Chinese officials accused of running secret NYC police station, gas prices rise: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: DOJ announces arrest of Chinese officials accused of running police station

The Department of Justice has charged Chinese officials with operating as agents of the Chinese government and in schemes related to censoring democracy activists. Plus, USA TODAY National Political Correspondent David Jackson explains the reasons behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' trip to Washington, the police officers who shot and killed Jayland Walker will not face criminal charges, USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze looks into a case that could have broad implications for religion and the workplace, and gas prices are going up.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. 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.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Tuesday, the 18th of April 2023. Today, arrests related to Chinese officials cracking down on pro-democracy activism. Plus, Ron DeSantis heads to Washington, and how a postal worker's fight for Sundays off could change the American workplace.

♦

The Department of Justice yesterday announced cases charging Chinese security officials with operating as agents of the Chinese Government. The DOJ announced the arrests of two New York City residents who were Chinese intelligence officials, for opening and operating an illegal overseas police station. The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said the station provided illegal government services like helping Chinese citizens renew their Chinese driver's licenses.

In another instance, the DOJ said an official with China's national police directed one of the defendants who worked at the station to help locate a pro-democracy activist of China living in California. The complaint also alleges that the defendants destroyed evidence of their communication with Chinese police when they learned of an FBI investigation.

Another case charges 34 Chinese Ministry of Public Security officers for their involvement in a task force that targets Chinese democracy activists and dissidents located outside of China. They allegedly used an internet troll farm to harass and threaten dissidents and activists around the world.

♦

Florida governor and Republican presidential prospect Ron DeSantis will visit Washington today. To find out why exactly he's making the trip, I spoke with USA TODAY National Political Correspondent David Jackson. Hi David.

David Jackson:

How you doing?

Taylor Wilson:

Good thanks. Thanks for hopping on the podcast.

David Jackson:

Sure.

Taylor Wilson:

Before we get to this actual visit, what has Florida Governor Ron DeSantis been up to in recent weeks ahead of this trip?

David Jackson:

Well he is been alternating between dealing with his legislature, trying to get a lot of conservative legislation passed, and he's been going out into primary states promoting his book, but also promoting his likely presidential candidacy. He's been to New Hampshire, to Iowa. He's soon going to be going to South Carolina. These are all states that will be holding early delegate contests next year, and he's basically laying the groundwork for what we think will be his announced presidential campaign in May.

Taylor Wilson:

And is that part of the purpose of this visit this week?

David Jackson:

On paper it's a very similar visit. He's going to be talking to an invited group of legislators and political activists to talk about his book, but also to talk about his perspective presidential campaign. One of the big differences is that this meeting is closed to the press, and they haven't talked much about it. It's all being planned under a lot of super secrecy. I've never had such problems getting the DeSantis people to talk about what they're doing. But we just don't have a lot of details about what's really going to be happening.

Taylor Wilson:

David, we know it's hard to mention DeSantis without mentioning Donald Trump. So how big is Trump factoring into this trip?

David Jackson:

I think quite a bit, because I think one of the reasons they're keeping it a secret is because they don't want us to know exactly who he's meeting with and how many people show up to this particular event. But it comes on the heels of a lot of intense criticism of DeSantis from Trump. He's actually amplified his criticisms since his indictment in New York City. The feeling is that while Trump has gained in the polls since the indictment, a lot of Republicans are coming to his aid because they feel like he's being messed over. But he's also really stepped up his criticism of DeSantis, who is the only competitor who's within shouting distance of him in the polls. So I think Trump's trying to take the opportunity to strike while the iron is hot and try to keep DeSantis down somehow. And I think DeSantis is feeling some of that heat and he's going to try to fight back, starting with this visit to Washington.

Taylor Wilson:

David Jackson, thanks so much.

David Jackson:

Thank you.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

The Akron, Ohio police officers who shot and killed Jayland Walker last June will not face criminal charges in his death. A special grand jury yesterday returned a no bill, meaning jurors found that the actions of the officers were justified. The police killing of Walker, a 25-year-old Black man, sparked protests in Ohio last summer. Police attempted to stop Walker for a traffic violation and an equipment violation. Police say he then fired a shot from his car before fleeing the vehicle, something backed up by body camera footage of the shooting. After a car and foot chase, Walker was shot more than 40 times by eight officers. He was unarmed, but a handgun was later found in his car.

♦

A Christian postal worker's fight over working on Sundays could change the entire American workplace. I spoke with USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze to learn more.

Taylor Wilson:

Hi John.

John Fritze:

Hey.

Taylor Wilson:

So before we get into this specific case, can you just fill us in on what the law currently says about religious requests for time off from work and how have courts ruled on this in the past?

John Fritze:

So the law says that an employer must accommodate a religious request unless it presents an undue burden. So the question really becomes, what does undue burden mean? That's not a defined term. And in a 1977 case, the Supreme Court said that undue burden means anything more than a "de minimus cost." And so what does de minimus mean? Well, it's a Latin term, obviously, and what most people have sort of interpreted that on its face to mean is a trivial cost, a very small cost. And what religious interests are concerned about is that this standard from 1977 essentially allows companies to reject religious requests from employees. This, by the way, can be more than just Sunday and Saturday Sabbath scheduling. It can also be religious dress in the workplace. It can be any number of things. Pharmacists who, for a religious reason, decline to dispense a contraception, for instance. These can fall under religious accommodation requests. So it really has very sweeping implications.

Taylor Wilson:

And John, who are the major players in this case?

John Fritze:

Yeah, it's an interesting case. It involves this former postal worker named Groff, who is a devout and evangelical Christian and spent many years after college as a missionary in Africa and Asia and other parts of the world. And came back to the United States looking for a job that he could build a career in, but maintain his Sabbath, maintain not working on Sunday. And obviously at the time the Postal Service seemed like a pretty good option for him since there was no mail delivery on Sunday back then. That, of course, all changed when the USPS signed a contract with Amazon to deliver weekend packages.

And the court record's really fascinating here. For years, Groff went through this effort to be accommodated, to try to find other people to shift with him. He actually moved to another post office at one point. But this contract with Amazon eventually caught up with him, and the postmaster was unable to find people who would cover his shift. And so he wound up leaving the United States Postal Service and resigning over this and suing the Postal Service for disciplining him for not working these Sunday shifts.

Taylor Wilson:

How could a new standard create problems for these systems that already exist that are aimed at figuring out, let's say, who works the shifts that no one wants?

John Fritze:

Shifts are obviously one part of it. I think some of the more interesting and out there questions involve things dealing with discrimination. So for instance, what if you make a religious claim that you cannot have an LGBTQ individual as a boss or an employee? What if you, again, getting back to the contraception issue, you're a pharmacist and make a case that you can't prescribe certain drugs because of your religious beliefs? There's also this issue of scheduling. And a lot of places, a lot of employers have contractual arrangements with labor unions that decide things like who works on Christmas, who works on Jewish holidays? Who works on holidays? And so the real question here I think is whether the court standard sort of disrupts that or how it deals with some of these arrangements that have been set, say by seniority. If someone makes a religious claim, it can sort of bypass that, what that means for the other employees at that organization.

Taylor Wilson:

How has this particular conservative majority ruled on other religion cases?

John Fritze:

It's pretty much a hundred percent slam dunk record for religious claimants at this court for the past several years. The most notable case last year involved what we in the media have called the praying coach, Coach Kennedy at a high school in Washington outside of Seattle. This was a coach who wanted to pray on the 50 yard line after games at a public school. Supreme Court sided it with him on that. There's a number of people on the court who feel that religion has becomes almost like a second class right. That the freedom of religion that's called for in the Constitution, in the First Amendment, that has sort of been trampled on by lower courts and some institutions. And I think we've heard the Justices sort of talk about this and express a real concern about religious minorities and religious majorities not being able to exercise that right.

Taylor Wilson:

USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze, thanks so much.

John Fritze:

Thank you.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

Gas prices are going up. The national average price for a gallon of gas is up 21 cents from just a month ago, according to AAA. Gas prices continue to vary greatly depending on where you are in the country. In California yesterday, the average cost was just under $4.92. In Mississippi, it was about $3.17. After California, the states with the most expensive gas are Hawaii, Arizona, Washington State, and Nevada. Analysts say drivers in the northeast in particular can expect a sharp bump in gas prices over the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every day of the week right here, wherever you get your audio. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DeSantis visits DC, gas prices are going up: 5 Things podcast