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The fight over AP African American studies goes national · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Wednesday, February 22nd. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, rail workers speak out after the Ohio train derailment, the impact of the Adderall shortage and surprising new research on four-day work weeks.
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  But first, the fight over an AP African American history course for high schoolers is spreading far beyond Florida, with more state leaders questioning the class and others rallying to support teaching Black history. It's a debate kicked off by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who said the new course goes against state law on teaching about race.
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  Ron DeSantis: When you look to see, they have stuff about intersectionality, abolishing prisons. That's a political agenda.
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  Scholars say the course gives high school students the chance to study an essential part of American history that typically isn't covered in detail until college.
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  The Washington Post reports that at least four more states are planning to review the course and see if it conflicts with their policies or laws. That's Arkansas, Virginia, North Dakota and Mississippi. Several other states tell the Post they may consider reviewing it in the future. At least 18 states have laws that restrict the teaching of race.
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  Other states are taking a different approach. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced an expansion of teaching African American history across the state's schools, and the governors of California and Illinois criticized calls to block or water down the AP course.
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  Meanwhile, the course is still being piloted in around 60 classrooms across the country this year including Little Rock Central High, the school in Arkansas where in the 1950s, white protestors tried to block the arrival of nine Black students. Ruthie Walls is a social studies teacher at the school. She told the student newspaper Tiger News Online that she does not believe the course violates state law, and that the pilot has been popular. Every seat is filled, and there's a waitlist. She said, "I just teach history. I don't add anything. I don't take anything away. History will stand by itself."
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  The EPA is ordering rail company Norfolk Southern to pay for cleanup of the derailment that released toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio. Federal investigators are looking into the causes.
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  Train workers and their unions have been critical of Norfolk Southern and the rail industry over the years. Vice reporter Aaron Gordon says the workers he's talked to are not surprised this happened.
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  Aaron Gordon: I would say hundreds of workers across the industry have warned me that a catastrophe is going to happen if nothing changes.
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  Employees say the company made cuts that prioritize speed over safety, which the company disputes. They say they're discouraged from speaking up about problems, and those who do speak out are often ignored.
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  Gordon: The way this gets put into practice is basically by making everyone do more with less, which slashes inspection times, which cuts maintenance, which just basically erodes at kind of the safety practices that have been long standing in the railroad industry over the last several decades.
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  Since the derailment, two workers spoke anonymously to Gordon. They said this train route, called 32N, was a "known safety risk." They said there were multiple issues, including two mechanical problems that were ignored or missed just hours before the derailment. One worker told Gordon that 32N was so notorious for problems that workers nicknamed it "32 Nasty." Norfolk Southern disputes Vice's reporting on worker claims about 32N's safety.
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  Meanwhile, residents of East Palestine worry about their health. And people in other communities along rail lines want to know how this disaster happened and what's being done to prevent another one.
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  Millions of Americans rely on Adderall and generic versions to treat ADHD and narcolepsy. For months, the medication has been in extremely short supply. Some people say they're being forced to ration pills.
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  Vox looks at the factors driving the supply crunch. One is rising demand. The expansion of Telehealth during the pandemic led to more ADHD diagnoses, and a rule change allowed providers to prescribe drugs like Adderall remotely. Also, manufacturers say they're facing a shortage of the active ingredient, which is tightly controlled by the DEA.
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  When people can't access this medication, there are serious risks. Vox spoke to a doctor in Wisconsin who has ADHD and narcolepsy. Without treatment, her ADHD can make doing routine tasks difficult, and her narcolepsy can cause her to fall asleep in "five minutes" after sitting down. She says she needs her medication to be able to safely drive and work. So, this shortage is very dangerous for her.
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  Drug makers aren't able to say when they'll be able to increase supply. As Vox puts it, we know the shortage will end, but we don't know when. Until things get better, patients face unfilled prescriptions and difficult choices.
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  We've talked on the show before about four-day work week experiments happening at companies around the world. Well, new results from dozens of companies in the U.K. are in. It's the biggest trial yet, organized by a nonprofit that supports four-day work weeks. Many companies say they saw sharp drops in worker turnover and absences, while productivity largely held up.
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  But there was one finding from this trial that really jumped out to us. It involves childcare. As you might expect, people on four-day workweeks had more time to look after their kids. But men stepped up a little more. They spent 27% more time caring for children than they did when they worked five days a week. For women, it was a 13% increase.
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  You can read more about the findings on the Apple News app, which might even give you some arguments to pitch your boss on a four-day workweek.
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  And if you're already listening in the News app right now, don't go anywhere. We've got a narrated article coming up next from Time about AI. It looks at the promise and the risk as tech companies bet big on artificial intelligence. So, sit back, enjoy listening to that, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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