Up First from NPR - Gaza Aid, CA Fast Food Minimum Wage, NCAA Elite Eights

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

The United Nations' main judicial body says Israel must allow more aid into Gaza, but can the court's order be enforced? Many California fast food workers get a big raise Monday, but restaurant owners say the increase to $20 an hour puts them in a bind. And March Madness does it again: a Cinderella Final Four men's team, and an epic women's showdown Monday night.Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Mark Katkov, Pallavi Gogoi, Alice Woelfle and Ben Adler. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ben Abrams and Kaity Kline. We get engineering support from Phil Edfors. And our technical director is Zac Coleman.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The United Nations main judicial body says Israel must allow more aid into Gaza. Aid groups say they have enough resources to help Gazans. Can the court's order be enforced? I'm Michelle Martin, that's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. Many California fast food workers get a big raise today. With just a couple more dollars, I have a little bit more of a wiggle room there. But restaurant owners say the increase to $20 an hour puts them in a bind. We don't have nearly the margins to pay for this change.

And the only way to survive is to reduce labor hours. And March Madness does it again. A Cinderella Final Four men's team and an epic women's showdown tonight. If I was just a basketball fan in general, I would be glued to the TV like no other. Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day. Now Our Change will honor 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force and their dedicated service to communities at home and abroad. From the skies to Our Change, this $2 commemorative circulation coin

marks their storied past and promising future. Find the limited edition Royal Canadian Air Force $2 coin today. Israeli forces have withdrawn from Gaza's largest hospital complex after a two-week battle. Israel said that battle was necessary because Hamas forces had regrouped there, Israeli forces have withdrawn from Gaza's largest hospital complex after a two-week battle. Israel said that battle was necessary because Hamas forces had regrouped there. Meanwhile, in central Gaza, Israeli airstrikes killed four people, including two journalists, in another hospital complex. This all comes as the International Court of Justice, the main judicial body of the UN, is ordering Israel to allow more aid to enter Gaza. The court says famine there is no longer imminent. It has already set in. Israel denies that. NPR's Gina Raff joins us now from

Amman. Jane, what happened with the strike on the hospital in central Gaza? The UN's health organization said it had a humanitarian team at Al-Aqsa Hospital at the time. It says during the airstrike, its staff were unhurt, but four other people were killed. Now, Israel called them precision strikes on a command center of a militant Hamas ally. But Gaza's government media office said the Israeli airstrikes killed a journalist and a photojournalist. The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 90 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since the war in Gaza began. But also, Israeli forces withdrew yesterday from another hospital complex, al-Shifa, following a two-week assault. The UN's World Health Organization says at least 21 patients died during that military operation.

Gaza health officials say they were prevented from evacuating patients and staff from the badly damaged complex, where there's already a severe shortage of medicine, medical supplies, and even drinking water. Israel says it was not responsible for any patient deaths. Okay, so let's get into living conditions in Gaza. Israel says that it is, denies that it is blocking aid. So then why are people starving and patients going without basic care? Well, simply, according to UN and other aid agency officials, as well as the U.S. government, not enough aid is being allowed in. The U.S. has been pressing Israel to open more border crossings. Israel and Egypt control the Gaza borders, and Israel has imposed

extensive restrictions, it says, to ensure weapons aren't getting through. So the upshot is that now only about half the number of aid trucks, compared levels before the war are being allowed in by Israel, according to U.N. officials. And the U.N.'s International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to allow more aid, although that court has no way to enforce its order. Any way to know how many trucks are waiting to enter? Well, it's difficult to get specific numbers, but most aid officials say several thousand trucks are waiting near the border with Egypt. A Jordanian security official told me in March that satellite images showed 30,000 trucks waiting to enter Rafah, including in holding areas. Over the weekend, he still insisted that's the case. But most aid officials say the figure is substantially lower.

Estimates generally range from between 3,000 to 7,000 trucks waiting. The World Food Program and its partners say they have enough food to feed everyone in Gaza. It's just not being allowed in. And they estimate that at least 500 trucks a day would need to enter. Right now, it's about 200 a day. Any aid that is actually getting in, what kind of aid is that? Apart from that relatively small number of trucks, the U.S., Jordan, and other countries have been doing regular airdrops

with military cargo planes, but that's a fraction of the amount that can be loaded on trucks. And a U.S.-based aid group, World Central Kitchen, yesterday said it had sent a second round of food by sea from Cyprus. But as the U.S. points out, all that doesn't replace aid going in by land. That's NPR's Jane Araf. Thank you very much. Thank you. Here in California, many fast food workers are getting a big raise today. Their minimum wage is going up to $20 an hour. That's because of a new state law passed last year based on a deal between labor and restaurant groups.

NPR business correspondent Alina Selyuk has been talking to restaurant owners and workers. So, Alina, the statewide minimum wage in California is $16 an hour, though in some cities and counties it's above $18. So how big of a deal could this raise be for workers? You know, talking to workers, they say it's pretty huge, but also not quite a windfall. California is one of the most expensive states to live in. Overall, about half a million Californians are estimated to work as cooks, cashiers, baristas, and other fast food jobs.

Most of them are women, immigrants, people of color. Many live below poverty line. And generally, fast food jobs are among the lowest paid in the U.S. Wages there have stagnated for decades. I spoke with McDonald's worker, Jaylene Lubet. She's in school now, so working part-time, and she's supporting her parents who are facing medical troubles. Her last wage was just over $17 an hour. There are some days where I'd struggle to put cents together to put food on the table,

but I feel like with just a couple more dollars, I have a little bit more of a wiggle room there. People need to realize that $20 compared to the cost of living in Los Angeles, it's still not enough to feel secure. She'd love to feel secure. Lovette shares a one-bedroom apartment with her parents, so she hopes to use her raise to start saving toward a bigger home or at least stress a bit less about bills. Sure. Now, what about the restaurant owners? Those higher wages have to be paid one way or another. Yes. And they're worried. So this only affects fast food, mainly big chains like McDonald's, Subway, Starbucks, Chipotle. But the people most vocal on this are local franchisees.

You know, folks maybe own 100 locations, but maybe they own just two locations. I spoke with Michaela Mendelson. She has six locations of El Pollo Loco. And she tried to preemptively raise prices 3-4%, but lost customers. People are pushing back on higher prices. We don't have nearly the margins to pay for this change. And the only way to survive is to get more efficient, to reduce labor hours. And, you know, I hate saying that. More efficient can mean, you know, simpler menus

or more automation. We did see hundreds of Pizza Hut delivery drivers get laid off ahead of the wage increase. But mostly restaurant owners talk about raising prices and cutting workers' hours. Now, Lena, whenever there's a hike in the minimum wage, whether it's federal, state, or local, there's always a debate over how people and businesses are affected. Any history at all to hint how all that might play out? There's one example that's been studied a fair amount, and that's a minimum wage hike in Seattle about a decade ago. And researchers there found that overall restaurants adjusted and adapted. Workers generally didn't lose jobs, but they did lose hours, many lost hours.

Still, overall, they came out making more money in the end. Now, California will be the new big case study for all this. And of course, California often sets the tone for other states on labor, and advocates hope for exactly that on higher minimum pay. That's NPR's Alina Selyuk. Alina, thank you very much. Thank you. After a college basketball weekend full of March madness, the men's Final Four is set. And there are two powerhouse games tonight to complete the women's Final Four. And it's a great day to be a North Carolina State fan. Both their men's and women's teams made their final fours,

and UConn could duplicate that feat if their women's team wins tonight. But the real headliner, who are we kidding, is the other women's game featuring the sport's two biggest stars, Iowa's Kaitlyn Clark and LSU's Angel Reese. Yeah, of course,

that's the marquee game of the night. Ben Pickman of The Athletic joins us now. Okay, so two huge games coming up on the women's side, UConn versus USC, and of course, Iowa LSU. Here's how Kaitlyn Clark of Iowa sees this moment. I think it's just super awesome.

I think, you know, if I was just a basketball fan in general, I would be glued to the TV like no other. And I think women's basketball fans know how special and cool this moment will be. I think the viewership numbers will show that. Ben, I will regrettably be asleep for this game. I'm going to record it, but what are you going to be looking for in each game? Well, the first thing is Kaitlyn Clark and how LSU chooses to defend Kaitlyn Clark. Last year, their strategy was really to try and let Clark get hers, except that she's going to score 25, 30 points in every single game. And this is

a common tactic that a lot of coaches implore when it comes to guarding Clark and really clamp down on the players around her. That was something that Kim Mulkey, the coach of LSU, also reiterated on Sunday, saying that you just hope to contain her a little bit and make sure you do your job on the other four players. So if LSU is able to contain some of those other four players, then they have a really good chance to win and they match up very well. Their front court players, their centers and forwards in particular, have a matchup advantage over Iowa.

So Iowa's going to have their hands full trying to slow down the LSU bigs. But what about that UConn-USC game? I mean, UConn is arguably the greatest college basketball team on the women's side of all time. And USC used to be one of the greats of all time, too. That's going to be a great matchup. Exactly.

It is two programs with a lot of tradition. The big headliners are Paige Beckers, who is the star of UConn, and Juju Watkins, a freshman star of USC. The thing that is going to be so imperative is UConn is a team that does not have a lot of depth. They primarily play around just six players. Three players played 40 minutes in their victory in the Elite Eight. Over two players played 40 minutes in their second round win. So if they get into foul trouble, they have their hands full and not a lot of players to turn to. USC, everything runs through Juju Watkins. She's an AP All-American. She averaged 27 points per game during the regular season, second nationally behind just Kaitlyn Clark. So she is that good. And this could be a real national coming out party for her. And frankly, this is one of the most anticipated nights of women's college basketball ever, or in recent memory at the very least. So both games, as you mentioned, huge headliners, huge stories, and huge stars.

Yeah, I can't believe UConn women, the underdog in a game this close to the end there. Now, on the men's side, North Carolina State men's team pulled off probably an even bigger upset than the women's team. And it's over. This is what dreams are made of. An unlikely run to the Final Four for NC State. That was heard yesterday on CBS Sports. I mean, the Wolfpack clearly Cinderella story this year. Tell us about their improbable run. It starts and centers around their big DJ Burns, who is this kind of lovable six foot nine forward in the middle. The strength coach of that team told my colleague at the athletic that he's like a polar bear.

And he is someone who is kind of nifty, a great footwork around the paint. He is really the star of the show for NC State. He's become the hero of this March Madness tournament. And NC State had to win the ACC tournament, their conference tournament, to even just reach the NCAA tournament. So it's been this unbelievable run for a few weeks now, not just in these last one or two weeks. That's Ben Pickman of The Athletic. Ben, thanks. Thanks a lot for having me.

And that's a first for Monday, April 1st. I'm E. Martinez. And I'm Michelle Martin. Your next listen is Consider This from NPR. Hawaii is no stranger to extravagant homes owned by the super rich. But when a tech billionaire started buying up land on the Big Island, the community got curious and worried. Listen to Consider This. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Mark Katkoff, Pallavi Gogoi, Alice Wolfley, and Ben Adler.

It was produced by Zia Butch, Ben Abrams, and Katie Klein. We get engineering support from Bill Edfors, and our technical director is Zach Coleman. Start your day here with us tomorrow.