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What Uvalde and Buffalo families want Congress to do on guns · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Wednesday, June 8th. I'm Shumita Basu. 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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  This week, victims from the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings are on Capitol Hill urging lawmakers to do something to prevent the next mass shooting. Miah Cerrillo appeared on video in a house hearing today. She's a fourth grader who was inside the elementary school classroom in Uvalde where students and teachers were killed. She told the story of how she covered herself in her classmate's blood so the gunman would think that she was dead. She waited for an opening to call for help.
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  Miah Cerrillo: I just stayed quiet, and then I got my teacher's phone and called 9-1-1.
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  Interviewer: What did you tell 9-1-1?
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  Miah Cerrillo: I told her that we need help and to send the police in, uh, in our classroom.
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  Her father Miguel was in Congress today to talk about how the shooting has affected their family.
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  Miguel Cerrillo: I thank you all for letting me be here and speak out. But I wish something would change. Not only for our kids, but for every single kid in the world 'cause schools are not safe anymore. Something needs to really change.
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  Yesterday, in a Senate hearing on domestic terrorism, we heard from Garnell Whitfield, Jr. His mom, Ruth Whitfield, was killed in Buffalo in the grocery store shooting that targeted Black people. His mother was 86 years old.
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  Garnell Whitfield, Jr: I ask every one of you to imagine the faces of your mothers as you look at mine, and ask yourself, "Is there nothing that we can do?" Is there nothing that you personally are willing to do to stop the cancer of white supremacy and the domestic terrorism it inspires? Because if there is nothing, then respectfully senators, you should yield your positions of authority and influence to others that are willing to lead on this issue. The urgency of the moment demands no less.
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  "ABC News" reports how a bill designed to combat domestic terrorism was blocked last month by Senate Republicans. That bill would have created new government offices to monitor, analyze, investigate and prosecute domestic terrorism. Also yesterday, actor Matthew McConaughey, who's from Uvalde, visited the White House. He said Uvalde is where he learned how to be a responsible gun owner. And he urged lawmakers to take action to prevent gun violence.
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  Matthew McConaughey: We need responsible gun ownership, responsible gun ownership. We need background checks. We need to raise the minimum age to purchase an AR-15 rifle to 21. We need a waiting period for those rifles. We need red flag laws and consequences for those who abuse them.
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  Many of the changes that he and others are calling for face a tough time getting enough Republican votes to pass. "NPR" reports that a bipartisan group of senators hopes to have a deal on legislation by the end of this week. But it's likely to be much narrower than many gun safety advocates want. Strict new restrictions on weapons are not likely. Talks are focusing on school security measures and standards for gun storage. The key Republican senator in the negotiations, Texas Senator John Cornyn, has said that he's not in favor of expanding the scope of background check systems.
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  Fierce fighting is happening in Ukraine's east. The Ukrainian military says it is successfully holding back Russian forces in a key city. But Russia is increasing its military presence in the region. It says it has control of nearly all of one province in Ukraine's least.
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  You can get a sense of how the war is changing by the weapons that they're using. The U.S. is now sending longer range rocket systems to Ukraine's military. Retired General and "CNN" military analyst Wesley Clark explained what's important to understand about these weapons.
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  Wesley Clark: They're going to extend the battlespace for Ukraine, so Ukraine can hit deeper Russian targets inside Ukraine. Also, so that these systems can be moved further out of range of Russian artillery. So this is very important. Ukrainian artillery is still outnumbered more than two to one by the Russian artillery.
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  "Vox" explains why these weapons mean that we're seeing a very different war than the beginning of Russia's invasion around 100 days ago. A military analyst explained that the fast-paced battles of February and March are giving way to what she calls a "more grinding, piecemeal" conflict. Long-range artillery for Ukraine gives it the ability to hold Russian forces back. These are weapons designed for long standoffs.
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  A slower, grinding war could play to Russia's advantage. A reduced pace of fighting gives it more time to resupply troops, which are now operating closer to Russia. Russia is in need of people power, and we know this from some recent reporting from "The Wall Street Journal" about low morale among Russian troops. It analyzed military documents and spoke to Russian soldiers and their lawyers. And it found that hundreds of Russian troops have refused orders to fight in Ukraine. Some are fighting in court.
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  This reporting looks at how this puts Russia's military in a tricky spot. If it doesn't punish soldiers who refuse orders, others might resist too. But it has to do that without drawing attention to the problem, since that's bad for Russia's public image. Officials in Moscow did not respond to the "Journal's" requests for comment.
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  This week, thousands of British workers from dozens of companies started the world's largest pilot of a four-day workweek. They're still getting their usual paycheck, just for 80% of the hours. The companies that are taking part range from a fish-and-chip shop to major corporations.
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  It's a test to see if workers can get as much done, and be happier, if they dramatically limit their working schedule. The idea is, if you have less time to get your work done, you'll cut out any unproductive parts of your day and still clock out on time. Joe Ryle is a leading campaigner for four-day work weeks. He told "Good Morning Britain" that when people work shorter, they work smarter.
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  Joe Ryle: Wherever we've seen the four-day week trial, on the one hand productivity seems to go up, and so does work as well being on the other hand. So it's a win-win for both the worker and the employer.
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  The "BBC" spoke to some British workers that are already experimenting with a four-day work week. One calls it "life changing." They're getting better sleep, it's better for their families and productivity-wise, they're simply getting more done in less time.
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  The six-month trial follows experimentation with shorter work weeks around the world. Iceland trialed four-day workweeks for several years before the pandemic. Workers there were productive, they were happier, with less burnout and stress. Later this year, trials are set for countries including Spain, Australia, Canada and the U.S. Companies are having trouble finding and retaining workers during the pandemic, so many managers are much more willing to experiment with flexible schedules.
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  Researchers who are watching this large British trial will look at the impact on the bottom line for business and how it affects worker well-being. They're also interested in whether a shorter work week will affect gender equality, and whether fewer workdays has positive environmental impact from less travel and energy use.
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  A major change for sports happened this week. The governing body for figure skating voted to raise the minimum age for senior competition from 15 to 17 to protect young skaters' health. At the International Skating Union meeting, Olympic medalist Eric Radford spoke out.
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  Eric Radford: The life of an athlete is short and intense. Their experience in this short period of their lives sets the stage for the rest of their lives: physically, mentally and emotionally.
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  The decision will gradually raise the age to 17 by the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. This comes after the doping controversy at the Beijing Olympics. Russian skater Kamila Valieva, who was 15 at the time of competition, had tested positive for a banned substance. And that threw the competition into chaos. Many in the skating world raised questions about pressure on very young athletes to perform and they renewed their calls for raising the age of eligibility.
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  By the way, the investigation into that doping scandal is still ongoing, which means many of the world's top figure skaters, including those on Team USA, still don't know what medals they won in Beijing. Because of Valieva's positive test, the results from the team event are on hold.
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  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app, including coverage of yesterday's primary results. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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