A look at the COP27 climate summit, sheriffs surveyed on political views: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: What to know about the COP27 climate summit

USA TODAY national correspondent Elizabeth Weise has a preview. Plus, USA TODAY politics reporter Ken Tran looks at how health care concerns are swaying voters at midterms, former President Donald Trump continues to face legal issues around his businesses, the Marshall Project's Maurice Chammah examines a survey on sheriffs' political views and USA TODAY Entertainment host Ralphie Aversa looks at Bono's new tour for his memoir.

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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 Friday, the 4th of November, 2022. Today, what can we expect at the Climate Summit that kicks off this weekend? Plus how healthcare concerns are swaying midterm voters, and what a survey can tell us about sheriffs around the country.

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Climate leaders, activists, protestors, and more will gather in an Egyptian resort town beginning Sunday for the annual United Nations Climate Meeting, known as COP27. But will it be a place where real climate action takes place? Or is it the latest example of greenwashing that actually makes little progress?

I talked with USA TODAY national correspondent Elizabeth Weise to find out. So Elizabeth, what is COP27?

Elizabeth Weise:

This all goes back to 1992 where a bunch of countries, like 154, got together and said, "Huh, something's going on with the climate. We probably need to start doing something about it." And then because it's the UN and it's a very bureaucratic system, ended up creating a yearly conference. And it is the Conference of the Parties, that's where COP comes from, because it's Conference of the Parties who signed the original agreement. So it was COP 1, 2, 3, 4. We're up to 27 now.

Taylor Wilson:

And what can we expect to happen at this year's summit?

Elizabeth Weise:

COPs tend to have a specific goal, usually, that was set the year or two before. So for this one, one of the big topics, it's called Loss and Damage financing. Basically, it means there are a lot of poor and developing countries in this world who are being really slammed by increasing weather disasters driven by climate change. And they're not the ones who burned all the fossil fuels that created climate change. Like that's on the US, it's on Europe, to a certain extent China, India. And so there's been a lot of discussion about how wealthier nations, and nations that got rich burning a lot of coal to create their wealth, need to compensate or create some kind of an aid fund to help the people living in countries who are on the forefront, and who are really bearing the worst of it right now.

Taylor Wilson:

So what do critics say about this gathering?

Elizabeth Weise:

I mean, one, it's being held in Egypt. Egypt is not known for having a robust ability to allow people to protest things its government does. One of the main sponsors of this year's COP is Coca-Cola, which is also one of the biggest, if not the biggest, producer of plastic in the world. So there are those who say COP, by allowing companies like Coca-Cola to be sponsors, allows them to greenwash, and seem greener than they actually are. And so that'll also be some of the protests you see or some of the complaints.

Critics are saying, and they're totally right, we should have done more and we should have done it faster. We need to totally remake our entire industrial system to move away from carbon producing energy sources. And all of that is true. And yet, it is also true that the last 26 COPs, and this framework for discussion amongst nations, has led to some pretty remarkable shifts. And so we've seen China and India both shifting to renewable fuels. The US, our greenhouse gas emissions peaked, I believe, it was in 2007. They're still not as low as they should be, but they peaked in 2007.

Electric vehicles now make up more than 5% of all the new cars purchased in the United States. And in China, that number is 24%. Some of the scientists that I have spoken with, and actually I spoke with a business professor from Columbia University, and he said this is one of those things where it is a big ship and it takes a really, really long time for it to turn. And so it's kind of imperceptible. But he said, we started making some of these changes 20 years ago and we're starting to see that bear fruit. And yes, it wasn't fast enough and it wasn't enough, but all hope is not lost by any means.

Taylor Wilson:

You can find more of Elizabeth's coverage on COP27 with a link in today's show description and on USATODAY.com.

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Healthcare concerns - including Medicaid coverage gaps, expensive prescription drugs, and high medical bills - are swaying midterm voters in swing states. Producer PJ Elliott spoke with USA TODAY politics reporter Ken Tran, to find out more on how healthcare may affect Tuesday's elections.

Ken Tran:

Democrats are winning the messaging on healthcare. According to a survey from Pew Research Center, they're winning 51% to 27%, but it's very hard to sell healthcare and legislative victories in this election where everyone is concerned about inflation. It's very unclear if that's going to work out for Democrats.

PJ Elliott:

Ken, according to the CDC, one in 10 Americans have diabetes and one in five don't know they have it. But we've heard for years how expensive it can be for diabetics to get insulin. In you're reporting, are you talking to people who may be changing their votes because of healthcare costs?

Ken Tran:

I spoke with this one teacher who is an Independent voter, but she's voting for Democratic challenger, Mandela Barnes, because she cares about healthcare the most. She's a diabetic voter and she pays a lot for insulin and insulin supplies. She saw Republicans, in both Congress and Wisconsin State Legislature, shoot down insulin caps for private insurers, and that was enough to convince her to vote Democratic this year.

PJ Elliott:

Ken, what about at the state level? What role does healthcare play in those races?

Ken Tran:

In Alabama, one voter told us that the Medicaid gap affected her and her daughter. Her daughter had undiagnosed breast cancer, and they found out too late because they couldn't afford a mammogram, because they had no insurance. And by the time it was diagnosed, the cancer has spread to the rest of her body and she eventually died. Alabama has yet to expand Medicaid, so things like this can still keep happening for voters, and eventually it might move the needle in a way that could flip races.

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Taylor Wilson:

The judge hearing a massive civil fraud lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, his businesses, and three of his adult children, ordered a monitor yesterday to oversee all Trump Organization financial reporting. New York Attorney General Letitia James's September lawsuit against Trump and his family amounts to $250 million. Her court filing argued that's how much Trump should pay for a 10-year scheme that allegedly inflated his personal net worth by billions of dollars, and then used the higher values to convince banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms. Those actions would've violated New York state laws. Yesterday's ruling from the Manhattan Supreme Court, means that Trump businesses must give the monitor access to all financial statements. The judge ruled that the monitor will help ensure there won't be further fraud pending the lawsuit's final disposition. Trump is expected to appeal.

Meanwhile, Trump lawyers filed a lawsuit against Letitia James in Florida Court earlier this week. They argued her office lacks jurisdiction to seek internal details of a Florida-based trust that holds all of Trump's businesses.

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In an exclusive survey of more than 500 sheriffs, the Marshall Project, a journalism non-profit focused on criminal justice, found that sheriffs are key to our debates on policing, immigration, and much more. PJ Elliott spoke with Maurice Chammah, from the project to find out more.

Maurice Chammah:

Sheriffs have this strange place in American politics and law enforcement, because they're directly elected, and because they both create policies and then also enforce those policies. There's a really clear way in which, what they personally believe shapes the way that they approach policy-making. So for example, many sheriffs in our survey are extremely anti-immigrant, a substantial portion of them even clicked, "agree" to a statement like, "Immigrants to this country, take more than they give."

PJ Elliott:

Maurice, let's jump to abortion. With Roe being overturned and abortion laws moving to a local level, what's the role that sheriffs could be playing in enforcing those new laws?

Maurice Chammah:

Given that sheriffs are, by and large, very conservative, one can presume that at least a substantial number of them share a kind of Republican party's view on abortion, and will be the frontline law enforcement going after people seeking abortions and going after clinics. And the news stories of that sort have not really emerged yet, but it's only a matter of time I think.

PJ Elliott:

Well, let's jump to social issues and George Floyd. What did your survey find on incidents where civilians lose their lives at the hands of law enforcement?

Maurice Chammah:

Sheriffs, as a whole, see these deaths as isolated incidents. They see racial inequality as a problem of the past that America has, by and large, mostly solved. And those beliefs, influence the unwillingness that sheriffs have about systemic solutions to these problems in policing, that lead to deaths of civilians.

Taylor Wilson:

You can find a link to Maurice's full story in today's show description.

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U2's lead singer Bono, is touring to promote his new memoir, Stories of Surrender. But as USA TODAY entertainment host Ralphie Aversa tells us, the tour's shows are different than any U2 performance.

Ralphie Aversa:

This was nothing like a U2 stadium production and Bono acknowledged as much right from the get-go because it's a little jarring. If you're a huge fan of U2, even if you've only seen them once at one of these big football stadiums, and suddenly you're walking into the Beacon Theater on New York City's Upper West Side with a capacity of under 3000 people. And there is Bono, this incredible rockstar, with three musicians who you probably haven't heard of, none of which are his band mates. A couple of chairs, a table and two projection screens, and you're like, "Wait, this is the show? This is what it's going to be?" So it's nothing that you've ever experienced at a U2 show.

There we were at this iconic theater, and there was Bono on stage really interweaving, both his stories in the memoir and these anthems that we've come to know him and U2 for, in such a meaningful and well-produced way.

His parents, and particularly his father, were really central figures in this. His father and he, kind of having this tug and pull over Bono's success and his father's expectations, and his father's skepticism at times. But then, ultimately, his father's death in 2001, as he succumbed to cancer. He talked about this idea that you either were going to have fun or do good, but you couldn't do both. Kind of wanted to challenge that as a kid.

So really, when the band became famous, and we're talking "Joshua Tree" era and after, that fame began to be a sort of currency that Bono perceived. And from there, he was able to start the ONE Campaign, which was basically just on the notion that regardless of our differences, there's all one thing that we can agree on and that we could work towards, accomplishing in the world.

Taylor Wilson:

You can find more of Ralphie on Entertain This, USA TODAY'S flagship entertainment video series. Just head to the entertainment section on USATODAY.com.

And a reminder, this is the final weekend before next Tuesday's midterm elections. Be sure to stay with USA TODAY for coverage, including who's campaigning where. We've got you covered with more on tomorrow's episode.

You can find new episodes of 5 Things on whatever your favorite podcast app is, and we ask for a five star rating and review, if you have a chance. Thanks to our whole team for their great work on the show, and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COP27 climate summit, Trump's ongoing legal issues: 5 Things podcast