Up First from NPR - North Gaza Aid, VP Harris Courts Black Voters, Zillow Climate Score

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

A new Israeli military offensive in north Gaza has humanitarian organizations raising the alarm over the threat of starvation. Vice President Kamala Harris is on a push to shore up support among Black men. And a new feature on the real estate website Zillow will show potential property buyers climate risks on listings. 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 Hannah Bloch, Roberta Rampton, Janaya Williams, Lisa Thomson and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Paige Waterhouse, Nia Dumas and Kaity Kline. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent. And our technical director is Zac Coleman. A previous version of this episode incorrectly said that Vice President Harris is proposing loans for Black entrepreneurs. In fact, the proposed loans would go to Black entrepreneurs and others.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A new Israeli military offensive in North Gaza has humanitarian organizations raising alarms. The situation in North Gaza is like a catastrophe within a series of catastrophes. What's behind the latest warning? I'm Michelle Martin, that's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. Vice President Kamala Harris is on a push to shore up support among a key group of voters. Black men are no different from anybody else. They expect that you have to earn their vote. The push comes with support for Harris among black men waivers, including in swing states.

And look at what Harris is doing to earn back that vote. And a new feature on the Real Estate website, Zilla will show potential property buyers the climate risks on listings. Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day. This message comes from Wyse, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees.

Download the WISE app today or visit wise.com, T's and C's apply. Support for this podcast and the following message come from the NPR Wine Club, which has generated over $1.75 million to support NPR programming. Whether buying a few bottles or joining the club, you can learn more at nprwineclub.org slash podcast. Must be 21 or older to purchase. When voters talk during an election season, we listen. We ask questions, we follow up, and we bring you along to hear what we learned. Get closer to the issues, the people, and your vote at the NPR Elections Hub. Visit npr.org slash elections. Is Israel trying to starve people in North Gaza?

Aid workers and human rights groups are concerned that that is what Israel is trying to do with its new offensive. Jonathan Fowler is with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency that aids Palestinians. The situation in North Gaza is like a catastrophe within a series of catastrophes. His UN agency says civilians are given no choice but to leave or starve. With us now is NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Daniel, help us understand what's happening in North Gaza. Israel's carrying out a new offensive there over the last two weeks, particularly in the Jabalia refugee camp.

Israel says Hamas has been trying to regroup there. Residents have been telling us about artillery hitting their buildings, about armed drones flying through the neighborhood opening fire, about Israeli tanks in the streets. The United Nations says hundreds of people have been killed, including children in that area in the last few weeks. It says Israel has blocked food deliveries to North Gaza for the last two weeks. And Israel has ordered all of North Gaza to evacuate. We spoke to one man who did flee his home in Jabalia.

His name is Mohammed Al-Ba'alawi. He said he was in a group of 25 people fleeing and they lost 10 of them who were injured or killed as they fled under fire. He said no one looked behind them as they fled. And his story really encapsulates what is happening in North Gaza. He fled to another part of North Gaza, but his relatives who stayed behind told him they've run out of food and drinking water. Okay.

So when the UN aid agencies for Palestinians says that civilians are being, are given no choice but either to leave or starve, is that actually Israel stated policy? It's not a stated policy, but it could be an unstated policy. A former Israeli national security advisor has published a proposal to pressure Hamas to release Israeli hostages by ordering civilians to leave North Gaza and whoever doesn't will be without food and water and will, along with Hamas militants, have to either surrender or die of starvation. Now this is a proposal that's not an official government plan, but Israeli officials have

said that they considered it. On the other hand, the Israeli army denies that it's being implemented. But this proposal has gotten a lot of international attention and concern from human rights groups in Israel because of the implications of starving a civilian population. And also Vice President Kamala Harris

tweeted her concern yesterday about the lack of food that has reached North Gaza. Could that international attention make Israel change its course? It might be. After Harris tweeted her concern about the lack of food yesterday, Israel did allow some flour into North Gaza, although rights groups say it will not be sufficient for the population there.

I did speak to a former Israeli military official who closely follows the war, Mikhail Milstein, and thinks that Israel did try to partially implement this flee or starve plan, but then Israel realized it doesn't seem to be working. He thinks Israel realized many civilians are not fleeing North Gaza and that kind of policy might even endanger hostages. I think the big picture here is that Israel is not clearly explaining what its aims are and what its objectives are in North Gaza with its new offensive. And that points to the fact that there continues to be no explicit end game for Gaza, for the

Gaza war, and civilians continue to pay the price. That's NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Daniel, thanks. You're welcome. Vice President Kamala Harris is on a push this week to court black voters, specifically men. While black voters overwhelmingly back the Democratic ticket, black men are not showing as much enthusiasm for Harris as they did for the Democratic nominee when President Biden ran in 2020 or when former President Barack Obama ran before him. And as some black men gravitate toward former President Donald Trump,

Democrats are concerned that even in small numbers, this could cut into Harris's chances in key swing states. MPR's White House correspondent, Deepa Sibram is traveling with Harris, joins us now from Detroit, Michigan. So Deepa Harris is rolling out new policy proposals focused on black men. She's gonna be talking about it today.

What's on the agenda? So she's gonna talk about a new policy proposals focused on black men. She's gonna be talking about it today. What's on the agenda? So she's gonna talk about a lot of proposals with an economic lens. And she has a big focus on entrepreneurs. So part of this plan is to give one million loans to black entrepreneurs and others up to $20,000. And those loans are forgivable. She also says she'll legalize recreational marijuana

and make sure there's a role for black entrepreneurs in that business. And Harris says she'll legalize recreational marijuana and make sure there's a role for black entrepreneurs in that business. And Harris says she'll do more as president to try and protect cryptocurrency assets. And she points to how more than 20% of black Americans own or have owned crypto. Okay, so that's the message. How is she gonna get that message out?

So she'll be talking about her plans today at a town hall she's doing with radio host Charlamagne the God. He's one of the hosts of the popular morning show at the Breakfast Club. It airs on stations across the country and is popular among younger black people in particular. It's a show candidates running for president often appear on.

And Charlemagne can be a tough interviewer. He's been critical of Democratic candidates in the past, like with President Biden when he was a candidate for president back in 2020. Last week, former President Barack Obama said he thinks black men are having an issue with voting for a woman for president. How is Kamala Harris responding to that? You know she was asked about Obama's comments by the shade room which is also very popular with black audiences and she didn't really acknowledge anything about her polls that have been showing

some weakness with black men but she did say in essence that she doesn't take anyone's vote for granted just because of who she is. Take a listen. Black men are no different from anybody else. They expect that you have to earn their vote. And that's why I'm out here doing the work that I'm doing about talking with folks, listening with folks. And, you know, this is an election that's going to be so, so close.

We keep saying it. So Harris has to drum up enthusiasm and support from her base voters, even as she also tries to spend time here trying to appeal to independent voters and Republican voters. And that's something we saw from her last night at a rally. Where was that rally at?

So we were in Erie, Pennsylvania. It's a pivot county. So it went twice for Obama, then Trump in 2016, and then Biden last time around. And Harris did something new last night. She had a giant video screen and she played a kind of highlight reel of things that Trump has said recently that her campaign feels haven't been getting enough attention. And in these final weeks, you know, they're trying to break through to moderate Republican voters and independents and say, you know

Hey, there are some things that Trump is saying that are dangerous Particularly his recent comments that if he wins the election the National Guard or even the military could be used to handle what he called Quote the enemy within in other words his opponents and you know I've been to a lot of Harris's rallies this highlight real approach was a first and we'll see if she uses it again later this week. All right, so Erie, Pennsylvania last night in Detroit today, where does she go next? She'll be ping-ponging around the Blue Wall states this week, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. She's doing a lot more interviews as well, including a big one coming up tomorrow. She's sitting down with Fox News host Brett Baer and it's her first time ever interviewing with the network. That's NPR's Deepa Shivram. Thanks, Deepa. Thank you Zillow which might be best known for its home buying app says it is adding a new feature to its services

Yeah, you'll soon be able to find out if a property might be at risk for five key climate-related disasters. Now, these risk scores for homes will arrive next year, and the announcement came as Hurricane Helene made landfall. Here to tell us more about this is Hannah Ziegler. She's a business reporter for The Washington Post. Hannah, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me.

So how will this work? Like, who's providing this information? How will we see it? Is there like a different key or color for what kind of risk there is? Give us the basics. Yeah, so the scores show a home's climate risk based on how susceptible it is to flooding or wildfire or heat, air quality, and wind damage. So the scores estimate a home's current risk, and it's risk 15 and 30 years in the the future because that's how long typical mortgage loans are and you'll be able to see them on an interactive color-coded map and along with every single home listing that's on

Zillow right now. And where's this information coming from and do you have confidence that it's accurate? So Zillow is partnered with a nonprofit called First Street which has been working on these climate risk models for years. First Street assigns risk scores based on these climate risk models for years. First Street assigns risk scores based on how likely a climate disaster is and how severe it could be. And they update these models once a year based on natural disasters that have happened in an area.

And First Street sees this as democratizing information that banks or insurance companies already have on climate risk for properties. But climate modeling experts say home buyers should take these scores with a grain of salt. They're still developing the best way to measure a home's climate risk, so data can be uneven depending on where a person is house hunting. So home buyers should treat the scores as warning flags rather than deal breakers.

Does anybody else already offer this? I kind of feel like Redfin offers this information. Is Zillow offering something that's unique or easier to access or something like what's so special about this? Yeah, Redfin already does offer the climate risk scores. And the main thing that Zillow is adding to this is the map and the color coordination and kind of those shiny newer features that people might think make it more interactive. But Redfin does have the same data and the same system.

I understand that this has just been announced, and so the tool isn't available for us to kind of, you know, to see in the real world yet. But I'm wondering how home buyers and sellers and realtors are reacting to this. Yeah, there has been a lot of conflicting information about how much people care about climate risks affecting their properties, especially in comparison to if you get a really great rate on a home, if you get a really good price.

But Zillow released a survey last year saying that 80% of buyers now consider climate risks when shopping for a home. And Zillow has been very transparent about the information they have about just how many homes are facing climate risk now. So even compared to five years ago, there are a lot more homes on the market that might have greater risk of flood or fire or heat. So it definitely is something that remains to be seen about how much buyers will ultimately care about all of this. But now that this information is in their hands

and they're able to use it in a much more accessible way on Zillow, a lot of experts say that this is only the beginning and how much this is going to affect their decision making process moving forward. That's Hannah Ziegler, Business Reporter for The Washington Post. Hannah, thank you. Thank you. And that's a first for Tuesday, October 15th. I'm Amy Martinez. And I'm Michelle Martin. For your next Listen, Consider, Consider This from NPR. The United States has never seen a multiracial presidential candidate like Vice President Kamala Harris,

but she's certainly not alone in her racial identity. Here are people with similar backgrounds are thinking about Harris' historic candidacy. Listen to Consider This from NPR. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Hannah Block, Roberta Rampton, Janaya Williams, Lisa Thompson, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Page Waterhouse, Nia Dumas, and Katie Klein. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent, and our technical director is Zach Coleman.

Join us again tomorrow. ["The Last Supper"] ["The Last Supper"] ["The Last Supper"] ["The Last Supper"] ["The Last Supper"] ["The Last Supper"] ["The Last Supper"]

["The Last Supper"] ["The Last Supper"] ["The Last Supper"] ["The Last Supper"] ["The Last Supper"] ["The Last Supper"] ["The Last Supper"] Who's claiming power this election? What's happening in battleground states? And why

do we still have the electoral college? All this month, the Throughline Podcast is asking big questions about our democracy and going back in time to answer them. Listen now to the Throughline Podcast from NPR. It's a high stakes election year, so it's not enough to just follow along. You need to understand what's happening so you are fully informed come November. Every weekday on the NPR Politics Podcast, our political reporters break down important stories and backstories from the campaign trail so you understand why it matters to you. Listen to the NPR Politics Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

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