus or the host. Our actions - our decisions, really - can either slow the spread of cases or speed it up.
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  The way that you save for retirement is in for some big changes. "CNN" looks at new legislation that's moving through Congress that's going to transform how 401(k)s work. The biggest change would be to make employers automatically enroll eligible workers at a savings rate of three percent of salary.
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  Geraldino: Many companies already do this. And research shows that auto-enrollment can get a more diverse group of workers to save for retirement. Now, people can still opt out of 401(k) plans under this proposal.
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  Basu: This bill would also allow older workers to make bigger catch-up contributions. And there's something in there for people with student debt. Borrowers often have trouble saving for retirement and paying off loans at the same time. Companies would be allowed to match student loan payments with contributions to retirement plans.
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  Geraldino: If signed into law, this bill would also create more opportunities for part-time workers to contribute to 401(k) plans. It would also offer small businesses tax credits to make it easier for them to give employees retirement plans. "CNN" says the bill could be on Biden's desk this year.
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  Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And check out our weekend interview show, "In Conversation." This week, I speak with "The New Yorker's" Louisa Thomas about transgender athletes in elite sports. It's a conversation about fairness, science and inclusion, sparked in large part by the success of UPenn swimmer, Lia Thomas.
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  Louisa Thomas: There was this kind of immediate desire to leap to the conclusion that Lia had already won everything. They were talking about how inevitable it was that she was gonna be breaking Katie Ledecky's records and Missy Franklin's records. And she never did.
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  Geraldino: Check out that weekend listen. We'll be back with the news on Monday.
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