Hamas says it accepts cease-fire proposal; Israel approves Rafah invasion | The Excerpt

On Tuesday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Israel has moved forward with its planned assault on Rafah in southern Gaza. USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page breaks down new USA TODAY/Suffolk University polling on former President Donald Trump's hush money trial. Tornadoes touch down in Oklahoma. USA TODAY Money, Markets and Personal Finance Reporter Medora Lee talks about rental fraud and what it means for renters and landlords. The 2024 Met Gala is in the books.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it.  This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning, I'm Taylor Wilson. And today is Tuesday, May 7th, 2024. This is The Excerpt. Today, the latest from Gaza, plus what polling tells us about American's views of Trump's hush money trial and we talk about rental fraud. The Israeli military has taken control of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, pushing into the southern Gazan town after a night of airstrikes, and as the chances for a ceasefire deal hang in the balance. Hamas said yesterday that it had accepted a Gaza ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar, but Israel reacted coolly to the announcement and said its planned assault on Rafah would proceed. Yesterday, an Israeli official told Reuters the deal approved by Hamas appeared to be a softened version of an Egyptian proposal that included far-reaching conclusions that Israel could not accept.

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Meanwhile, Columbia University, the epicenter for campus protests opposing Israel's war in Gaza announced yesterday that it will not hold its main commencement ceremony after weeks of protests and Emory University announced it will relocate its various graduation events from the main campus in Atlanta. Still protests continue at colleges nationwide and have stretched off campus, hundreds marched outside the Met Gala in New York to protest Israel's offensive in Rafah. Americans overwhelmingly predict a conviction for former President Donald Trump in his New York hush money trial, but some see unfairness. I spoke with USA Today Washington Bureau chief Susan Page about the exclusive USA Today, Suffolk University poll findings. Susan, it's always good to have you on.

Chief Susan Page:

Hey, it's always good to be on.

Taylor Wilson:

So, Susan, let's start with this. What portion of Americans predict Trump will be convicted in this hush money trial? And what portion believe he'll be exonerated?

Chief Susan Page:

By almost 3 to 1 Americans think that Trump will be convicted on some or all of the 34 counties facing in that New York courtroom. Two thirds of Americans think he's going to be convicted of something.

Taylor Wilson:

How are Trump's supporters split among themselves on this, and how about Biden supporters?

Chief Susan Page:

Trump supporters are divided almost evenly about whether he's likely to be convicted or not. But Biden's supporters are united in the view that Trump will be convicted of either some or all of the counties facing.

Taylor Wilson:

And Susan, what did this poll find about whether folks think this trial is fair?

Chief Susan Page:

Former President Trump has complained that the trial isn't fair and that view has gotten some traction with Americans. About 44% of Americans say yes, the trial has been unfair. And it's disproportionately as you might expect, Trump supporters who feel that way, who feel that this is a political prosecution that Trump shouldn't face.

Taylor Wilson:

Meanwhile, as part of this exclusive USA Today, Suffolk University polling out this week, we're hearing about complicated attitudes toward the ongoing protests nationwide. Can you give us a sneak peek there?

Chief Susan Page:

We found divisions among American voters about views of those protests that we see spreading on college campuses, but we found unanimity on this. Overwhelmingly, Americans of all views are concerned that there might be violence ahead.

Taylor Wilson:

USA Today Washington Bureau chief Susan Page. Thanks as always for hopping on and breaking down the polling.

Chief Susan Page:

Hey, thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

At least four tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma and a number of tornado warnings were issued in Kansas, Nebraska, and Tennessee as millions face severe weather risks from a number of storms late yesterday. And one part of Oklahoma officials said a roof blew off a school gymnasium and the severe weather comes a week after a tornado outbreak killed four people in the state. Severe weather will continue to threaten the region early this morning. You can stay with usatoday.com for updates. Inflation under supply, high demand, and lofty home prices are often reasons cited for why rents are high, but there's another, rental fraud. I spoke with USA Today money markets and personal finance reporter, Medora Lee, about the rental scams that have taken off since the pandemic. Medora, thanks for making the time today.

Medora Lee:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So Medora, what kind of fraud are we talking about here? What do we mean when we say rental fraud?

Medora Lee:

So this is when people use fake identities to get through the screening process and rent an apartment, and they never actually have any intention of paying the rent. It's exploded in recent years, the pandemic moved everything online and then during the pandemic, a lot of people were able to take advantage of data breaches and buy some of people's information in the dark web areas of the internet. And so, by doing that, they've gotten so sophisticated in the way they can hide their identities or create fake identities because they use a little bit of real data that they get from the internet and then they combine it with fake data. And so, it becomes harder to detect because if someone calls an employer and says, "Is so-and-so working here" and they have the right social security number, it could be true. And so, it gets harder and harder to detect what's real and what's fake just because they're combining real and fake data.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. So how much rental fraud have we seen in recent years? What do the numbers tell us here?

Medora Lee:

It's really exploded. I mean, there was a survey done by one of these housing organizations and just talking to their members who are apartment owners, developers, and managers, over 93% in the past 12 months have experienced fraud. I mean, that's nearly everybody, that's quite a bit.

Taylor Wilson:

How does this affect everyone, really, Medora?

Medora Lee:

A lot of people think, oh, landlords, they have insurance. They can stomach the losses or whatever. But when some of these fraudsters get in, it's really hard to get them out. It could be take months or years because of the eviction processes so long these days because they put in all these tenant protections during the pandemic to make sure people weren't homeless. So the landlords are losing money on the fact that there's no rent being paid on this unit. You are losing because there's maybe an affordable unit, but you can't get to it because they have fraudsters living there. And then on top of that, they also sometimes destroy the apartment. I think one lady showed that one guy took a sledgehammer to his apartment before leaving finally, and they had to take that apartment off the market for a long time to rebuild it. That required the city to come in and then re-inspect everything. And that took quite a while. So because they're losing money, they have to make it up somewhere. They'll either maybe raise people's rent and spread the cost around to everybody in the building or cut services.

Taylor Wilson:

And as you say, they have to make it up somewhere. So what are the solutions here, Medora, both in terms of fighting back against this kind of fraud and also some of the factors that lead to it?

Medora Lee:

So the first thing is a lot of property owners will say that the government protected all the tenants during COVID, but nobody ever protected the landlords. So they would like to see some changes in some of what they call anti-landlord restrictions. There are a lot of restrictions on how much they can screen a tenant now, which hurts, which makes it more difficult for them to root out these fraudsters. And then there's also a lot of companies have more sophisticated software now that can try to find out who these people are and screen them better before they get in, and then you can't get them out.

One thing I do also want to mention, which is also just as important as your rent going up or you're losing services as a landlord trying to make up for it, is a lot of these people who get into these buildings fraudulently, they're not looking to house a family that's down on its luck. A lot of property managers will say that people have used these apartments for excessive partying, which is the least of the bad, but they've also had sex trafficking, drug dealing from these apartments. And so, that brings in a lot of danger for the employees as well as the other residents.

Taylor Wilson:

Interesting story. Medora Lee covers money markets and personal finance for USA Today. Thanks, Medora.

Medora Lee:

Thank you. Have a good day.

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Taylor Wilson:

The 2024 Met Gala is in the books, one of fashion's biggest nights saw a Gala co-chair, Zendaya, apart from some of the preppy tennis looks, she's been rocking while promoting the movie Challengers. Instead, she showed in a Maison Margiela gown, but that wasn't her only look. She changed into a vintage Givenchy dress made in 1996, the year she was born. According to Vogue, beyond a red carpet fashion show, the event is a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City's Costume Institute. Last year, it raised a record more than $22 million according to Vogue business. You can read more and check out the night's big outfits with a link in today's show notes. Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio. And if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, back tomorrow with more of the Excerpt from USA Today.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hamas says it accepts cease-fire proposal | The Excerpt