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New insights in a report on the Uvalde school shooting · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Hey there! Before we get into today's show, a little invitation for you. On an upcoming episode of "In Conversation," we're gonna be talking about air travel and why it's so messed up right now. And we want to hear from you.
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  If you've gone anywhere on a plane in the last few months, did you get stuck in crowded security lines? Did you lose luggage or time or your sanity?
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  Just tell us about it! Use your iPhone's Voice Memo app to record yourself. And tell us your name, where you're from and your air travel story. And please, try to keep it under a minute.
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  You can send it to us at applenewstoday@apple.com. Again, that's applenewstoday@apple.com. And we might include your story on the show. Thanks!
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  Good morning! It's Monday, July 18th. 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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  A new report on the Uvalde shooting is out from the Texas House of Representatives. And it found, quote, "many missed opportunities" in how the police responded that day.
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  We've talked before about criticism that law enforcement waited too long to attack the shooter in the classroom. An important difference in this report is that blame is spread more widely. The report is definitely critical of school district police chief Pete Arredondo and local officers, but it also points out that there were 376 law enforcement responders on the scene. Federal and state officers far outnumbered the local police. And they were generally better equipped and trained.
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  A key problem, this report argues, was not lack of personnel or lack of equipment, it was lack of leadership. People assumed that Arredondo was in charge. But he said he didn't consider himself the incident commander. And the report says someone else could have taken charge.
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  These new details added to the frustration and grief that so many families are feeling. Vicente Salazar's granddaughter Layla was killed in the shooting. He spoke to "KVUE TV."
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  [START KVUE ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Vicente Salazar: If I was these officers, I would leave town. They don't deserve to be here.
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  [END KVUE ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  The report is also critical of the school's safety protocols. If doors were locked properly, that might have stopped the shooter from getting in or at least slowed him down. The investigators don't conclude that confronting the shooter in the classroom earlier would've definitely saved lives. Many likely died immediately in the first round of gunfire. But since some victims died on the way to the hospital, it's possible that earlier action by police might have saved them.
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  Dangerous extreme heat is scorching several parts of America. One of the hardest hit places is Texas, where people worry that the power grid won't be able to handle the demand for energy needed to keep people cool and safe.
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  Mitchell Ferman: "Fix the damn grid." That is a common refrain you hear in Texas.
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  Mitchell Ferman covers energy for "The Texas Tribune."
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  Ferman: People are just frustrated about thinking about the grid. This is a basic necessity of modern life, and they don't want to think about whether the light will turn on when they flip the switch.
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  Texas has been here before. Millions of people were without power in last year's winter storm. Hundreds died in the extreme cold. After those deadly failures, Ferman says the grid manager, ERCOT, made some changes.
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  Ferman: ERCOT has taken a more cautious approach to the way it operates the power grid. It is calling on more power generation to be available, reserve power generation especially to be available to the grid.
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  But there are still worries it'll be stretched to the limit as things heat up. There's already been record-breaking demand this summer. ERCOT is asking Texans to conserve power as much as possible. Some people are unplugging appliances, setting thermostats to 80 degrees. The "Tribune" talked to someone who took a shower in the dark.
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  Ferman explains that people are also cutting back on consumption to save money. Inflation is high. Energy bills are up because of higher natural gas prices. But now, Texans are staring down deadly heat, increasingly the norm as climate change heats up the world. And they're doing what they can, hoping that the grid won't let them down again.
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  Doctors in Los Angeles County are trying something unusual to help people get off meth: handing out $10 gift cards. It's called "contingency management." The idea is to use small rewards to nudge people away from drug use. "L.A. Times" health reporter Emily Alpert Reyes explains the idea.
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  Emily Alpert Reyes: You know, these phases of withdrawal can feel pretty lousy, and there's a temptation to use the drug again because it gets rid of that lousy feeling. So part of what's happening with contingency management is offering people a competing way to get that boost of dopamine.
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  The thinking is, if someone is trying hard to stay off drugs, and you reward them with something like a gift card or even a fist bump or some words of encouragement, that makes them feel good. Some addiction experts say that could help replace the high that they get from using drugs.
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  Reyes: If you're gonna try to get someone away from the huge chemical rewards that the brain gives you for something like meth, you need something to compete with it.
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  Supporters say there's a decade of research showing that contingency management can work. But not many programs exist. Some doctors worry they conflict with laws against paying patients. And some think of it like bribery, an unethical way to tackle addiction. Reyes saw the program in action. She met a man who had struggled with drugs for decades. But contingency management is working for him.
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  Reyes: He really credited this program with helping motivate him and helping him kind of pull through the difficult process of getting off of meth. When I spoke to him, he had said he'd been sober for more than two months.
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  He said staying sober is hard enough on its own. The gift cards and the encouraging words that he gets from the people run the program, they're just an added incentive.
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  You ever get asked a question by a little kid that makes you think, "Wow, I truly don't know the answer for that." Kids are good at coming up with those "Why?" questions. So, here's one. Why don't woodpeckers get headaches?
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  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  [WOODPECKER BORING HOLE IN TREE]
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  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  That is not a cartoon sound. That is a real-life woodpecker slamming its head against a tree. So, yeah, why doesn't that hurt? Are woodpeckers okay?
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  Now, for a long time, if you went looking for an answer, you might read an explanation that goes like this, "Woodpeckers evolved to form natural shock absorbers, these spongy bones that protect their brains from concussion." But a new study disputes that. Researchers used high-speed cameras and advanced simulations.
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  And it appears that woodpeckers are actually protected from concussions by something simpler. Researchers say they don't have shock-absorbing skulls. Their brains are just so small and so light. So, as long as they don't mess up and try to peck at something hard like a metal pole, they're perfectly designed to keep doing what they do.
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  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners. I'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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