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tv   ABC7 News Getting Answers  ABC  March 4, 2024 3:00pm-3:31pm PST

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and protect abortion rights and our democracy. because he sees a better future for all of us. i'm peter dixon and i approved this message. over the counter birth control pill will hit store shelves here in california this month. how much does it cost and how effective is it? plus one nation becomes the first in the world to enshrine abortion rights, and jetblue and spirit airlines call off their merger in the face of government opposition. what this
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means to travelers but first, the supreme court today issues a decision that will keep former president trump on the colorado ballot just before super tuesday. tomorrow you're watching, getting answers. i'm kristen sze. thanks for joining us. tomorrow, california will join more than a dozen states in holding elections on super tuesday. bay area voters are being asked to make important local, state and federal decisions, joining us live now to preview this march primary is politico's senior politics reporter jeremy white. hey, jeremy. >> hey, kristen, so much for us to talk about today. >> i want to start with the supreme court, which voted unanimously that colorado cannot just keep trump off its ballot. so he will be on it tomorrow when colorado participates in super tuesday. what was the rationale and what does this mean? >> well, this means that we are going to continue towards what seems to be inevitable, which is that donald trump will be the republican nominee. i'm not sure how much of an influence it's going to have here in california, given that it
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certainly appears that the former president has sewn up the nomination in and even before that happened, there had been efforts backed by him and his allies to change the republican party's nominating process here in california in a way that certainly seemed to advantage donald trump. so terms of the california race, as i'm watching tomorrow, i think this kind of just moves us closer to what was really looking like a foregone conclusion. >> right? but still on the ballot tomorrow is also nikki haley's name and some other republicans who have since dropped out. can you talk about whether she can keep going after tomorrow? i mean, she did get a little bit of a boost from winning the washington, d.c. primary. >> i think the writing was probably on the wall before nikki haley failed to win her home state of south carolina. but, um, i'm not sure what viable path there is for her to the nomination at this point. short of a conviction or something like that, that prevents donald trump from being the nominee, can trump actually lock it up after tomorrow? >> are there enough delegates at
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play tomorrow? >> you know, i have not looked at the exact delegate numbers, but i am essentially treating this as is. we are on the path to a joe biden donald trump matchup. you never want to rule out the unexpected and politics and the news business, but i think that we can all but count on that happening. >> all right. and as you mentioned, there are some court dates ahead for donald trump as well. so we'll see. but next up i want to talk about the california senate seat. previously held by the late dianne feinstein. this is, of course, the big battle with three well known democrats and a republican former baseball star. lots of ads, lots of money being spent. is there any mystery here? what are you watching? >> i think this is all coming down to whether adam schiff, the democratic frontrunner, is going to face that republican former mlb player steve garvey, or if it's going to be fellow democrat and congresswoman katie porter. for a while there, it looked like uh, garvey and porter were fighting for second place. recent polling has shown more separation where it looks like
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steve garvey has consolidated that republican vote, which would put him into the top two. this is adam schiff versus steve garvey. the election is effectively over after tomorrow. barring something in extremely unlikely a democrat is going to win this seat. how ever. if it's adam schiff versus katie porter, then you have a drawn out likely very expensive race between two prominent democrats. and so really like i said, i think this is going to come down to the contest for that second spot on the ballot. given that adam schiff has pretty consistently led the democrats in the polls for the last several months. >> yeah. >> what is the republican democrat registration these days in california? voters uh- it's almost 2 to 1. >> the democrats outnumber republicans. there's about a quarter or so of the electorate that are independent voters, depending where you are, though a lot of those folks do tend to vote democrat. maybe a little more moderate democrat, but certainly, given california's voter registration numbers, it would be a shock if steve garvey
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or any other republican won this seat. republicans have not won a statewide seat in almost 20 years. now i was just going to ask you, how long has it been right? >> who was arnold schwarzenegger would be the last one. >> so it's been a minute. um, and i, i just can't see anything that would suggest that's going to change this election cycle. >> okay. >> why are there two separate races for that position, by the way? great question. >> so dianne feinstein died before her time was up. voters are going to be voting on somebody to fill out the remainder of that terme. essentially a couple of months between election day and swearing in. and then for the full six year terme, um, senator laphonza butler, who was appointed by gavin newsom to replace dianne feinstein, is not running for either. that little bit of the remaining time or for a full one. and so it's kind of a stop gap, really, to get us through representation wise until the new congress is sworn
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in. >> i see, so it's a technicality thing essentially. i mean, i can't see anybody marking two different candidates for the interim and the full six year terms positions. although technically i suppose you could and technically, i guess you could have two different people when each of those. right. >> you know what's interesting? there is maybe not two different people, but you do often see, um , what political scientists call an undervote on one or the other. so people don't vote identically for the two of them. i think often when folks are confused, what they do is just leave stuff blank. whether that's about initiative or something like this. and so i would expect that one of them is going to earn more than the other. but that's kind of one of those quirks of a long ballot. you just raised an interesting point about leaving a box blank, right. >> and i wonder if that is actually a good strategy if you feel like you hit something that you don't actually know too much about and don't have a strong opinion on it. >> certainly what voters seem to do, i mean, occasionally when it comes to ballot initiatives, i think there's evidence they'll even cast a protest vote,
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essentially saying, stop putting all this stuff here. but if you are thinking about, for example, the big statewide initiative on the ballot tomorrow, so that's governor newsom's behavior health services bond, which also changes some laws about how counties treat people with behavioral health issues. if the polling is to be believed, it's doing pretty well. there's not really any formal opposition where a supporters have spent millions of dollars to pass it. the bigger risk, i think, if you're the proponents of that, is not that a lot of people vote no. it's that a lot of people aren't really sure, they don't really get it, and they just skip it, which depending on the vote, can end up being, um, as as bad as a no vote. if you're the s campaign, i see. >> yeah. prop one, they are going all out. i got a text this weekend from governor newsom. i'm sure it was personally delivered. um, but yeah. and like you said, there was no, uh, real opposition. it was kind of a bipartisan support in the legislature. so it does seem like it has support. but what does it mean exactly? i think it's a pricey $6 billion bond measure. right. and talk about
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where the money will go and what does that mean to the individual taxpayer. >> it's a great question. so this is as you noted, was really governor newsom's priority. he made sure that there were no other bonds competing with this on the ballot. the goal is to allocate upwards of $6 billion to fund a lot more treatment beds for people with severe behavioral health issues, a lot of whom are living on the streets right now. it would also change the formula for how counties spend some of those dollars was, um, compelling them to prioritize housing more. this kind of adjusts a previous voter passed law. so as you mention and given that the governor supports it, the legislature, it's got bipartisan support. labor medical interests, law enforcement. it certainly seems like the stars are aligning for this measure. the only hitch there is that if you look at the polls, voters are feeling skeptical about bonds taking on debt. a municipal bond like this, you pay it off with interest over the course of many
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years. and so particularly with the state facing a huge budget deficit, i think there are questions about voters appetite to take on new spending, especially given that this is a march primary. primary turnout tends to be low in a way that favors more conservative voters. so i think defeat would come as a surprise here, but it will be interesting to see if this ends up being a lot tighter than some folks thought it might be. >> by the way, is it 50% plus one? is that what it needs to pass? yes. okay. yeah before i let you go, i just want to touch on congress. there are some high profile, highly competitive races, including, of course for representative anna eschew seat in the south bay. um, that's going to stay democratic, of course, but i want to ask you if control of the house is on the ballot this year. >> not for some of the folks, i think, who are viewing this program in the bay area. seats are not really a battleground. one's no surprise, but certainly you can say that control of congress runs through california . we have a several competitive
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races, including democrats hoping to hold on to the seat that congresswoman porter gave up to run for senate in the central valley. republican david valadao is facing multiple democratic challengers. maybe a half dozen seats around the state, which, given how tight those margins are in congress, california could be the difference here. >> all right. well, we'll be watching the results closely tomorrow. jeremy white, as you will, i'm sure. thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. >> the supreme court overturned roe v wade, inspired an ally nation to today enshrine abortion rights in its constitution and is abortion on the ballot this year in
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and just before spring break vacation start, the state department issues a travel warning to a popular destination. joining us live now to talk about the latest travel news. katie nastro, travel expert with going .com. hey, katie. >> hi, how are you? thanks for having me. >> yeah, absolutely. this is interesting because we've been following the jetblue spirit story for a while. so now that that deal is kaput, is this good or bad news for travelers? >> you know, this is good news for travel in the in the basis of we can sigh a breath of relief knowing that we're still going to have as many carriers as we had yesterday, meaning that we are not looking at reduced competition, this deal or this merger between spirit and jetblue, though it had its sort of, you know, benefits that they were arguing the justice department had struck it down due to the fact that it would actually take away a competitor
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in the marketplace or in the marketplace. and even if you never flew spirit or a low cost carrier, they helped put pressure on the legacy carriers and help to make air travel more affordable. so this is actually good news for consumers that there's no question that if in when this appeal will go through , no, it is not. and we can just sigh, have a sigh of relief. >> right. because there have been so many mergers, it seems like in recent years. right. alaska and hawaiian, that's just one that i recall. and you know, for those of you tracking this, have we seen an increase in prices that you can draw a line from the mergers? >> well, the, the anticipated merger between alaska and hawaiian is not set yet. and we won't likely see any sort of uptick if any, in prices due to that merger for at least a year. so it's too early to say that it has a direct relation. >> okay, katie, i want to turn to this. the state department has issued a warning to
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americans wanting to head to mexico for spring break. of course, that's very popular with spring breakers. what are they saying? >> right. so certain areas of mexico have increased warnings and it you know, it never hurts to stay aware of the state department warnings regardless of where you're going, if you're traveling to mexico or not. and be a smarter traveler in general. but people should also be aware that the vast, vast majority of people that travel to countries with increased cautions are safe and do so, and with do so without worry and have great vacations. however you should ask yourself this question if you are going to an area that has been flagged, you know is this warning going to impact my mental state? am i going to be so worried about my vacation? maybe it's better off i look to take it in the future. >> all right, that is a good question because it affects people differently, right? so speaking of destinations, i just want to ask you, do you have some new ones that you're tracking? because we've heard a
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lot about overtourism in the past year, i'm thinking specifically of venice, right, where they just instituted an entry fee to try to contain all the numbers. so what are some off the beaten path locations is right. >> so a lot of people and we know from our state of travel report that over 54% of people are looking to travel more internationally this year. you know, europe is always a hot spot, but those very popular places like paris, like london, like venice and athens are going to be busier than ever, you know, just even in the last month, we've seen more people traveling in february 2024 versus february of 2023 by 5, which is pretty, pretty impactful. and so that's leading us to believe that the summer is going to be no different. it's going to be busy. so some off the beaten path destinations, if you want to go to the greek islands, consider bodrum, turkey, albania has the crystal clear water mountainscapes in the background and a bit more affordable and less people in general. all right, so what
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about prices? >> how are they looking right now for spring last minute spring deals and summer travel? >> right. so spring in particular, you know, it's sort of this gray season when it comes to air travel prices. but regardless whether you're looking to travel for spring or summer, we've really rebounded and renormalized when it comes to the price of airfare, we're currently down 6% from where we were year last year, but that means that there's not going to we're not anticipating major hikes or dips. so in knowing that, you should definitely plan accordingly and remember the goldilocks window of when you should be booking by. so right now, if you're looking to book for spring break, do it immediately because the likelihood that prices will increase closer to the week you're looking to fly in sort of end of march into april is higher. the more the further out we go. so definitely, if you're considering spring break, do it. do so now by the way, we have
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some. >> does it do the prices get higher because more seats have been filled, have been sold or is there some arbitrary cutoff like one week before? it always jumps this much or two weeks before. it always jumps this much, right. >> well, we don't have sort of intel into the algorithm that airplane that airlines use. they're very, very sneaky about it. but we do know that they sell tickets at certain prices in fair buckets. and so when a certain amount of tickets at a specific price disappears, then the next fare bucket sort of takes its place. now we know this because there is something called a 21 advance, 21 day advance purchase requirement. so after 21 days on day 20, that fare you see disappears in a new fare, takes its place. and a lot of the times it's more expensive . so being aware of that 21 day rule, as well as there could be a 14 day or seven day advance purchase requirement. that's not always the case, but being aware of those can definitely help all right, so what are the best places for people to look for
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deals right. so last minute some availability for spring break. you can head to seattle for only 137. maybe visit some friends and family. 246 round trip down to austin if you want to get some barbecue. always up for that. or if you can be a little bit flexible in your dates and sort of skirt into that. next week, you can head to puerto rico for only 293 round trip, all on full service from the san francisco area. >> that is amazing. well, thanks for giving us some ideas and some great deals to consider. uh- katie nastro with going.com. thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. >> remember abc seven is streaming 24 over seven. you can get the abc seven bay area app and join us whenever you want. wherever you are are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for adults with hr positive, her2 negative metastatic breast cancer
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as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole. ibrance may cause low white blood cell counts that may lead to serious infections. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs. both of these can lead to death. tell your doctor if you have new or worsening chest pain, cough, or trouble breathing. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are or plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding. for more information about side effects talk to your doctor. thanks, mom. be in your moment. ask your doctor about ibrance. a pfizer product.
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constitutional right, making it the first and only country to explicitly guarantee a woman's
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right to terminate a pregnancy. meantime, here at home, a new, easily accessible option for women to control their reproductive fate will hit store shelves later this month. joining us live now to talk about those headlines and more, radhika rao, chair professor at uc law, san francisco and author of the book roe v wade, professor rao, thanks for your time. >> hi. thank you so, since both houses of the french parliament have now passed a version of this bill, i think it's pretty much a done deal. >> right? so what does it accomplish going forward when it becomes part of the constitution? what does that mean? >> well, what it means is that they can. lawmakers in france cannot deny access to an abortion. and i believe that it also will enhance access. currently, there are still places in france where abortions may be difficult to obtain. so the fact that it's now enshrined as a constitutional right should guarantee or increase access to abortion and they said they were
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moved to act after seeing what happened with the us supreme court overturning roe, the female president of the french parliament said, quote, it only takes a moment for everything we thought that we have achieved to fade away. >> today you wrote a book on roe. what do you think of that statement? >> um, actually, i didn't write a book on roe. i've written articles about roe, but not a book. and i clerked for justice harry blackmun, the supreme court justice, who was the author of roe versus wade. so i think this is really this is amazing in france that they are enshrining explicitly a right to an abortion. and it's not just a right to choose or a right to raise a family. it's actually a right to an abortion. they are naming it as that. and that's quite remarkable. it's the first country in the world to enshrine abortion explicitly as a constitutional right. >> and it's interesting because because it had the support of all parties in france, even the far right. why is this not a political issue? seemingly in
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france, whereas it seems to be very much a political debate in the us? >> that's a wonderful question. and it's actually a question that comparative constitutional scholars like myself have studied a little bit and it looks like part of the reason for the difference is that other countries in the world approach this as an issue of health, public health and medical treatment access to medical care. whereas in the united states we don't seem to see it in those terms as a medical issue. rather it's an issue about, you know, the unborn in the united states. there seems to be this vision of us born of fetuses as people. we recently saw the alabama supreme court issue a ruling which said that embryos, ivf, embryos are full people protected under wrongful death of a minor laws in alabama . yeah. so i think part of it is
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it's very politicized and viewed in political terms in the united states, it's viewed as a matter of health and medical access. in europe, i see. >> so when you have these great differences from state to state, how does it work when you are one nation? >> well, we are one nation. um, and the supreme court, when it overturned roe versus wade, it basically left it up to the individual states to enact their own laws. so in some places like alabama, where they view fetuses and even embryos as people, they can complete, prohibit abortion and even protect the life of an ivf embryo. other states like california. yeah. >> i'm wondering if there are any other nation where you can have from state to state or province to province, whatever you call it. but within one country, such drastic differences in something that many view as fundamental. >> i think that most other countries actually don't have
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these radical divides. now germany, for example, there are also states, um, but under the german constitution option, even though abortion is not a constitutional right and even though they explicitly say that the fetus is protected under the german constitution, abortion access to abortion is freely available within the first trimester. roughly the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. so it's quite remarkable that the united states is taking this approach of criminalizing abortion, that certain states in the united states so other countries don't want to criminalize these issues . they try to engage in methods of persuasion to persuade women and to provide social support in order to persuade people to carry their pregnancies, to terminate, not putting them in jail. >> uh, professor rao, before i let you go, i just want to mention, i know this is more medical and health and you're legal, but there's a new birth control pill that could. that's
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over the counter. it's going to be on pharmacy shelves in just a few weeks. i understand it's $20 for one month, $50 for three months. it's called the o pill. can you talk about how effective it is, how safe it is, and who can take it? you know, do you need any anything at all? if you're a teenager, for example? oh, wow. >> um, so i actually am not really, um, well versed in knowing about the, you know, the i'm sorry for putting you on the spot because i totally know that's health and medical. >> i just know you care so much about this issue. i figured you read every single article, but i do want to know if it's something that can be sold in every state in the us, given the differences in states. but, you know, this being a pill over the counter, can it be sold everywhere? >> i think that will depend upon whether the pill operates before or or after conception. so there are some contraceptives which which work to prevent implantation in um, but work after conception. and in some places that is considered a form
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of abortion. abortive patient. >> we'll see how that's interpreted. we'll
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i see my husband... the father of our girls. i see a public servant. a man who served under secretary clinton in the state department... where he took on the epidemic of violence against women in the congo. i see a fighter, a tenacious problem-solver... who will go to congress and protect abortion rights and our democracy. because he sees a better future for all of us. i'm peter dixon and i approved this message.
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tonight, the supreme court weighs in on donald trump. the unanimous decision. the nation's highest court deciding colorado cannot keep trump off the ballot, saying this is not up to the states. terry moran live at the supreme court. the new winter storm warnings at this hour, after more than ten feet of snow in some places. and a recording of wind gusts 190 miles per hour. the new storm now set to hit tonight, and where

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