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Major new revelations about lavish gifts to Clarence Thomas · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Friday, August 11th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is “Apple News Today.” On today's show, new revelations about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The debate over how to restore the iconic sequoias after many were wiped out by California wildfires, and a celebration of hip-hop's 50th birthday.
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  But first, let's take a brief look at some major stories in the news.
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  In Hawaii, the wildfire death toll is rising, with at least 55 people killed and thousands forced to run, or swim, for their lives. Governor Josh Green says the level of destruction is unheard of there.
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  Governor Josh Green: What we saw was likely the largest natural disaster in Hawaii's state history.
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  Rescue efforts are underway. And there will be a massive rebuilding effort after that. The Maui community of Lahaina was destroyed in the flames. It's a place with deep historical and economic importance. It was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. And it drew millions of tourists each year, accounting for about 80% of the island's visitors.
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  Moving to some international news, several Americans are now out of Iran's notorious Evin Prison. They were transferred to house arrest, in a potential first step of an evolving deal for their release. The deal reportedly includes the U.S. releasing several Iranians and allowing access to $6 billion in frozen oil revenue. Iran would be able to tap into the money for humanitarian spending. The deal could still fall apart, but the movement of the Americans out of the prison is a positive sign.
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  And in Ecuador, six people are under arrest in connection with the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The election is a week from Sunday. Villavicencio ran on promises to crack down on crime, violence, and corruption in the country. The suspected shooter died after a gunfight in the wake of Wednesday's assassination. Authorities say the suspects in custody are Colombian, and members of organized criminal groups.
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  “ProPublica” is out with a new investigation on lavish gifts that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted from billionaires. What reporters have uncovered goes far beyond what was previously known. Ethics experts say that Thomas appears to have broken the law by failing to disclose the gifts. Reporter Brett Murphy told us about the latest investigation.
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  Brett Murphy: So we're talking about at least 38 destination vacations, 26 private jet flights, an additional eight by helicopter, a dozen VIP passes to professional and college sporting events. Two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica. And then there was one standing invitation to an uber exclusive golf club on the Atlantic coast.
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  The total value of these gifts is likely in the millions, allowing Thomas to live a lifestyle impossible on his salary. In addition to the gifts that Thomas accepted from billionaire conservative megadonor Harlan Crow, “ProPublica” found several others who showered the justice with gifts: Wayne Huizenga, who made his fortune through Blockbuster Video, Waste Management, and AutoNation. David Sokol, who worked with Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway. And Tony Novelly, an oil baron.
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  Murphy: We didn't find any of these guys with cases before the court during their documented friendship with Thomas. However, they work in these industries that are impacted by many of the major decisions coming out of the Supreme Court, you know, we're talking about energy and oil, mergers and acquisitions, all of this is often touched by what is being decided on at the Supreme Court.
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  Thomas did not respond to ProPublica's questions for this story. Supreme Court Justices are allowed to accept some gifts. Other justices have in the past. But a former federal judge calls the scale of what Thomas received unprecedented. Murphy told us how Thomas is different.
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  Murphy: A really important distinction is those justices disclosed those gifts. The big difference here is that Thomas didn't, and there are laws on the books. The Ethics in Government Act from Watergate requires that government employees, including Supreme Court justices, report and disclose things like private jet flights, yacht cruises, expensive sports tickets, and that's what we found he didn't do.
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  Some lawmakers want things to change at the Supreme Court. Senate Democrats are advancing a bill that would require the Court to set up a code of conduct and tighten financial disclosures. But Republicans are opposed, saying the bill is an attempt to target conservative justices and that the Court should police itself. That means the bill faces long odds of becoming a law.
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  Wildfires around the world have been in the news a lot lately. This next story is about the long-term impact, what happens after the fires are put out. It takes us to California, where the state's iconic sequoia trees have been devastated by wildfires in recent years. Officials say close to a fifth of the world's sequoias were destroyed since 2020. The National Park Service is in the process of planting tens of thousands of seedlings to replace them.
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  Parks officials say this a necessary step for securing the future of these majestic, 300- foot giants. And that humans are responsible for repairing sequoia groves because human action is responsible for climate change. But not everyone in the scientific community is on board. Some worry that intervention could make the problem worse.
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  Kurtis Alexander: Wilderness areas are supposed to be places that are left alone for nature to do their thing, and critics just don't want the Park Service coming in there and sort of messing with this natural space.
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  Kurtis Alexander covers climate and environment at the “San Francisco Chronicle.”
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  Alexander: I've heard more specific concerns about the helicopters that the Park Service plans to use to come in and drop sequoia trees. Keep in mind most of these groves are very remote, so that's the most practical way to get these tens of thousands of seedlings into the forest. There's going to be packs of mules bringing the trees in. There's going to be-large work crews bringing the trees and people are just concerned about all this commotion in the forest.
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  He says, the tension in California over how to protect sequoias is in part because climate change has raised wildfire risk to levels never seen in the past.
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  Alexander: You've got to keep in mind that this just hasn't been done before. We haven't seen the unprecedented scale of the burning, and therefore, nobody really knows what it's like to go in and replant so many groves.
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  One expert on sequoias told the “Chronicle,” these are the kinds of questions we'll be facing more in the future, should we intervene in nature, and if so how much?
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  Let's end with a birthday celebration. Hip-hop is turning 50 today. Now it's practically impossible to explain the impact of hip-hop across music, language, business, fashion, film and so much more. But the “L.A. Times” gives it a go with a deeply researched history of 50 major moments that defined hip-hop's first half century.
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  The “Times” calls it the "most important Black- pioneered art form of our time."
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  The first moment on the "Times's" list, August 11, 1973. Otherwise known as the Big Bang of hip-hop. It was a party in the Bronx to raise money for kids' back-to-school clothes. And the host tapped her brother to DJ. 18-year-old Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc. He brought two turntables to the party, long before that became a staple of rap technique. He spun records that would later be sampled over and over by rappers yet to be born. James Brown, the Isley Brothers, and "It's Just Begun," by the Jimmy Castor Bunch.
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  That party went down as legend. And Kool Herc's reputation grew. He's now 68, and this year he'll finally inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for his groundbreaking work.
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  The whole timeline put together by the “LA Times” is a really fun read, with appearances by Run DMC, NWA, Ice-T, Missy Elliott, Outkast, Lauryn Hill, and many more. There's also some less famous names, like Grand Wizzard Theodore. He was the tween DJ credited with inventing scratching, all the way back in 1975. Check out the list and see what you think of it. It's almost sure to get you riled up about who is included and who isn't, and that's kind of by design. As the “Times” puts it, a tribute to hip-hop that doesn't make somebody mad, is no tribute at all.
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  If you're already listening in the Apple News app right now, stick around for our weekly interview show, “In Conversation.” This week we continue our Think Again series, all about big life transitions and how to approach them differently.
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  I talk to psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock about the transition into early adulthood. She says, part of the challenge is learning how to listen less to the adults around you, and start trusting your inner voice more.
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  Satya Doyle Byock: I find that life is infinitely more satisfying and beautiful and expansive when we trust this inner voice, to actually give us information and to actually combat the rational, practical mind that we've been trained is sort of the, the only way to make decisions. There is another part of us, and if we can listen to that, life gets a lot more fun.
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  That's queued up to play for you next. Enjoy the weekend, and we'll be back with the news on Monday.
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